Going right back to the moment we decided to adopt goes back a few years. It was after we had been in our relationship for several years already having previously known each other for the past 18years. Looking ahead we both would love a family of our own as we both come from close loving families, but how do we go about making our family? We mentioned adoption and this has always been our primary focus, some friends and family had mentioned surrogacy, but for us this wasn’t a route we wanted to follow. Due to the high numbers of looked after children out there in society we felt we wanted to be able to give a child the best life they deserved.
So as we have already mentioned in previous blogs, we did our research and attended 2 informal evenings where the adoption team spoke about the process and also heard from some adopters. We had now made up our minds that we were ready and wanting to proceed so a phone call was placed with the local adoption team and our interest was logged.
Excitement had built and we eagerly awaited for a welcome pack to arrive in the post. As soon as we had it in our hands we made a coffee and sat down and read through all the information. The form is fairly detailed and requires a lot of chronological events. As we know what we are like filling in forms a quick copy of every form was printed off so that we had spare copies, just in case we made a mistake as we wanted it to be neatly filled in to give a good image. So it asked all the standard questions of name, date of birth and address, health information such as name and address of our doctors, anyone else living at this address, any pets, a chronology of each of our lives including addresses, education and jobs. Then came the hardest part, a question we had to answer. Now is it there to catch us out I asked Lee, or was I reading too much into it. We had to write why we are considering adoption, what we believe our strengths as an adoptive family maybe and what we can offer a child.
So we both put pen to paper, several pieces of paper were scrumpled up and tossed onto the floor and finally we both came up with our own answer. Both feeling exhausted after desperately trying to complete the pack so we could get it back in the post, we decided we would actually take a bit more time and ensure we complied an answer we were both happy with rather than rushing to get something down on the form. After all, what’s one extra day going to do in the grand scheme of things. We are about to sign up to a life changing and life lasting commitment.
The form was fully complied and returned in the post, all we could do now is wait for a reply. This came about a week later with a phone call from the head of the services to say they were happy for us to progress and that we would be assigned a social worker and they will be in touch to arrange a visit. Phew we had passed the first hurdle, now onto the next hurdle to jump.
We had also been given the dates of the next adoption preparation course being run, this would be the start of the new year (February 2019). Four sessions that are run for a whole day, once a week for four consecutive weeks. Luckily for us this was being held 10 miles away (some on the course were having to travel 50+ miles in order to attend).
Spirits were running high between us knowing that we have been accepted onto the programme and that 2019 was going to be fantastic year for us. It would be a year in which we would become married and would be giving the adoption process our full commitment.
Our next blog will be focusing in on the preparation course and what it entails.
2 Welsh Dads 