Updates

And yet somehow the times slips away from you. What's happened since my very sparse last entry?

March 8th: Panel
Approved as 2nd time adopters. whilst there we were told of a match they'd made. we left feeling full of hope and just waiting for the ratification from the agency decision maker.

March 22nd: Ratification
2weeks after panel, at 6pm, we received a phone call from our family worker, with confirmation of ratification (talk about leaving it til the 11th hour!).
She also gave us more details on our match. I watched open mouthed as a profile appeared on my screen and looked at the little boy we hope so very much, will be joining our family. He is beautiful!

April 9th: Meeting & reports
Our worker is now on holiday and we're due to meet her to discuss our match on April 9th. It feels like forever away! All the while DS1 is asking where his little brother is, and the excitement builds! He is very excited to become a big brother. I have spoken to S. Services, so they're aware we are keen for the match to progress :)

On Friday (29th), we're going to see DS1's foster mum.

First visit

Tonight we met our Social Worker. She is thankfully, very, very nice, and I warmed to her straight away. She has 2 older sons, recognises DS is bright and challenging, and ate 2 of the cookies I made (Hey! First impressions, right?!).

Unfortunately she can only do fortnightly meetings, but she's incredibly flexible about timings, and has even offered weekends if needed (though we don't want to have to do that, and want to make this an equal compromise).

She reckons we'll need 7-8 sessions before panel, says we'll need to do homework, and has already booked in the next 2 sessions.

I think I'm going to really enjoy this, especially cos the challenging circumstances from my past are now out of the equation. I hope so, anyway! Fingers crossed :D

Here we go again...

After a fairly horrific experience (which I'm sure I'll write up once everything is done), we had a home visit with an agency. What a lovely experience.

It's fair to say that Justina was lovely from start to finish. She listened, laughed, fit right in, and DS adored her. How nice to have a worker actually involve our son in what could be a life changing experience for us all. Unfortunately she doesn't do assessments, but still. It was lovely to meet her.

We have to wait for her Manager to sign off on it, but I'm hopeful we will proceed to the next stage and our application will be approved.

I am excited. I'm trying not to be, and I'm sad it's not shared, of course, but different people react and work in different ways, and it's still a process after all.

Only time will tell.