# Sticky  Welcome to the Adoption & Fostering Board!



## Boggy

Welcome to the A&F boards 

We hope you'll find lots of useful information and support here 

Here are some links to get you started:

*Adoption Stories* - read about the journey some of our adopters took to parenthood:

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=182.0

*Parenting Adopted Children* - a place to ask advice or support from others who have adopted. We also have a post placement board for confidential issues, access by application only.

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=187.0

*Adoption Diaries* - read some of the journeys our members are currently on towards parenthood:

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=182.0

*Resource Area* - a list of websites, book and bits of information that you might find useful

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=457.0

Feel free to post any questions you may have, and we'll try to answer them 

Bx


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## Handstitchedmum

Hello!

This is just a kind reminder that these boards (with exception of the restricted access post-placement board) are viewable to the public, so you should not share information that you wish to keep private.

Fertility Friends has board guidelines to help keep the forum a safe and welcoming place for people who have experienced or are experiencing challenges in adding to their family. Some of the guidelines exist to protect the site from costly lawsuits (e.g. libel). Some exist to ensure the site stays online and loads well for its users (e.g. restricting thread length). Others exist to protect its members, many of whom are experiencing a vulnerable period in their lives, from harm or risk of harm (e.g. Bullying and harassment).

One of these latter guidelines is the restriction of pregnancy or parenting discussions to specific boards in Fertility Friends.



> Guidelines For Pregnancy And Parenting Discussions
> 
> Fertility Friends is a site that supports people who face the struggle to become a parent with fertility issues or when needing assisted conception. While it is always inspiring when members are successful, we all need to be respectful of the feelings of those still on the journey, or who have exhausted all options and are facing a life without children. Fertility Friends is often a safe haven - the only place those members can come and feel there are others who understand. As you might imagine, one of the most difficult aspects for those struggling to conceive, is dealing with baby and pregnancy chat/pictures etc. in real life. Members who come here should be able to do so without worry that what they see and read here will cause upset to them.
> We have created some very specific designated areas where members who have overcome their infertility can share and support each other on the ongoing journey through parenthood.
> 
> Outside these designated areas (see Exceptions, below), please keep discussions about your or others' pregnancy and babies to a minimum. As a general rule this means you should be posting no more than the very basic information, consisting of a line or two of text.
> ...
> If you want to seek parenting support, or share parenting information (no matter what this is), this must be done in the designated areas (see Exceptions below). Any threads started outside of the designated areas that contains baby/pregnancy related content and aimed at only pregnant members/parents will either be merged / moved into the relevant section, or removed.
> 
> You may update any of your thread buddies (on threads you regularly post on) of the progress of your pregnancy/how you baby is doing if this is done at a basic level, showing sensitivity to those who are still trying to conceive. If necessary, you can provide links in thread to where you have posted more detailed information (with appropriate content warning).
> 
> EXCEPTIONS
> ...
> Pregnancy & Parenting After Infertility Areas and threads also exist in a number of specific areas to deal with specific associated issues, as well as on the Locations boards. Additionally some of these threads exist elsewhere because of a history/precedent set prior to board restructuring. While we will not be removing them, from this point onwards no additional Pregnancy or Parenting aimed/related threads may be started anywhere on FF outside of the designated Pregnancy and Parenting sections listed above. There will be no exceptions to this.


In the Adoption section, members should restrict discussions about parenting to the Parenting Adoptive Children board. This board is open to the public, so any member can read it and post.

Moderators will use their discretion as to when and if a post or thread should be removed or moved to another part of the forum.

It is natural for cohorts of members (buddies) to achieve success in growing their families. Please continue to be considerate to new and experienced members of the forum who may not have achieved success (yet) by restricting your discussions of pregnancy, parenting, etc., to the appropriate boards.


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