# NOT ENOUGH BEDROOMS - WHAT TO DO ??



## JDP (Sep 26, 2010)

DP and i both own homes - he rents his out and we live in mine which is a 2 bed. We have his daughter to stay with us one night a week so i have been told that we dont have the space because an adopted child needs their own room. My house is currently up for sale but with the housing market the way it is - not much is happening  so as we want the adoption process to start as soon as poss the only option open to us is to rent mine out and to rent somewhere bigger together. How would that stand with the LA. Would they take a dim view of the fact that we werent in a permanent place of residence. any help much appreciated x


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## Anjelissa (Jan 11, 2007)

Hi Jude,

A couple from our adoption prep course live in a rented house and have been placed with a little boy. 
SS will most likely want to know that you intend to stay in your rented property for a period of time after being placed as it is very important in the early days that a child isn't uprooted again once being placed with their adopted family, as stability and security will obviously be so important.
I think all agencies/LA's will require that an adopted child have their own room (except in the case of adopting birth-siblings), but from my experience I think different LA's will have varying views on rented/owned homes. They will be more interested in the reason for renting and as you both own your own homes but would be moving to rent in order to gain an extra bedroom, it's not as if you are renting due to financial troubles.
Obviously I can't answer as to how your LA/agency will view renting, but I would imagine that as long as you don't intend to move again soon after placement, as I mentioned above, with regards to where you live, they will be more concerned with the security and stability you can provide.
Our LA were fine with this with regards to our friends who are renting as they plan to stay in their property for some time.

Hope this has helped,

Lots of luck,
Anj x


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## libby29 (Dec 27, 2008)

We have a 2 bedroom house and dh has 2 kids from previous relationship that come at w/e's and holidays. We have also been approved to adopt. Every agency is different i know but its never been an issue with ours. The 2nd bedroom will be the adopted childs and when dh kids stay they have our room and we have the sofa bed. No... its not perfect but as our sw said the kids dont live with us and as long as all children involved are happy they are happy. They spoke to the kids about the room situation and they were fine with it. We made the changes in the bedrooms during hs so that we could see how they haddled it and be ready for the panel when they brought it up. They never did! The kids have never moaned about the room situation and are excited about helping decorate their old room for the little one. As i said before no its not perfect but also not a good enough reason to be turned down ( not with our la anyway.) If one says no then look around for an agency that dont have a problem with it.


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## elmoeleven (Jul 14, 2007)

hi,

SW came to us today and we rent. She said the only thing they may ask for is a letter in writing from landlord that we have a long tenancy agreement instead of a yearly one.

elmoxx


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## JDP (Sep 26, 2010)

thanks for all the replies - thing is i dont view it as a long term tenancy because if i sell my house then i will obviously want to buy somewhere plus what happens if the landlord only wants to rent for 6 months say (which i think is the minimum when starting off) then we will have to rent somewhere again.

Libby29 - which LA is that ? 
thats given me something to think about - we dont have a sofa bed downstairs unfortunately so cant think of any alternative - unless we get a foldaway bed to put up downstairs OR his daughter sleeps in our room on it (dont know how they would view that) - its a big room and could easily handle another bed of some sorts.


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## libby29 (Dec 27, 2008)

Hi Jude.... i've pm'd you xxx


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## minmouse (Nov 15, 2009)

Hi Jude,
I feel for you as were in a similar position. We have dps ds & dd to stay every fortnight etc and la want them to have a room each, plus one for our new lo. I hoped that one combination could share! We planned to build, but couldn't afford, sell but that didn't work either, now we have reorganised downstairs and got a 2nd hand sofa bed for eldest dd to use on visits, she will soon be at college so fingers crossed this is acceptable we will find out this month.  Could you see if swapping a sofa to a sofa bed or the fold up bed is acceptable? I've read lots of different options on here so I'm sure there's a way for you too.

Good luck
X


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