# When to adopt again?



## E3021 (May 28, 2010)

Hi all,

A nagging question has been keeping me awake at night  

For those of you who have adopted more than once, how long did you wait after the first adoption? How big an age gap did your LA's want between your existing LO and a potential new LO?

I realise that of course every case is individual and it depends on whether existing children could cope with a new sibling but I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences to get some ball park ideas.

We're nowhere near ready just yet, but I know that one day we need to find number three, and maybe number four! I also don't want there to be huge age gaps if I can avoid it and given how long approval, searching and matching can take - well... head spinning already!!!

Thanks ladies,

Liz


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## aaa is a MUMMY (Oct 13, 2009)

Hi we were told by our la 3 years. Can't help much more as haven't been there yet Xx


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## Miny Moo (Jan 13, 2011)

We started the process again or at least the ball rolling as soon as our AO was granted for our son, he had already been home 18 months at that point and we didn't want to hang around because we are not spring chickens!!!
Our son is 9 now and we were advised to go for as big an age gap as possible so we are looking at a child aged between 3 and 6 years, it's also been a very lengthy process this time but we do have a lot of issues to contend with our son so things need to be right.


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## Anjelissa (Jan 11, 2007)

Hi Liz,

It varies a lot but in our experience it's not just down to the time since last adoption it is also the age of your youngest child.
As AAA mentioned with regards to the wait since last adoption it seems to usually be 2-3 years.

We spoke to many LA's and all required the 2 year age gap between children (in your case going by youngest age), but some wanted our little man to be at least 4, some even wanted us to wait until he was 5 and at school before they'd even begin an assessment.
I'm not sure of the ages of your little ones so it may not even be an issue for you but if they were quite young when they came home you may have to factor in that point too. For us it was certainly the biggest hurdle as most LA's wont even consider taking on your application for further children until your youngest child is at least 3 and half, and as mentioned for some it's aged 4 or even 5. 

Lots of luck for the future and with whatever you decide.

Anj x


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## Old Timer (Jan 23, 2005)

Each agency varies hugely   

We had to have had the AO for 12 months before we could apply again and there had to be a minimum age gap of 2 years between children, unless it was a birth sibling and then all that goes out the window!

We started as soon as we could but as we were being very specific and had to take another child into account the matching process was longer.  As a result we have a 4 year age gap which is more than I would have liked but wanted a much younger child second time round.

OT x


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## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

I've also heard you need the AO in place for a year and a two year gap.


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## Arrows (Nov 9, 2008)

We asked our SW and she was happy for us to start the process for 2nd time approval after LO had been home for around a year as long as there's a 2yr age gap.


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## E3021 (May 28, 2010)

Thank you everyone, that's really helpful.

We've got our AO but my littlest LO is only just one so I'll have to put it out of my mind for a little while I guess - might give our LA a ring in July once DDs have been home for a year. I just love being a mummy and both DH and I want a big family. We don't feel like spring chickens any more either   so don't want to delay forever!

It never ceases to annoy or surprise me that adoption is such a post code lottery and that we have to jump through such hoops while all those LOs sit waiting for their mummies and daddies to come and get them  

Thanks for sharing, I really appreciate it,

Liz


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