# Reasons for long wait



## pyjamas (Jun 24, 2011)

We have now been approved and waiting for a match for 14 months. Our SW says there are no suitable children coming through. We have been approved for boy or girl under four and will also consider siblings. Is this a nationwide problem or are some areas better than others? We do live in a fairly rural county with no big cities nearby. I have heard that at the moment there are not enough SW to cover all prospective adopters, is this correct? How do I go about contacting register to see what is happening on there? Any reply will be appreciated xx


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## Miny Moo (Jan 13, 2011)

Think if you look on BAAF they will have the register deatails, are you being as pro active as you can, have you subscribed to BMP and CWW, there's the new Adoption Link website, you could make flyers about yourselves and what type of child you are looking for and send them out to LA's.
Having been Approved for 14 months I'm sure you know and do all these things.
Good luck with your search.


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## dreamingofabettertime (Jun 12, 2012)

I understand your frustration completely but put crudely think about it like you were advertising a car....find a solution....what would you do: perhaps change the photo, tweak the description or maybe revisit your criteria. All of these things make a huge difference. All of these things the SW's look at as they run through so many when they review couples for the children in their caseload. It might just be enough for you to get noticed and give you an opportunity to re-visit things you wrote about 14 months ago. Take a new photo or a couple that represents the love you have for each other; revisiting things we energise you into thinking positively.  

Best wishes with everything.


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## Barbados Girl (Jul 7, 2012)

Are you open to a variety of backgrounds/needs and ethnicities? There are 85 children on adoption link under the age of four who are waiting for families. Would you consider making enquiries about any of them? Have you considered sending a flyer of yourself to other LA? Have you attended any exchange days or activity days? Does your sw not received any enquiries from the National Register. These were all avenues I looked at when we were family finding. There is a well known problem with LAs getting placement orders since the are BS case but your age range seems fairly wide and there seem to be children of that age waiting. Good luck x


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## Sq9 (Jan 15, 2013)

Hello.  Some great advice already to your post.  We waited for almost 11 months for our match but our age range was much narrower than yours (up to 18 months).  If you're not already on cww, be my parent and adoption link they are definitely worth doing as at least then you can see the children that are waiting.  There are still a lot of children waiting, it is mainly the younger age (under 2s) that the numbers seem to have dropped because of changes in case law so sometimes taking longer to get placement orders.  
Good luck - your little one is out there, they're just not quite ready for you yet


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## pyjamas (Jun 24, 2011)

Thanks for your advice and comments


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## Wyxie (Apr 10, 2013)

Given the age group you are looking for, I cannot think of any reason you would not have been inundated with profiles from the start. 

Others have given good advice about how to look for children yourself, and this definitely seems like the right option.  I would also request a meeting with your SW and find out what they are doing to look for a child for you.  "No children coming through" sounds like they are doing nothing to look out of area for you at all, and they definitely should be.  Are the LA part of a consortium?  Can you go to any of the events or activity days that people are talking about?

All the best,

Wyxie xx


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## Mummy DIY Diva (Feb 18, 2012)

I have to agree with Wyxie I don't think your sw team is doing their  job. I would ask if you are on the national register and local ones and that any enquiries into you are run past you not simply rejected by sw. Your matching criteria sounds very flexible and I can't believe their  isn't SW's that would be approaching you if they were being given good opportunity to. Doesn't mean the children would be right for you when looking slightly older in my experience there's more  considerations and you often have to see more profiles before you find the right match.  You're lo is our there waiting your team just need to buck their ideas up and look for them properly in my opinion.  Sorry you've had such an awful long wait hugs xx


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## dandlebean (Feb 24, 2013)

Hi Pyjamas  I just saw this and thought it might be of interest:

_Are you an approved prospective adopter in England who has been waiting on the Adoption Register for England for at least 12 months?
If so, you qualify for the Adopter DVD Profiling Project. This is funded by the Government and run by BAAF.
The project makes free DVDs of waiting families to speed up their family finding. For more info, have a look at: www.bemyparent.org.uk/info-for-agencies/family-profiles _


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## Millie Moo (May 20, 2012)

I had a visit from my social worker today.  When we got approved last year our authority only took on adopters every six months.  With the new government guidelines they are now doing them every two months.  Bar a serious criminal conviction or a terrible medical they are under pressure to approve everyone.  There is now a surplus of adopters.  Couple this with less children getting placement orders then you can see the problem.  It also means that competition is going to be so much higher, so people are getting approved who in reality may never have a child placed with them.  And of course, there are no extra social workers to take on this extra work.

That said, you need to be proactive.  Any opportunities you get, go to activity or exchange days.  Even if you don't find your child there, you get to "sell" yourself to any family finders there.  Subscribe to Children Who Wait and Be My Parent. Join Adoption Link.  Chase your social worker every week.  You need to speak to the social worker to see if she is filtering what she shows you or if she is just not seeing anything that suits your needs.  Maybe you have been too specific and she is sticking to it a bit too strictly, instead of showing you possible options that actually do meet a lot of your criteria.


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## Nicola30 (Jun 13, 2011)

My LA have invited us to an event they are running in October, to explain some of the delays and what they are doing to combat the wait


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## dandlebean (Feb 24, 2013)

We saw our SW yesterday and she confirmed the lack of children too. We're with a voluntary agency, so they get children from all over the country referred to them, but she said there are currently no children at all under 3 and very few between 3 - 6 years even. Because of all the campaigns to get more people adopting, they have more adopters than ever before too. She said the LAs in the area have all stopped taking new families on now but only a year ago they approved record numbers


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## Barbados Girl (Jul 7, 2012)

There are about 80 children on Adoption Link under 4. Would it be worth making an enquiry about one of them? X


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## pyjamas (Jun 24, 2011)

We have enquired about a number of the children on Adoption Link but have been turned down by some due to the fact that my husband already has a birth son, although he doesn't live with us during the week. x


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