# Choosing a local authority - Solihull council



## Rayofsunshine (Jul 28, 2013)

Hi all 

Myself and hubby are at the very early stages of starting the adoption process. I've made contact with 3 local authorities 
Birmingham 
Solihull 
Warwickshire

Birmingham has said we have to wait 6 months from our failed IVF before we proceed (which would take us to jan 15) but Warwickshire and Solihull have said we can proceed straight away if we feel ready! 

We have arranged a home visit with Solihull, which we r pleased about but they have said we need to be open minded about the age group, like most couples we would like a baby, but I am open to 1-3 yrs but hubby would prefer a baby! 

So I have a few questions really; 
How do you know who is the best local authority to go with? Is there like a league table of how good each local authority is? 
What can we expect from our initial home visit? Can we prepare for it? 
We r a mixed race couple and all 3 have said there are considerably more mixed race/black children in care who would b a good match - I'm not sure how to take this? 

Would appreciate any help/guidance xxx


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## Barbados Girl (Jul 7, 2012)

Hi Ray

I don't know either of those LAs but as a general comment I would advise you go for the one you get the best feeling from and where you get a good vibe.

On the dual heritage front, my husband and I are a dual heritage couple and it is a fact that there are disproportionately more black and dual heritage children available adoption compared to the number of black and dual heritage adopters. For me, I felt we were lucky on the one hand (very quickly matched to a baby) but I also felt a real sense of responsibility/guilt for all the children we had to say no to. We saw a lot of CPRs and had a few sws interested in us.

One point I would stress: you will find it easier to get matched to a baby compared to white couples in your position so if that is what you and your husband want then stick to your guns. I am not saying you might not have to wait but it should not be quite as difficult. Do remember that LAs will want to place you with their children and if they have elder children coming through may want you to be matched with one of them. It can be a big advantage being with an LA as if they get a baby to place, you will be right there. However, with a VA you will immediately be placed on the National Register which can be an advantage if you are looking to be matched with a black or dual heritage baby. There are some VAs that specialise in BME adopters.

Good luck!


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## Rayofsunshine (Jul 28, 2013)

Barbados girl thanks so much for your advise   what is a VA? And if we went for a VA that specialised in BME, do those children on a national register have complex needs because they couldn't be placed by their local authority? Would u be able to recommend a VA?


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## Norma12 (Jan 23, 2012)

Hi
Rayofsunshine,

We're looking in same area as you will pm u


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## Barbados Girl (Jul 7, 2012)

Ray, a VA is a voluntary agency. We went with Action for Children but there are others, like Barnados. I only know the ones in London, I am afraid so you could try looking on the First4adoption website.

A VA do not place children per se. All children in care are with LAs. VAs train adopters, family find for them and provide after adoption support. There are reasons why an LA might not be able to place a child: sometimes for security reasons children may need to be placed out of area, the LA might not have suitable adopters (e.g. a lot of sws prefer an ethnic match for children). Our son is a healthy baby with no known issues but there were no dual heritage adopters in his placing LA and so they looked nationally. Undoubtedly if a baby needed adopters and there were suitable in house adopters these would be prioritised. In your position I think a VA is at least worth considering.


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## littlepoppy86 (Feb 14, 2014)

Hello  

Just to echo what Barbados girl said, as a duel heritage couple we also had a lot of interst. Had a lot of sw's pushing us to 'their' children Jd felt a lot of guilt saying no. 

We got matched at the same time as approval so from application to our son moving in (11 months old) was 8months  

Best of luck x


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## Laws1612 (Dec 12, 2011)

Hi ray.....

I am approved with staffordshire county council.....they have been brilliant anf from first enquiry to approval was 8 months....might be worth a look....good luck with whatever your decision. If you want anymore information let me know  x


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## Millie Moo (May 20, 2012)

We went with Solihull and so glad that we did.  All the social workers we dealt with were very professional and friendly.  We really couldn't fault them.  In the end we adopted our kids from Worcester as there were no sibling groups available in Solihull that matched our criteria.  We were asked if we were interested in a 4 month old, 11 month old and an 18 month old but we knew we wanted siblings.  All the other couples on our course were matched very quickly with babies.  I have not heard good things about Birmingham, very high staff turnover and shortage of staff.  The social worker we are dealing with at Worcester is worse than useless and thankfully, even though we are approved and got our Adoption order last week, Solihull are still being very supportive.


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## Angel11 (May 13, 2013)

Hi,
I can personally recommend a VA called Adoption Focus. They are based in Marston Green and definitely cover Solihull. We found them really positive and efficient. They didn't have a specific time after fertility treatment and really just made sure that we ready and both in agreement that adoption was the right road for us. We rang Warwickshire and really didn't like their approach compared to Adoption Focus. Hope that helps.


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## Rayofsunshine (Jul 28, 2013)

Thx for your comments everyone 😊


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