# taking adopted children on holiday abroad after placement



## crazybabe

Hi all

I know this is jumping the gun a bit, but do any one of you lovely FF ladies know how long after a child is placed with you that you must wait to take them on holiday abroad, I know yu must have approval from SW first.

Many thanks

Hope to speak to you all soon

crazybabe


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## Dee Jay

hi CB, 

I understand that you aren't allowed to take adopted children abroad until they are legally adopted by you. We were advised at pre-approval training NOT to go abroad with adopted children until they were very very well settled as it can be really unsettling for them as they sometimes cannot fully understand that they will be returning home. One adopter said that she really struggled with her adopted children as they really regressed when they were abroad and she couldn't get home fast enough,

hope that this helps,
lol
Deborah
xxx


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## crazybabe

Hi Deb

Thank for the reply, we were told in our prep course not to take children abroad to disneyland for an example within the 01st few weeks the child is placed with us but I am talking a few months after placement, we haven't got to panel yet mind - I'm just planning ahead I suppose.

thanks

CB


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## Old Timer

HI CB

Until you have the adoption order you can't get a passport for the child.  We are going on holiday in the UK 13 weeks after placement and, even though our ds is very well settled and attached, we know we are likely to suffer a bit due tot he change and also again when we get back.  At least being in this county the food etc will stay the same and if he really struggles we can come home without any problems.

Love
OT x


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## Guest

I would suggest a low key holiday first time - ours had been wth us four months when we went to a cottage just a couple of hours away and they didn't cope at all - we had to come home after just 4 days.  

Saying that we have passports for ours so in that sense could have taken them abroad.  

Bop


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## ♥ M J ♥

Hi

We have been asked if we need passports for our 2 (this is before adoption order- i believe with the LA permission we can take them abroad ) now however we dont as the thought of taking them abroad is tooooooooo scary! once we have legally adopted them then we we get passports sorted out so we have them ready for when we are all ready to have a big holiday.

We took our children away for the 1st time 8weeks after placement for the weekend due to a family emergancy and we stayed at a local haven park and i have to say while there they were good however very very unsettled when we came home again and it took about 4 weeks to get them both abck into sleeping in in the mornings - when unsettled they wake about 6am however when settled we get up between 7-8am!

The way it was put to us is how do you explain to a little person what a "holiday" is? my DD is 3 and very clever however really really struggled with what it is!

I know that Suzie has took her soon to be DS abroad with her (at the mo he is classed as a foster child) so may be worth asking her - he is nearly 3 now (OMG Suzie i cant beleive its a nearly a year since you got him! and we went to nottingham!  )

Good luck

xxx


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## wynnster

Hiya

We were asked at our pre placement meeting if we needed a passport for munchkin (which we don't) so assume from that that we would be able to take him out of the country if we wanted (with permission) prior to the adoption order. 
There is no way I could take a small child into another country though, way too scarey for me  

Could you possibly have a UK holiday so you could come home if need be?  We have a 4 day break booked for November when Munchkin will have been with us 8 weeks.

Or how about a holiday abroad for just the 2 of you before your LO comes home? 

Ohhh the thought of a nice sunny holiday   

Best of luck xx


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## fiona1

We took Baby abroard while fostering, 

Fiona


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## BunBun

At our planning meeting we were told we couldn't apply for a passport until the legal adoption was in place (ds was only 6 months so didn't have a passport). DH had some holiday in the October (ds was placed at the end of June) and we wanted a weekend/mid week break and we were told no we couldn't take one. We finally managed to have a week in May but had to stay in this country as court order had still not happened and had to inform our sw and ds's sw in writing as to where we were going, how long we were staying, contact numbers etc


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## Suzie

Hiya

We have a passport for K , the SW is able to get a passport for them from the passport agency if the child is on a ICO (court order) or freeing order which they would (should) be for you. But this has to be done via the childs SW and not yours as they have all the info .
Saying that it can sometimes tack a while due to needing copies of birth certs etc.

So far K has been to France twice (my parents live there) with us and to Portugal  
We didn't take him until he had been with us 6 months and first time round they can struggle as someone above has already mentioned. 
I guess it depends on age of child and background. 


xx


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## dawny36

Hi,

We took our little one abroad (driving holiday to france) 7months after placement but she was legally adopted by then had own passport etc; however if adoption order hadnt got through in time the LA would of sorted something out for us.

Our little one loved it and slept better than at home lol! think that was all the swimming and beach though that tired her out.

We prepared her for her holiday well in advance she is very bright for her age (21months) and is already saying 3 word sentences and can count to 6, so we bought an usbourne holiday book ( would highly recommend it) would go through the pictures etc and then show her  the holdiay brochure - she understood and kept say 'oliday oliday' I guess she didnt understand that we were coming home again but settled back very quickly.

I dont know if this would of been different earlier in the placement maybe and our s/w's told us it is older children who struggle more with holidays as they dont like the change.

Dawny


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## crazybabe

Hi Dawny

Thanks for the reply - It sounds like you and your little one had a brilliant time on holiday, we are still in the H/S process and your probably thinking we are jumping the gun, we are already saving for a holiday next year late aug, and hopefully we will be approved for adoption and have our child early in the new year so by the end of August we would hopefully be able to take our child on holiday.

Thanks

crazybabe


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## ShazJohn

Hi Crazybabe,

Hope is all going well with your HS process.  Just for your information about holidays our SW has asked that we do not physically book anything more than 2 months in advance just incase they have news for us.  Not sure what your SW will say but the way ours looks at it is they could have information and would not like us to waste money on a holiday then not be able to take it.  Although i dont think it would be a waste of money.

ShazJohn x


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## crazybabe

Hi Shazjohn

I think you got confused hun- I don't want to book a holiday yet hun, I mean hoepfully when we get approved and the child/children move in with us, how long will it be before we can take the children on holiday abroad, I am thinking 6 mths after placement.

Hope your ok

crazybabe


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## ShazJohn

Sorry.  Not my best day yesterday.  I was hoping to be able to take our little one away before that to visit my sister and her DH, who live in main land Europe.  So I will be keeping a close eye on this thread to see all the advise all these wonderful people give.

ShazJohn x


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## magenta

I still haven't got round to getting a poassport fro Bubbles and she was legally adopted over 9 months ago! I rally must get it organised sooner rather than later.

As ever I shall be the 'voice of doom'. 

We had our DD placed in the November and all was fine and great with no problems and we filled out the paperwork in Feb for the court but we didn't get a court date til the following october and her birth certifcates weren't available until a over a month after that.  So please don't book anything until you get your court date as we very nearly lost money on a holiday booking during the wait for our court date, thinking we would be at court by May when in fact it took far longer.  

We also had to let sw know if we were going to stay away from the house at a hotel or anything.  At the time i didnt understand but apparently it is to do with security risks etc - in that they know where birth family are staying/working and need to know if you will be too close - and also 'shared parental resposnisbility' stuff in case the child needs medical treatment whilst away.

Magenta


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