# Fostering Part 1....



## Suzie

welcome to our lovely new thread. as i know some of us didn't really know where to post  

thought introductions would be a good way to start us off!


well as you know im suzie aka olive !! and we have only just started the adoption process recently and im waiting for our sw to ring us and tell us if they agreed we could start the application and then go on the course!! 

really looking forward to chatting to you and getting to know you

love
suzie xx


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## superal

Hi Suzie 

Thankyou for adding a new thread & changing Adoption to Adoption & fostering.

Will look forward to reading your news, You may remember that I sent you a personal message about fostering & just wanted to wish you lots of luck as you star this journey. 

Love Andrea
XX


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## KarenM

Olive

Great idea for the separate Fostering thread.  Good luck to you on your journey and glad to read your first visit went well.

Love 
Karen x


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## kee888

Hiya olive and everyone else

Olive thanks very much for setting up this thread there seems to be so much lack of support for people going through fostering?? Youre a star     

As you know olive we are just starting the fostering route too  

have you heard anything form the sw yet its awful having to wait int it love but i suppose they have jobs to do dont they??  

Our friends got accepted and got there 1st fosterchild 1 day after coming back frm turkey in august i know it took them about 12months to go through the process have you been told anything different we have been told we will be put on the 1st lot of training in end of jan beginning of feb (cant wait).

Allthough on the immediate front we have been accepted to do respite care for foster children while going through the registration process  so here goes we have our 1st respite foster child coming on sunday this week omg thats so quick he is only coming for the day to get used to us and visa versa then after that we are expected to have him for 4 weeks in the next year spread out of course im so excited we all cant wait hee hee   .

well enough on us for now where abouts are you olive??

take care speak soon love kee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Suzie

thanks for the well wishes 

kee the sw still hasnt called so will give it until monday and i will call them ^roflamo^ dont want to be too pushy  

we were told that the process in our area takes 6 to 9 months in total usually! so quite good seeing as some are a year or over .
Im in norfolk kee what about you?? I thought we would only have room for one at a time but the social worker said our guest bedroom is perfect for bunkbeds! you should have seen my dh's face   she also suggested we do 5 to 10 years at first and see how we get on!

wow  for sunday kee i hope the visit goes well for you!

chat soon
suzie xx


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## Laine

Hi Kee & Suzie,

Just popping in to wish you both luck!

Laine


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## Suzie

well sw rang and she and her supervisor want to come back and clarify a couple of things with us , like why we werent going for adoption etc , but other than that she says things seem fine, so we have to wait til dh is back from kenya , so they are coming on the 1st november

thanks for the well wishes laine , hope things are moving along for you  

love
suzie xx


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## kee888

Olive excellant news on them coming back to see you on the 1st nove not long now    

Thanks for the good luck wishes laine hows your journey going hunni

Well we had our 1st respite foster child for the day with us yesterday all day 9 til 9   had a great time and he had a whale of a time bless him he reallly took to dh patrick mind you they were at the national railway museum they were both like 2 big kids bless them      got home bout 3is then cooked a massive sunday roast which we all enjoyed asked him how his day had been and he replied when can i come again and when can i stay over so we explained to him we have to wait for it to be ok by the sw then he can come for respite for a week he was really pleased bless him!

So on our front an excellant result yesterday   

p.s if anyone has not been and can get the national railway museum is a great day out it was £6 to park but free to get in and it took us 5 hours to get round and that wasnt even going on everything etc etc! it was one hell of a day!

hows things going olive love love kee xxxxx


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## Suzie

hi kee

sounds like you have a fab day!  so chuffed it went well for you! lets hope the sw get theirs bum in gear so he can come stay !!

im ok thanks, dh still in kenya til next week and then sw coming the day after so gonna be a bit manic next week 

really glad you had a good experience 

love
suzie xx


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## ♥ M J ♥

hey ladies

can i join you? just to give you some info on us-we have been ttc for 7yrs now and are due to do ivf next yr , even though we are due to do ivf i still feel that we could maybe foster so after long talks with dh i have applied for info pack about fostering, i feel it does no harm in enquiring.

i feel at the moment we cant say oh yes we will do it or say no- i think to make that choice we need all the info! have found some fab websites which give great info on the whole process.

good luck

hugs

Mez
xxxx


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## kee888

welcome mez hun please dont ask if you can join us anyone can join us as far as im concerned lol  

how are you doing anyway chick??

thats what were trying to do fill some time in while our time comes for icsi as our home feels so lonely at the minute with just megan lol    the one thing i have struggled on though was getting information especially from the web! 3 pack never turned up   maybe its our postie hee hee!? what sites have you been looking on for any info if you do have any problems give us a shout and ill ask our sw for the detaisl for your area of social services thats if you doing it thorough them or were you going to do it private? where abouts are you hun?

Speak soon teas just come love kee xxxxx


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## Suzie

hi mez hunny! 

glad you have joined us  

i only applied to our local council for the info as didnt really know where else to look   
Tuesday nearly here , so  for a good visit 

love to you both
suzie xx


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## Suzie

sw supposed to be coming tonight and they called to say they cant make ait and want to rearrange!! ahhh but they need to call back to rearrange as there are 2 of them coming and they need to confere!! 
the annoying thing is i have got the night oiff work for it! and shouldnt have wasted my annual leave!! ahhhhh  sorry rant over

how are you kee and mez? 

love
suzie xx


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## Laine

Suzie - That is so annoying!  Should have told you earlier.


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## KarenM

Suzie

Sorry to hear they cancelled hope they rearrange it soon and you can progress on your journey.  Keep us posted

Karen x


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## Suzie

just read back my post and noticed my spelling mistakes!! 

thanks laine and karen! if they dont call tomorrow i will call them


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## kee888

Hiya Suzie how yer going love did yer ring them?? what did they have to say for themselves! hope you managed to get another appt dont worry about the spelling we all know what each other mean lol mine is atrocious lol ? 

well av been Xmas shopping today and managed to get allsorts lol! im going to have to stop buying not likely ive been buying since last xmas??! lol

hope you manged to get something sorted hunni? 

still waiting for my police check to back pats had his since last week and im getting really annoyed about it now grrrrr the sw is ringing me tomorrow not sure what for?? will keep you infomed take care catch yer soon love kee xxxx

Mez where are you hunni??


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## Suzie

i didnt hear anything so called the office on friday and left a message but no one got back to me !! 

will call them again on monday!

how are you kee and mez?

love
suzie xx


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## Suzie

quick update from me!

i called the office this morning and left a message asking sw to contact me!! we shall see if it is today 

how are we all?

suzie xx


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## Suzie

update

the sw called a minute ago ( typical im at work so hid in the toilet to take the call  )

they are coming on 22nd so  it goes ahead 

love
suzie xx


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## lilacbunnykins

Hi we are on the fostering roller coaster,the fostering ppl are awaiting our social services reports(we had probs with hubbys ex and kids ,so been involved with them)anyway our worker did her 1st chat with one of my referies,my friend said she was there for nearly 2 hrs,she said something about we will get a social worker coming round to us for one day a week for 4 weeks?does that sound right,we were told we would see our social worker about 3-4 times.we havent even been accounted a social worker yet,weve been on a 3 day course,but thats as far as we have got at mo...was also told it could take about 6 months,we now on that and dont seem to have got anywhere !!!!ahhhhhhhhhhh


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## kee888

Hello everyone......

lilacbunnykins welcome to our little thread all areas seem to do things differently lol we were told the application would take about 12 months minmum aaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh! lol we have been in the registration process nbow for 2 months and have been having our friends foster child for respite for 6 weeks lol try to work that one out i cant? oh well fun to say the least we have not even had any training etc etc but i have a vast amount of experience behind me we have been seen by sw etc etc obviousley with doing the respite and we have been to progress meetings with regards to his care etc but as far as us getting somewhere to be approved foster carers ourself well it dunt seem to be moving at all lol! when or freiends went through it this time last year the visits you have been told do seem very similar though and it also took them 12months rouhly to complete the registration and the got approved at panel on fri and had the 1st child there on sat lol!!! quick or what lol?? keep us informed how yer go on hunni where abouts are you and are you doing it through the local authority or through a private company?

Suzy great to hear you got another date love lets hope they stick to it this time!!!! hows things with you hun?

hello to everyone else where are you and whats happening and what yer been up to?? 

ta ta for na love kee xxxxxxxxx


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## lilacbunnykins

Hi we from essex,and are going through a private agency who work alongside essex county council,we are aiming to look after the kids they have probs placingmmmmmlolcant believe u are being alowed to look after a child when u not even been aprroved ,that seems **** about face lol,sounds cool though,i would have loved to have a child by christmas ,but that not gonna happen,ty for replying,im so pleased u started a fostering thread and will be following it ...


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## kee888

aww thats good lilacbunnykins we are doing problem children too hence the problem word grr i hate it lol up oiur end its called care plus and thats the scheme the young lad is under we have been having for respite he has sever reactive attachment dissorder? im sure thats what its called any ta ta for now keep us infomred good luck on your journey too im sure we will all be here tears and joys etc etc  in the coming months lol

love kee xxxx


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## Suzie

well sw is due to come on tuesday at 4pm so fingers crossed they dont cancel 

will let you know how we get on

hope you are all ok?

love
suzie xx


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## kee888

Hiya everyone just wanted to wish you best of luck tommorw for the meeting olive post and let us know how you gone on as soon as they gone ok? lol hee hee hee only kidding (no im not) lol

secondly severe apologies for the last week or so not been on and will not be on much in the next week or so as we are in the process of changing internet providers and they have problems an we are on dial up at min so im finding it very very very very very slow grrr and its stressing grrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

oh well hi to everyone catch up soon take care and i have everything crosed for you olive hunni! 

p.s we had our 1st respite sleepover if you can call it that hee hee lol we have had daytime respite so fa but had the 1st sleepover on friday night just gone will fill you all in later take care

love keeley xxxxx


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## Mum to a gorgeous cherub

Suzie

Good luck for tomorrow  

Lol
H x


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## Suzie

thanks for goodluck wishes 

Well 2 sw came! and they were both lovely  thank goodness

They wanted to clarify a couple of things from our last  meeting , about us being christians etc and think we did ok 
Our report now gets typed and goes to the meeting next tueday hopefully  and then if its all good we start course in January ! yey
new year new challenges! 

kee hope the sleep over went ok for you !! good stuff 

love
suzie xx


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## lilacbunnykins

How long has it took for anyof you to get allocated a social worker,its been 5 months now since we went on course,still no news about our social services report,so just sitting and waiting,its so annoying as we got spare rooms and loads of love and support to give..grrr..glad everything went ok with social workers suzie..


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## Suzie

hi  liliacbunnykins we had our first visit from sw about 2 weeks after we sent the forms in and were told the whole process takes about 6-9 months 

the sw rang and our report isnt going to the meeting until the 6th! and was supposed to be this tuesday , but not long to wait to get the go ahead or not !

hows everyone

love
suzie xx


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## Lou W

Hello everyone.....  
First visit to this fostering thread! 
Have been spending time in the adoption threads as that's where we were headed... as of today and our meeting with a social worker adoption now has to be put on hold as the agency we thought we were going to register with do not have children in the age range we wished to adopt (0-4), despite having said that htey did on the 'phone. Our LA would be the ones to place us with children of that age group, but their register is closed and looks as though it will be for some time. 
I have wanted to foster for a long, long time, and it was something DH and I have always discussed - although DH had always invisaged doing it after having our own family, whether that had been naturally or through adoption. I personally have never had any particular timescale on it, but have understood his want for a more permanant family first.
However as it looks as though adoption will not be happening as soon as we had hoped, we are now considering whether or not we could be considered for fostering a little earlier. We want to learn a lot more about it and any helpful pointers in the direction of information would be greatly received 
Has anyone else fostered and then gone on to adopt? (I dont mean necessarily to adopt a child they fostered, just in general)
Do you think that our LA would be happy for us to foster but at the same time at some point in the future be considered as prospective adopters 

Thanks for listening all!

Lou W xxxx


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## Suzie

hi lou

welcome to the fostering thread 

we are still in the early stages but will help if i can 

when we had our initial sw visit they asked us why we werent going for adoption and wanted to foster, we have decided on this for the time being as we in terns of tx are still quite young and we havent stepped off the tx rollercoster for good but are having a long break , and seeing as we have the space and time in our home we thought we may as well put it to good use 
we asked the sw about if we wanted to adopt in the future what would happen and she said it wouldnt be any problem because we have fostered first, if anything it would be a great help
to be honest and i was with her too  if we were to adopt then it would probably be an international adoption and not a uk one, for loads of reasons that i wont bore you with 

so any questions feel free to ask away 


update from me is that sw rang last night (made her call me at my parents in france  ) and we have go ahead to start the course in January  so bring on the new year 

love to all
suzie xx


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## Lou W

Hey Suzie and everyone else 

Thank you for your reply Suzie. I rang our Local Authority yesterday and had a brief chat to them about our interest in fostering. She confirmed what you had said, that fostering first and going on to adoption in the future would be a positive thing to do in their eyes, and possibly even speed up the adoption registration. 
She has sent us an information pack which hopefully will arrive in the next couple of days and then once we have learned a bit more we can give them a ring to meeet a SW and discuss it further if we'd like. 

I am still a little unsure of the timings etc, as it would obviously still take around 8-10 months to get approved for fostering, and I would need to find out what would happen if the adoption register was reopened during that period and we were invited to begin registration. 
I personally feel that fostering first would probably be the best way to go about things anyway, but DH does not want fostering to slow down the process of adopting.
It is something we need to discuss further I guess, and decide what is best for both of us. 

He also worried me a little as he said he felt that fostering would be more something that I would do anyway, as I would be the one at home all day with them, and if a child was placed with us short-term then he would probably not get to know it so well. He did follow this up immeiately by saying it was somthing he really wanted to do nontheless, and that he would still want to be involvedwith any child we wre caring for. 
Should I be worried that he has said this? Or am I just being a typical woman and readin further into his comments than I need to?!! 
I know that he definitely wants to do it, as we have talked about it for many years as something we would probably do at some point in our lives. And i have said to him that if he doesn;t want to do it right now that is totally ok and I would want him to say. But in truth he seems as excited about it as I do! Every time we talk about it there's a big smile on his face and his eyes light up.   

Maybe I am just reading too much into it, I guess we will both know whether it's definitely the right thing to do as we talk more to the SW and read up on it. 

Thanks for listening to me rabbit on  as usual!!!

Lou W xxxxx


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## Suzie

hi lou

i think your dh is probably like alot of other blokes , we talked about it for a few years actually and dh always said he wasnt sure about doing it and then earlier this year one day he just came out with it and said i think we should look into fostering now! i nearly fainted i can tell you 
I think they worry for us too! and that they dont want us to get attached to the children etc certainly my dh sis when i asked him,
He still worries about how its going to work and so do i but the SW will be able to answer loads of questions for you  i felt so much more positive and at ease after our first initial visit. 
Im sure when we start the course there will be things both of us hadnt thought about etc but im looking at it as a new fresh challenge we can do together 

love
suzie xx


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## kee888

Hiya Lou and welcome to the thread looking forward to chatting to you more however i think i will have to get our pc sorted out firstley yea you all guessed it im sat here at darling husbands work using there internet has he had to come into work today so hey ho may has well make the best of the free time lol! on that note hi to everyone else and sorry for not been around much its just that dial up is such a pain at minute as we are in the process of changinging broadband suppliers bur are holdiong off as we may be moving in the new year viewing an house in the morning at 08;30 so fingers crossed for me everyone. yes we are looking at an house too just as we have done all ours up and gutted it and then this comes up also just bought a new suite and cooker amd my dishwasher seems to have reitired (husband) lol so ive bought on too!!!!! well its pretty manic here at minute as you can imagine ive forgot what sleep is as oh yea we have new lovely super king size bed and i feel lost in it lol!!!!!! anyway peeps have to toodle hi to everyone how are you all doing speak in week hopefully xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

p.s olive great news on the course front for the new year!!!! way to go girl!

p.p.s on the fostering front in our home we have the respite foster child again this weeekend and the sw is coming to see us on weds evening coming to sort out getting us onto the courses in the new year too so fingers crossed!!!!!

love ya all bye xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Suzie

hi kee nice to see you hun 

hope the house is the one for you 

goodluck with the sw!  on wed let us know how it goes 

love
suzie xx


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## Lou W

Hello 

Just wanted to wish you lots of luck for your metting tomorrow evening kee888   Im sure you will be just fine! 

Lou W xxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Suzie

hi

just popping by to say our referrees we gave have all received their paperwork about us ! so its all go in January 

how did the meeting go kee ?

love
suzie xx


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## lilacbunnykins

well it seems our fostering has come to a halt,we have been on course,had our medicals,had one referree spoken too...and now nothing,no phone call,no letter,all we know is they were waiting for our social services reports(there is a lot as we had hassels with hubbys ex wife and his son,who came to live with us for a while)..cant believe they havent even bothered to phone...worried what the report says and whether we can carry on....its been 7 months now since 1st applying!!!!


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## Suzie

hi

oh dear sounds like you have been waiting a long time, maybe you could give them a call and see whats happening?

let us know how you get on 

love
suzie xx


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## kee888

hello everyone and a happy new year!

sorry not been around much as you can imaginbe its pretty hectic at the minute to say the least im sat here in new home waiting for carpet fitter to come at least it looks like things are moving now yippee im hoping by the end of this week we are in and settled in some sort of way lol well we have to be out of new house by monday anyway so looks like will have to lol!

Hows everyone doing did you have good crimbos and new years? im full of the bloomin cold at minute feel crappy so topping my body up with beechams flu plus at minute to try and keep it to a minmum as i have so much to do this week as you can imagine lol!

Lilacbunnykins i would def ring them and find out whats going off or have you allready rang them hope it was good news and that they are going to get the fingers out and get somat done to get you back on tracks.

Olive heyup love hows it going excellant news on the refrees love well done hows things doing and going?

Louw hows things going love

news on our fostering fron is not much really as we have sort of put it on a slowdown with everything going off at minute but im hoing to get it all back up n going by making some phonecalls over the next couple of weeks or so we have got some training to do this month so looking forward to that will keep you all informed we are still doing the respite care for the young lad and omg he has been so testing bless him but we have really enjoyed it will fill you in more later lol got to dash take care everyone speak soon love to tou all

love from kee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Lou W

Hello just a quick post as not got long to stop....

We are going to a fostering open evening on Thursday night to find out more. We need to know whether or not they will want us to foster when we may want to switch to adoption when the register re-opens. Perhaps they will want us to do one or the other.

Kee - best of luck with the settling in, new homes are so lovely - if a little stressful!

happy new year to all!

Lou W xxxxxx


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## lilacbunnykins

Hi well my referee was interveiwed beginning of november and we have still not heard anything,this is beyond a joke now,they could have had the decency to write or ring,im giving it till end of next week,for them to settle back ,then i will be ringing them...im not impressed,,but also scared that something bad has been found and they may say no we cant foster!!!!


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## Lou W

Hello all, a quick update...

Went to the info evening tonight, really enjoyed it. All the SWs there seemed so lovely and friendly. We spoke to one at the end about how it would work with adoption etc. We need to discuss it further but basically our plans from here are to apply to become foster parents first and commit to that, then once we are approved and up and running look into registering as adopters. I do feel that any fostering experience would be good for us to help us understand the children and learn how to be the best parents we possibly could. It was weird tonight though as were so much by far the youngest people there - I hope that wouldn't count against us?

Lilacbunnykins - it sounds like you have been waiting such a long time - and I have to say you've been a lot more patient than I probably would have been! I'm sure nothing bad has been found hun, just give them a call and put your mind at rest sweetie.

Olive - how's it going then You said January was all go month! wishing you lots of luck!

Kee - how's the move going - hope you're not too stressed!

Love to all xxxxxxxx


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## lounea

lou w - really chuffed the evening went well - you will make brilliant foster parents and they are lucky to have you.  The authority I work for have f/c ranging from really quite young to retired age so dont worry about that! They will not hold it against you, Im sure about that! go for it. 

Hi everyone else - we are considering adoption but doing the concurrent planning - spoke to an organisation in manchester that does this who has sent me loads of info about it.  after initial fear about getting attched to children and them moving on i am quite excited about it now!  

lilac bunnies - dont panic , its more likely to be due to no staff being around over xmas!!   xx 
lou


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## Suzie

hi ladies

lovely to see you all posting 

lou w -  glad the evening went well  i too thought they might frown on us as we are youngish  but there was no problem

lou - good luck with the concurrent planning sounds like you are on your way  

lilacbunnykins - we have had to wait a few weeks too for things to be done, hang in there 

well got our fostercare forms in the post this morning and our course starts on 4th feb!! we have 3 saturdays and 2 evenings  am really looking forward to getting some of the answers to questions i have 

will let you know how it goes 

love to all
suzie xx


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## Lou W

Hello everyone,

Just a quick update to say we have our first meeting with fostering Social worker two weeks today! 
Very excited and a bit nervous... hopefully it will all go well!

Suzie - Enjoy the course - not far away now at all! 

Lou - wishing you lots of luck hun, will continue to keep in touch by email too xx

Lilacbunnykins - Any news yet hun?

Love Lou W XXXXXXXX


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## lilacbunnykins

Finaly heard from fostering pps,they said we had a negative social services report,which means they will not be accepting us ,she also said the same report will be done with anyone we went with,so we now got to write to our social services to look at the report to find out what has been said about us...we have done nothing wrong,but had 2 messy divorces and were accusd of a lot of things by both our exes when one of his sons came to live with us...so we are hoping once we see the report we may be able to sort things out,im gutted as if not being able to have my own child was bad enough, now this...maybe i should just accept ill never have a child/children in my life...(sorry for all the doom)good luck to everyone else ,i hope things work out for all of you...


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## Lou W

Oh lilac hunnie, I'm so sorry to hear your news. 
I hope that as you say you can get in touch with your Social Services and get the problem and misunderstanding sorted out. Surely they can see that talking to ex's can spring up untruths and bitterness? Is it like in adoption where you would be able to appeal against what has been said?

I'm thinking of you hun, I really hope you can get this sorted out if that is what you would like to do. Remember we're all here if you need to chat.

Love and hugs,

Lou W xxxx


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## lilacbunnykins

we were going through an outside agency and she said we should look at the report as there may be things in it we need to quiery?she said we are entitled to see it ,so thats what we going to do,yes we do still want to go ahead,but have decided if we can sort things out with report then we will go for adoption instead...just go to wait now...


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## Suzie

lou  fab news about your first appointment  let us know how it goes
after ours it just confirmed we are doing the right thing

lilac - sorry to hear that news  hope you can get it sorted out 

love
suzie xx


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## lilacbunnykins

I contacted social services and they are going to send me letter they sent to the fostering ppl and got a form to fill out so i can get everything they have on me and hubby at social services,then we will go from there ...we are sure its to do with si,s ex and what she has told social services and also the lies his son was made to tell them,,,,,,mmm just a case of waiting now...


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## Suzie

afternoon

lou not long now til your first sw visit  dont forget to let us know how it goes 

Kee - any news?

lilac - have you heard anything from them yet? hope so 

well update from me is our police check forms came back this morning so its all go for the course on the 4th feb 

will let you know how it goes

love to all
suzie xx


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## Lou W

Afternoon everyone!

Well we had our SW visit yesterday, and it seemed to go as well as it could have done. It wasnt particularly indepth, more a case of filling in consent forms for our health and CRB records to be checked etc, and giving our names for referees. I so hope I get to know what they say about us.. I know it will all be good but Im so nosey! 
Im a little bit worried about the medical check as I suffered from depression a few years back, I really hope this wont affect things. 
So now we just have to sit tight and wiat for eveything to come back, and then hopefully things will get fully under way. Im guessing the next stage will be a course like the one you are doing Suzie? Thats great news that you get to do it so soon! Yay! 

Hope everyone else is well and fully recovered from Christmas. I think we just about are, but the bank balance still isnt  

Love to all

Lou xxxxxxxx


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## Suzie

Lou glad the meeting went well  

thats all they did with us at the first meeting , they came back a second time with us to check a couple of things like our religion with us, as we are christians. but they are happy now 
on our referees forms they were given they had to tick a box if they would allow the sw  to let us see what they had written about us , and ours ticked the box so i get to see  
Im sure your health check will be just fine our gp let me see the form when i last saw him and he just had to say whether in his opinion he thought we were ok to do the job so to speak 

hope you dont have to wait too long for the course  ours starts next saturday so not long now 
will let you know how it goes

love
suzie xx


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## kee888

well a big hello to everyone from me and massive apologies for not been around its been mad literally lol oh well hope you all fine louw fantastic news on visit well done hun the ball will start rolling and you wont belive how fast it goes ones it starts love keep us infomred! x olive omg how soon has that course come round like i said to lou time will fly for you too let us know how it goes love to you x lilacbunnykins you hed any thing yet love?

well on our front we have a a mad few weeks like a say but we finally seem to be settling in new home so much so we even managed a weekend away last weekend to meet Martine for the 1st time and that was fandabbydoobler to me her and dave for the 1st time and to meet bubs too hee i cant wait for him (her to come and have my cuddles hee hee a fab time had by us all anyway lol and omg yes we finally seem to have broadband and they seem to have it sorted but i wont get too excited as they did this last time and then it went after 1 day hee oh well lets enjoy it while its here lol! On the fostering front thats going well too i just want to do it full time now rather than just the respite im not finding it satisfying enough i want more lol! as for the respite lad we have been having things arnt that good at the minute he has been excluded from school (he goes to an ebd schhol in rawtenstall manchester) he had his annual review and basically it was very interesting but they said enough was enough and they had to exclude him grrrrr all we need so have been having him more than usual this last week or so any way a bit of good news we are going to look at a new school at denaby grange near wakefield which is hell of a lot closer and he wont have the 2 hour journey to school and back which was 1 major fall down! nyway will se how it goes. he has also finished with what they class as the honeymood peiod and and is throwing all sorts of bizare and stange things at us and his foster family but hey never mind he is care plus and thats what we are paid to do anyway (manage him lol) plus its all part of his behaviour and non of its new but all i say is the reactive attachment dissorder that he has is not a very nice thing infact its awfull but its all text book stuff he does and we see it has just the norm now however if i talk to my close fiiends or sw etc etc they think im crazy or his foster family are but i suppose its cos we get used to it and know how to handle some of the things he does now lol!

oh well sorry for rambling thats enough from me im still in my dressing gown today ive got one hell of a water infection thats gone into a kidney infection and its not good infact its bloody horrible so i feel like **** lol but hey ho we gota keep going love and luck to you all love from us xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

kee good to hear from you 

sounds like things have been happening for you too  hope you manage to get him into a school closer. 
sounds like you had fun meeting martine and dh  
keep us updated 

love
suzie xx


----------



## lilacbunnykins

Hi all,well im glad everything is going ok for you all,the course is fine ,just a chance for social worfers to get to know u,u do a lot of team stuff,but its fun...WELL,i asked for copies of all out files that socail serveces have and they are in the process of sorting them out,managed to speak to a man who sent the letter to the fostering ppl thats said we could not foster,he said he would send that to me so i could see why they have decided we cant,any way turns out about a year ago we inquired(not applied)about adolesent fostering(teenagers basicly)as we felt this would be great for my hubbys son who was living with us at time,but they said no to us as 1,we had not been together the 2 years they all seem to require and 2,the room we was thinking of using was to small and 3,because hubbys son has special needs and learning difficulties they didnt think he would cope..so we thought ok fair enough it was just an inquiery!!!but at same time we were having probs with hubbys ex and contact with his son,she kept breaking court orders and we were involved with social services for nearly a year because of all this(none of this was down to us,just his ex breaking court orders all the time) well seems this is what was put in letter to the fostering ppl,about why we were turned down for adolesent fostering ,and that there were also comments relating to our family having a disrupted and disrupted history of functioning!!!!!(presumibly hassel we had with his ex) we are fuming this all happened last year as for the adolesant fostering ,we dont even have a child living with us now,also we been together longer then 2 years and are also married and 2 we have aroom for a child......the foster worker who worked with us and exes son told us if we wanted to foster he would back us 100% so how can he say that and they saying something totaly diffrent...well we not gonna let it go,there is a number to contact to speak to someone and im gonna phone tommorow ,i want this sorted i think its bad that they have put something in that is nothing to do with how our life is now(about room,us ect)anyway will keep u all informed....


----------



## kee888

hya lilacbunnykins sorry to hear you are not having it easy hunni however we are here for you if you need to rant and rave or just need a liustening ear love you know where we are if you do fany a chat drop me a pm you now where i am keep us informed love and you and dh keep yer chin up love speak soon kee xxx

Hi to everyone else sorry short n sweet this morning will try to get on later for a cath up speak later xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## kee888

Morning everyone hope you are all well

Just recived a letter from sw saying we have been allocated on the prep course to do full time fostering so now the course starts on the 25th feb and runs on that day the sat and then the fri sat n fri sat for 2 weeks after yet i feel a bit wierd at minute as you allready know we are doing the respite fostering on tues and thursday but this is the road to us doing it the full time omg its happening so fast now lol oh well we both cant wait to strt it and get the ball rolling!!! hows everyone doing its gone a bit quiet on here

love anbd hugs to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

kee

fab news about the course  its all happening for you 

our first course is on saturday so looking forward to it but also a tad nervous about what to expect.
will keep you updated

love to all
suzie xx


----------



## kee888

Good luck for the course tommorow hunni im sure you will be fine i cant wait to do start it i have been warned not sure how true but been asked to advice you not to be put off by the 1st day hunni have fun cant wait to hear from you take care but wishing you all the fun and luck in the world hunni xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

hi 

well had first course yesterday  was good and intense but wasnt as bad as i thought it might be 
everyone was really nice which helped. have some home work to do for the next one. 
Just went through things like why we wanted to foster, what the situation is like in our county at the moment , next one we are covering the abuse etc so expecting that to be hard going 

hope you are all ok?

suzie xx


----------



## kee888

aww glad it went well hunni the foster carers whos young lad we have for respite are having a really tough time at moment just had her on phone to me for 2 hours oh dear it does not sound good wil keep you informed am going there at 7 in the morning to give some support before he goes to school lol! are you looking forward to the second part of the course is that on friday?? have they mentioned starting your welcome book yet??  speak soon glas the course was good and not has bad as you expected hunni how did dh dp enjoy it and how did he find it hun
take care speak soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Shezza

Olive

So glad to see that you are on your way to being foster parents  and glad that all is going smoothly, I am so proud of you both!

Did you get in touch with my mate for advice hun?

Loads of love

Shez

xxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

hi 

thanks shezz , i havent managed to pluck up the courage to speak to her yet  

kee - sorry to hear the carer is having a rough time , glad you are helping out , im sure she aprreciates it 

the next course isnt until 18th as sw away next week , so have 2 weeks to wait and do homework 
they havent mentioned a welcome book to us, i will ask about it when i go next time.
Dh was really good, but being a teacher he feels comfortable in those situations. 

love 
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Hey guys!

No more news from us yet..... still waiting. I rang the doctors yesterday as the health form said to, but the gp secretary said they will contact me once the report has been written. She did say though that they hadnt even received the request from the Family Placement Team yet, how long do you think it should take? I sent the forms back two weeks ago, but DH said they probably get the CRB ones cleared first as they're the most important.
I realise Im being totally impatient as a fortnight really isnt very long, but from various things our social worker has said i get the feeling he only works a couple of day a week and im paranoid that this will slow us down.

Sorry to be such a me me post, hope everyone else is well.

Lou xxx


----------



## Suzie

hi lou

our gp form and police checks were sent at the same time , our dr had his within a week or our sw visit and he sent it back straight away. our police check forms took 10 weeks to come back  but looking at others that might be alot less than some have waited .
Our gp didnt contact me when they got the form, i asked him if he had had one when i went for an appointment.
Hope they come back quick 

suzie xx


----------



## Laine

Suzie - Glad the first course went ok for you x

Laine


----------



## Suzie

thanks laine  hope your home study is going well

Lou i have only just seen your poll for police checks sorry !

although our police checks took about 10 weeks the sw said it would have held up us starting our course, it was just coincidence that they came back the week before our course started, the sw also said that we would get the forms back before they got there copy and to call them as soon as we did to give them ref numbers on them. 
I was also told to keep "pestering" for want of a better word our sw dept as they tend to forget to do things 
It wasnt just coincidence that we hadnt heard anything from them for ages about next course and when i called he said im sure you are on the next one, and the next day in the post we had letter with course dates on them!
So i guess what im trying to say is HOUND THEM  

Well second course is this saturday, i have done my homework and have just checked dh's and he hasnt done it yet and her is in turin at the winter olympics til fri  dam men!!

Kee - any news hun? hows the situation now?

love to all
suzie xx


----------



## Suzie

quick update from me 

we had second course today and it went well. Was quite alot of info to take in but am still feeling positive about everything so thats good  
Today we focused on the abuse and neglect issues and talking about real cases so was quite hard going at times  
We have some homework to do and they mentioned starting a life book about ourselves that the first placement can take with them as memories etc. 
The next one is next week and we have one more after that and then home visits 

hows everyone else?

love
suzie xx


----------



## kee888

hiya everyone  

Olive glad the course wasnt too bad for the second time our first one starts this coming sat and im looking forward to it  mind you not sure why  at the minute anyway as the young lad who we have for respite has decided to start n wreck our house   and now ss are not sure they can pay for the damage as we are not registered foster carers at the minute as the young lad we have is the long term foster child of our best friends so it all went through ss etc etc and i was agreed we do the respite we were police checked and everything by them we saw it as good practice for when we get our own foster child/ren if we get to panel and get passed the latest thing he has done is damaged our brand new 5 week old leather suite and its now going to cost us nearly £1000 to get it repaired       is this what we have to look forward to im not sure sorry its a bit of a me post but we have to go n see ss tom we have a meeting to discuss what and who is going to pay for the suite wish me luck bye for now and a big hello to everyone else where are u all

love keeley xxxx


----------



## Suzie

kee - oh dear sounds like you have had a time of it  really hope it gets sorted for you soon!

 for the course this saturday let us know how it goes 

xx


----------



## Lou W

Hi Guys!

Oh Kee sounds as though you've got a lot on your hands, I hope they sort it out for you.

Suzie - Sounds as though things are still moving along for you, getting very exciting!

Still nothing here, coming up for a month since we sent the forms back and none of our referees have been contacted, and the doctors haven't been in touch so I'm guessing that means they haven't been contacted either as they said they would ring when they received the request.  

Do you guys think its time I started pushing them a bit?

Lou W xx


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## Suzie

Lou - in short YES 

our social worker told us to keep pushing them and ringing as they forget to do things! Shocking really! 

Get on the old blower and ask whats happening! 

Let us know how you get on!

suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Just tried calling them but apparently they only work until 4.30pm on a Friday  
TYPICAL!!

Will try again on Monday and let you know how I get on!

Thanks Suzie xxxxx


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## Suzie

lou did you manage to get hold of them today? 

Had 3rd course on sat and went well , we have last one this wed eve and then we start sw home visits before panel 

kee any news?

love
suzie xx


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## Lou W

Hey Suzie

It's so exciting listening to you moving through the courses etc - how much longer time wise have you got to go do you think? And I cant remember what age group you were looking at either?

I rang and left a message with our SW yesterday, he has left one for us today and am a bit confused. 
He said yes the froms have been sent out, but that he didn't get the complete details he needed for the CRB (just the start date on our driving licences) and also I hadnt given my National Insurance number - but that'sn because I dont know it!!!!! Im confused because I dont know if this means he has or hasnt sent the CRB off yet - and if he was missing details why didnt he contact us How long would he have waited to let us know if I hadnt got in touch??!!!!!

Oh well I guess they're busy people.

Am off now to email him with the details I can give him although I still dont have a clue what my NI number is!

Lou W xxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

lou

they prob sent off the crb forms and t came back saying they needed that info. hope they manage to get things going! 

we have last course tomorrow evening and get to meet foster carers and sw's
then they said 6 to 8 home visits starting in next week or so and then approx 3 months to panel date from tomorrow. and placement as soon as we are matched which they say doesnt take too long 
Have homework to do fr tomorrow not finished it yet! better get on to it 

keep me updated with whats happening 

xx


----------



## Lou W

Ooooh its all so exciting - only three months to go!
How do you feel?

Have got an email back from SW saying he needs my National Insurance number... only trouble is I dont know it! Am going to get DH to hunt around in the loft for some old payslips!

Will let you know when I hear more 

xxxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou

i think you can call social security and they can give it to you. i dont have my nat insurance card but for some odd reason i know mine off by heart 


Well foster course cancelled this evening!  I took annual leave for this evening and dh got school duty and sleep in covered too! and they have rearranged for next wednesday so need to both get cover again! No ones fault i know but pain in the butt! 

On plus side our allocated social worker rang today and she is coming on monday for first assessment ! yey 
Fingers crossed we get on  she sounded really nice on the phone 

love
suzie xx


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## superal

Just wanted to wish you luck for Monday with your first home assessment Suzie.

I follow this thread quite a lot as although we've adopted 2 we did foster a baby under the concurrent planning scheme & all though it broke my heart when she went back, I thank my lucky stars that I had her for the time that we did & hope we made a difference to her little life.  

Fostering is something I would like to do when our two are older, I hope our experience of adoption & fostering the baby under concurrent planning would stand us in good favour.

Love
Andrea
xx


----------



## Lou W

Hello Andrea,

Congratulations on adopting your two little ones. We too hope to move onto adoption after fostering. 

We had thought about concurrent planning but I dont know if I could cope with not knowing whether they might stay, I suppose we think maybe it would be easier to always be thinking that they would be going at some point, even thought that in itself is hard.

I think you're right though, you will have made a difference in that little angels life while you had her, and that's such a wonderful thing.

Lou W xxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## superal

Hi Lou

thanks for your message, we hope we did make a difference to the little angel that we fostered, I hope so 

Concurrent planing is hard to do as you don't know if the child you are caring for will stay with you or be returned to their birth parents, it's a risk we took & it didn't work for us.  Saying all that though if you are prepared to take the risk, the chances of getting a baby are more in your favour & not that many children have been returned.

I now look at the situation as, if she had not gone back to her birth parents then we would not have our wonderful daughter with us now, it was fate that one baby was returned & we went down the traditional route & adopted another baby exactly 1 year after baby "S" left our care.

My two are not so little any more, DS is nearly 13 & DD is 5 years 6 months, I would love to adopt again but DH is not to keen, he is keen on fostering though when ours are a lot older.

Good luck with the fostering, both our children had great FC.

love
Andrea
xx


----------



## Lou W

Andrea,
It's lovely to hear your story, we had always thought we would foster when our own children had grown up... I guess the way things have worked we're just having to do it a little earlier than planned. IF is still hard, but I can't help feeling that fostering and adopting is going to be such a wonderful thing to do (as well as being hard at times!) that there was a reason for it after all. Hearing about people like you guys who have come through it and out the other side as a happy family is what keeps us going. It's the waiting game that is so frustrating at the moment! 
I hope one day we will be a happy family just as you are!

Love Lou W xxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

hi

andrea thanks for your messages  Im not sure whether they do concurrent planning in our area or not, they havent mentioned it to us, but then again when asked why we werent looking into adoption at present , i did say it doesnt feel like the right time for us to be doing it yet for lots of reasons one being not sure we are finished with tx and being the age we are we still have a few years left ttc. and we have the time and space to have children in our home and fostering seems the right thing to do at the moment, does that sound weird? 
Its lovely that you are thinking of fostering at some stage. As you say it can be hard and im sure there will be days we are tearing our hair out  but if we can make at least one small difference to a childs life for however long they are with us then its got to be the right thing to do 

Lou like you we always thought we would foster after having our own children but it hasnt worked out that way, life rarely does work the way we want it to   But i can honestly say that since our initial first call to them way back in october i havent had one thought or feeling that we arent doing the right thing, and im someone who goes with my gut instinct. Of course you have moments of what if , but deep down it just feels right 

love 
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Suzie,

I just wanted to reply and say I dont think that sounds weird at all. When we found out we couldn't have children of our own without tx we looked at all our options and realised that tx wasn't for us. We then knew that the only way to have a family was to adopt. We started to look into it but the way was closed and we then thought about fostering earlier then we had always planned. I guess it's quite weird to see all your life plans have to change for something so out of your control, when you have no choice in the matter. I never realised how much we all take fertility for granted as we grow up. Still, the more we looked into fostering the more it seemed like the stepping stone we wanted on our way to adoption. We felt it would teach us a lot and maybe even make us better parents in the end. I think also that however long we foster, one day we will be able to say 'right, enough is enough of saying our goodbyes, now is the time to adopt'. 
I know exactly what you mean about it not quite being the right time for adoption, we too have many years of ttc left, no matter how unlikely all the doctors say that is. 
We feel exactly the same about having the time and space in our home, and fostering feels very right. 

Having said that I still have the very odd moments where I have to reassess, admittedly this only happens every so often when maybe a friend announces they are pg or I am feeling low on first day of AF. I find myself asking myself to be sure that I don't want tx. I always come to the same conclusion and just as you say, deep down it just feels right. Do you  think this is normal though - to have the little doubts every so often I mean?

Oh it's so lovely being able to chat to others who understand, thanks so much for being there - I hope I can be there for everyone else if ever they need it.

Lots of Love,

Lou W xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou 

I think its only natural to have the doubts about to have more tx or not. I guess unless someone tells you it really is never going to happen and its 100% not possible to concieve , I guess there is always the what if's 
I guess the saying never say never applies 

love suzie xx


----------



## kee888

hiya everyone sorry not been around for a while it all seems to be all work and no play at minute   hope everythings ok with everyone?? Olive things seem to be swiftly moving for you hunni hope it keps up going at the pace and all the best of luck for the 1st home visit on mon love keep us infomred how it goes love hows things otherwise

we have had the second training course today and have got the 3rd tom and then the 4th next fri and the 5th next sat then we have been told that its all systems go for s with us doing respite allready for our friends foster child yipppeeeee lol things still ok there still waitning to here from ss to see if they are going to pay for the damage done to my suite allthough the quotes im getting at the minute are £500 plus   and its not looking that hopeful and i think it may put us back a bit as regards to fostering am not sure a feel a wee bit confussed an wish they would say one way or the other that they are going to pay if anyone gets what i mean?? any way sorry for the whnge hope everyone else is ok louw did you get you nat ins number sorted out n that lovie? speak later am sorry am brain dead today lol


----------



## Lou W

Hello!

Kee sorry to hear its not looking good on the reimbursement front  Good news that everything else is moving along though - I can't wait to catch up with you and Suzie   

Sent DH on an expedition to the darkest depths of the attic    and bless him he managed to find an old payslip of mine (see I always told him it was worth keeping all those boxes of cr*p)   So I finally have my National Insurance number and have sent it off to the SW. 
Does anyone know if I'm supposed to let the NI people know that my name has changed now I'm married? I don't work and so therefore dont have to make contributions but not sure if they should know anyway?

Best of luck for Monday Suzie - looking forward to hearing how it goes!

Love Lou W xxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou - prob best just to let them know your change of name , dont know why its best but there you go  sorry no help as usual am i  

Lou - you will be catching up to us in no time at all  ours seems to have gone really quickly,  but thinking about it the first visit we had was way back in October ! and is 5 months ago! 
and still about another 3 to 4 months before we go to panel ! Its all good though 

Kee - good to hear from you  Sorry the sofa is no nearer to being sorted!  hope it resolves itself soon! Glad you are getting on with your course. Wont be long now 

thanks for goodluck wishes for monday 
really hope we all get on ok! will brief dh what he can and cant say  only joking ! but then again he is a man 

love
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Hello everyone!

Suzie - am thinking of you today with your first home visit - can't wait to hear all about it!

Just a quick update from us... Got an email back from SW today after I gave him the NI number, he said that once all the checks are back he will contact us again, and the next step will be to get onto the course. He said that he expects this will be July as our checks probably wont be back in time for the April course  
Am a little bit upset about this, as I'm 99% sure that before I rang him to chase him up he hadn't sent anything out at all.... is a bit too much of a coincidence that everybody received their forms two days after I rang him....   And now I'm thinking that if he'd have sent them off straight away (which was well over a month ago) then maybe we would have made it onto the April course... althoguh myabe not I suppose. 
Oh well... guess we just have to carry on playing the wiating game... it's teaching me to be more patient if nothing else I suppose!

Love to everyone

Lou W xxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou

Our sw told us we could start the course even if our checks werent back! so i would query it! Ours only came back about a week before i think it was in the end and we already were booked on the course ! 

Well sw was lovely thank goodness and really down to earth 
She is coming every week for next 6 and is trying to get a panel date for us for mid may! which isnt too long away if you think about it! 
On the course they said about 4 months from course ! well this well be about 2 months !
Lots of things to do for the assessment, before she comes on monday again! 
She seemed really honest and told us exactly how it is etc which is all i wanted to know  
We have our seperate interviews in 2 weeks time so that should be interesting  

Will keep you updated 

love 
suzie xx

p,s good job she is cat lover , as sammy pounced on her and licked her nose


----------



## Lou W

Olive(Suzie) said:


> p,s good job she is cat lover , as sammy pounced on her and licked her nose


Oh how funny!!!! Our SW did look at us a bit funny when he saw our rabbit in the lounge!! 
So glad it went well for you hunnie, and it's so lovely to hear of things moving along quickly.

I emailed SW yesterday explaining that if we do the April course DH is much more likely to be able to come on it, whereas if we do the July one there is next to no chance that he could. 
Will let you know if I get anything back.

Lou W xxxxxxxx


----------



## Lou W

Well have just got an email back from SW. 
He says if he gets most of the checks back he will consider it, even if they're not all back. So I have hurried up the doctors again. Thing is I don't want to put pressure on the referees as they're doing it as a kind favour anyway really aren't they? Although I'm sure they'd undertsand I guess.
Keep your fingers crossed for us that we get on the April course - I dont really want to go to the July one on my own without DH!

Love Lou W xxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou

get on the phone to your referees and tell them they have to be sent back tomorrow! Seriously if they know it could hold you up months then im sure they would do it tomorrow!! Its not a massive form any way they have to do and should only take a few mins.
Also call your gp and leave message to see if they have sent it back for you!

Your referees wont mind, honest ! 

CALL NOW!! RIGHT THIS MIN!

love
suze x


----------



## Lou W

Crickey Suzie.... Should I be scared??!!  

Talk about cracking the whip!   

Will text them all now, you're right of course!


----------



## Suzie

Sorry I just know what its like and that things can get done with GENTLE persuasion 

let me know what happens

love suze x


----------



## Lou W

Right all three referees have sent their forms back either today or yesterday so that's great - just the docs now. 
spoke to them yday and they said they recieved it on the 2nd and they say it should take no more then 7 days ... that makes it tomorrow i think ( ilose track of the date now i dont work   ) so will pester them again tomorrow if i dont hear from them in the morning. 

Yay looks like hopefully we will be able to do it then!


----------



## Suzie

Lou great stuff 


Now ring the fostering people up and say all referees have def sent forms back today and docs have too ! and then say well thats most of them back then , so want to go on april course! 

trust me it will work 


x


----------



## Lou W

Hmmmmm I have already emailed Sw so much I dont want to set it off on the wrong foot!  

I will wait and speak to doctor tomorrow as I have asked to see my medical report before they send it so I have to wait for that, although I've told them I will go up there immediately when it's ready.

If I email him tomorrow then the referee who sent her form back today should have arrived too!

Lou W xxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

Ok cool 

let me know what happens tomorrow 

x


----------



## Lou W

I will do!  
Thanks for your support (AGAIN!) hun xxxx

Lou W xx


----------



## Suzie

Well had last course this evening  went well and we all have each others phone numbers to keep in touch and out la organises get togethers throughout the year.

so its all down to the 6 home visits for next 6 weeks then panel in may hopefully! 

love
suzie x


----------



## Lou W

Hello!

Just another quick update from me!

I finally managed to get hold of the doctor today (Friday ended up being a bit stressful with my Dad and everything so didnt speak to them then). 
I rang up and said they'd told me their report would only take a maximum of seven days and that it had now been ten. 
The lady said oh yes, we finished and sent it back to the Social Worker on the 8th!!!!!!!! Three times they had assured me by telephone that they would be in touch to let me see the report before it was sent back - and they didn't!!!!!!
I was a little bit anxious as you know that the depression I suffered a few years ago would cause problems, and that is why I had wanted to view the report first, to make sure it was a true reflection. I declared that I had suffered it in the initial forms to the SW and was a little bit worried.
The GP's secretary apologised prefusely and said that with my permition she would go and fetch my file and read it out to me what had been written so I said ok. 
AND......... The letter was quite simple.....! It simply said they could see no reason, medical or otherwise, that would prevent me from being a suitable foster carer!

 YAY!!! 

So it's all ok! The form has been sent back, as have all the referee's reports, and now I'm just waiting to hear from the Social Worker about whether or not we will be allowed to go on the April course. Oh hurrah I finally feel as though things are moving along for us!

Suzie that's great that you've got 'phone numbers to keep in touch with the other people, will be wonderful to build up a support base I'm sure.

Looking forward to hearing how the home visits go - I bet it'll be all great.

Love Lou W xxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## kee888

trying to post a reply everytime i type it and submit i get a message saying the page cannot be displayed is anyone else having problems?

p.s hi to everyone will keep trying to post a message


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## Suzie

Kee sorry you had trouble posting  not sure why hope you are ok?

Lou  yay all the forms are back! Really hope you get to go on the april course  Then it really starts to feel like its real 

Sw due in half hour ! For second visit
We got out form F folder last week so are making a start on that today   Its not near as bad as i thought it would be, has a bit about infertility in it but not much and im cool with talking about it anyway 

will let you know how it goes later

love to all
suzie x


----------



## Suzie

Just wanted to tell you about our visit 

Second visit done and approx 4 more to go! 

Panel has been booked for June 12th 10am! 

Thats the earliest one they have, she even knew dh would be off school that day and fitted it around him! Without us even having to ask 
Puts my faith back in the social services slightly 

So lots of tasks to do before next visit on monday 

love to all
suzie x


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## alex28

Great news suzie!!!!!  Your panel date is a few week before ours so cant wait to read your news.


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## Suzie

Thanks Alex  

Will look out for your news 

xx


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## Lou W

Ok me again!!

I think I know what you're going to say Suzie.... perhaps that's why I'm posting - so you can make me take action   

Ok so I know all the referee forms went back well over a week ago, and I know the Gp sent the medical forms back on the 8th. Still haven't heard from SW.... should I give him a call/email and prod him? After previous experince am worried that he wont do anything without a little nudge.... but also don't want to annoy him! 

Am just thinking that if we are going to go on the April course that's really not very far away and we haven't even been given the dates so that we can organise stuff around them.

What do you reckon

Lou W XXXXXXXXXX


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## Suzie

Lou 

you know what im gonna say 

seriously though if we hadnt have called and chased them a few times during this process im sure we would still be waiting for course dates and social worker to contact us! so GET ON THE PHONE TOMORROW AND CALL THEM 
Explain it to them just as you have posted above 


We had our seperate interviews today and seemed to go well  So have 3 more home visits booked at the moment and then panel for 12th June . 
Need to make a start on our lifebook to take to panel! and needs lots of ideas for it , so all suggestions gratefully recieved 

let me know how you get on lou 

Kee - any news?

love 
suzie x


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## Lou W

Suzie,

see I knew you'd kick my bottom into action    

I emailed Social Worker today and got a reply this afternoon. I said that I had confirmed with refs and GP that their forms had all been returned, and hoped that this meant we could go on April course. 
He said he had most of the checks back and had therefore put our names forward for it and we should receive a letter about it soon. 

However something else came up. As we haven't lived here long two of our referees are not in our area. I knew that SW had mentioned that some or all would need to be interviewed personally and let him know in the email that Steve's mum has said she is willing to travel to Bristol if it makes things easier to arrange. 
He replied that he would not be doing the inerviews, and that it would be our case worker who would be assigned to us after the course - so I take it this means we are getting a different SW to actually register with hmmm hadn't realised that. 
Oh well, not to bothered - whatever!

Glad the personal interviews went well hun, hope DH behaved himself  just kiddin  

Three more home visits to go - how cool! 

Speak soon
Lou W XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


----------



## Lou W

Just to let you know I got the letter!!!!!

   

And it looks as though Steve will be able to make all the dates too! Hurrah!

Lou xxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou thats fab news 

you will get a different sw from the one you have seen. When you finish the course you get assigned a supporting sw who completes the home visits and does the interviews with referees if needed etc. The sw should contact you some time during the course or just after. They should mention it to you when you are on the course 

We have to do our matching form on monday at our visit, to say which situations would fit with us etc, so should be good. 

The sw also recommended to me a couple of books on attachment and when placements end. She is going to email me the details so i will let you know 

We are gonna start out lifebook for panel this week, my neices and nephews have drawn us pictures to put in it 

Such good news about the course!!
Keep me updated 

love
suzie xx


----------



## Suzie

another update 

sw visit today and went really well again  she really is lovely and seems to get what me and dh are like 
She said she is happy to recommend we have a sibling group  and excited!!  and thinks we will cope 

We talked about how to prepare ourselves for our lives and routines to be blown totally out of the water! and to expect the unexpected! 
She is also one of a handful of people who have ever said to me that she thinks I had courage to give up nursing and admit that i didnt enjoy it and to find something i did want to do! most people frowned upon it and said i was chucking my life away at the time. so was really refreshing to hear her say that. 
She sees no problem with any thing so far and form f is two thirds complete , i have some things to do this week for her as she is bringing her manager next week as well , its something they are all bringing in to at least one visit. 
At the moment i am feeling really positive about it and just want to get to panel! Bring it on 

Hows this with you guys? 

sorry for the ramble 

Cant wait til you start the course lou! wont be long 

love
suzie xx


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## kee888

Well a big hello to everyone how are you all?? Some excellent news have just been catching up seems ages since I came and logged on and said hello to everyone its been really busy with one thing and another and although we have been back off holiday for a week we were home for two days then went to stay at friends to look after kids and pets as friends partner was taking her to Paris  for her birthday and to propose awww bless (and she said yes lol) omg another wedding lol that’s one this coming Saturday, one on the 30th April  and one on 19th august then the more recent one which they are planning for this year too lol all money money money but I love it lol also got another holiday coming up on 24th April for a week dh and I and Megan are off to Scotland for a week yippee then im taking my grandma to bridlington for a week on the 1st of may omg when am I going to have a break but its all worth it I love doing things for people. So once again apologise for not been round much and I apologise for not going to bee round much in next few weeks sorry guys however I do always think about you all every day.

Louw wow fantastic news on getting in on the April course omg that’s this month whens your 1st hun Are you looking forward to it I was glad when ours was over but I did find it very informative and really enjoyed it all round.

Olive omg omg omg wow that’s fantastic you have your panel date and its not that long away now either especially now seen as were in April lol yippee hows thing going love glad you are enjoying the home visits cant wait to start ours now lol.

Quick update on our fostering front lol cheque finally arrived for the suite repairing yippee at least something is moving but as for visits starting and moving forward nothing seems to be happening much the sw who deals with the type of fostering we want to do (care plus) is on holiday and has sent us a letter to say she wont be able to look at things etc etc until mid April grrrr im finding it so frustrating especially even more so has we do respite fostering for our friends boy who is also a care plus foster child Nothing seems to make sence to me oh well suppose ill give sw a ring mid April to find out what is happening if I have not heard anything its so frustrating any one else feel this??

Does any one have any idea what types of fostering you are all wanting to do? Just curious that’s all.

Well better toodle sorry for the moan but feel loads better when writing it down lol take care everyone

Love Keeley x


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## Suzie

hi kee 

and i thought i was busy  you sound like you have some great things to look forward to 

We are asking panel to approve us for age 3 to 10 and for short term which also includes respite if we want to do that. Short term is supposed to be up to 18 month placements but who knows, it is becoming clear that we need to expect the unexpected 

hope you hear something soon

love
suzie x


----------



## Suzie

Lou when does your course start? just wondering 

x


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## Lou W

Hello! 
Suzie it starts a week on Tuesday (18th)  
we have two tues and two thurs evenings and two saturday full days! 

Very excited!

Lou xx


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## Suzie

Woo hoo  I should have just looked at your ticker  

Fab then you will have loads to tell me about 

xx


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## Suzie

well last sw visit was done this week 

she is bringing the finished report for us to see in a couple of weeks and then she has to send it to panel by the 1st june ready for panel on the 12th 

It seemed to have gone really quickly! even though it was sept when we initially enquired!

If panel say yes then its off for the signature of someone in social services which can take up to about 3 weeks!! then first placement here we come 

Lou - cant wait til you start your course next week! if you want any help just yell 

Kee - hows things with you?

love
suzie xx


----------



## Suzie

Lou 

 for the fostering course starting tomorrow 

Let us know how you get on 

xx


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## kee888

good luck with the course tommorow lou am sure you will both throughly enjoy it let us know how it goes xx


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## kee888

Hello everyone sorry for the awol  its been that mad round here lately I hardly find the time to log on!
Oh well a kwik update from me nothing seems to be happening on our front with the visits all we keep getting told is there is a shortage of sw hence them not able to start dunt make sence really to say they are screaming out for foster carers!?? The young lad who had for respite of our friends has now had to go in a childrens home after a lot of tooing and throwing it was decided it was too dangerous for him to be in a family and they now consider him unfosterable (aww bless him) as in a nutshell he tried to burn there family home down and they were having to have the police out nearly every night because of his violence. Hence not been around has been busy trying to support our friends at this difficult time and her own children are finding it really hard has they had got attached to him and he was there first foster child not a nice situation however my friend is like right whens the next one coming I think its part of her way of dealing with it and the healing process we did a smooth move with and we were all involved so im hoping he can make something of been there has he could not do the family situation he just could not handle it bless him he was a very confussed child with very very complex needs.

We are considering looking into doing fostering through a private agency too as the la seem to be taking so long as they have got no staff to do the home visits even though we did respite care for our friends its so annoying we want to get the ball rolling but all we seem to keep doing is hitting wall after wall oh well sorry for the moan people maybe I will feel a bit better when we had our holiday next week hope this dreaded cold goes away by then had it a week now and its doing my nut in 

Take care every one love kee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Lou W

Hello!

Thankyou so much for the good luck wishes for tonight!

So very sorry I've not been around the last two or three days, had god-daughter staying with us so it's been rather hectic!! 
She's going home late this afternoon and then the course starts at 7pm. Have to go in on my own as Steve has a game today and will have to turn up late   Hope it wont be too scary going in on my own!!

Thinking I need to take a pad and pen, is there anything else you can recommend I should take?
Will check back on here in a bit!

Looking forward to being able to catch up with you properly tomorrow!

Love Lou xxxx


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## Boomerang girl

wanted to wish you good luck tonight lou
x


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## KarenM

Wow

Can't believe how things have moved on for you all whilst I have been AWOL.

Good luck for the course Lou

Olive - great news on panel.

Kee - good luck to you too

TTFN
Karen x


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## jilldill

Hi Lou,
hope it all went ok tonight let us know love JD x


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## Lou W

Helloooo!

JD, Karen and Boomer, thank you so much for your kind good luck wishes xx

Kee - So sorry to hear that things are going slowly, I hope your cold disappears and you can have a well deserved holiday! 

Soooo.... last night! 
Well I really can't believe how well it went! 
In a strange way it almost helped me that I went in on my own. I think it made me be braver if that makes sense. It's only a five minute walk from our house, so that gave me time to calm myself down and deal with my nerves on the way there! I arrived at the same time as another couple which meant I didn't feel quite so on my own! Fortunately Steve was only half an hour after me and didn't miss anything important. 

The first thing we had to do was the usual talk to the person next to you and then tell the group about why they want to foster etc. 
I decided I was more than comfortable to be open about us not being able to have children of our own, and I felt fine when this was said to the group by the man I had spoken to. It surprised me actually, and it made me realise that I really have accepted it now - which I think is a really important milestone. 

A lot of the rest of the evening was the SWs talking to us about why children are fostered, and how they come into the 'looked after' programme. 
We talked about the rights that the parents still have when the fostering is done on a 'voluntary' basis, which is good because it's one of the areas Steve and I had questions about. 

We then watched a video where foster carers and fostered children talked about what they felt was important to them, and then we were split into groups and had to write down what we thought were the main points. 
It had to be presented to everyone, and I stood up and did it!!!!!!! I know that those of you who have met me (the Bristol girls) would not consider me shy   but honestly I have always been terrified of standing up in front of a group of strangers. 
I think I did really well though - in fact I again surprised myself at how calm I was and I didn't feel very nervous at all - even though I went first! 
Steve said he was really proud of me - he's never seen me do anything so out-going like that before! And it's really boosted my confidence, I now know I can do things like that. 

We have a bit of homework to do and the next one is tomorrow night, followed by all day Saturday and the same next week.

I know we haven't covered the really hard stuff yet, but we both left feeling really positive about where we are heading. I think we both feel we can really do this, and do it well. 
There was a lady there who has been a foster carer for 7 years, and it was wonderful to have her insight. The SWs all seemed very down-to-earth and lovely, I really felt like they were honest about everything, and they seemed .... don't know how to describe it.... well, trustworthy if that makes sense. 

Am so happy now, I really feel as though we are going somewhere now, and I can't wait for tomorrow night! I don't even mind that I have to go on my own again! And I was actually happy to be given homework   

Thanks to all again for your good luck wishes, I really appreciate it!

Love Lou xxxxx


----------



## Viva

Hi Lou,
So lovely to hear how well things went last night, all the best for the rest of the course...you're properly underway now!
Love Viva
XXX


----------



## Suzie

lou!!

You sounded just like me after our first course!! 

I talked in front of the group etc and i wouldnt normally with people i dont know! ( i know some of you wont believe it but i am quite shy! )
and i also had to get there before Drew as he was at work!

Im so glad you feel things are moving now  There is harder stuff on the others ones as you say but if you know its the right thing for you to be doing then you will be just fine 

Hope tonight goes well also !

Keep us updated  
Everytime i look at my panel ticker it scares me 

Kee - sounds like you have had a time of it! Really hope things start moving for you ! 

thanks for the goodluck wishes Karen

love to all
suzie xx


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## Lou W

Olive(Suzie) said:


> Everytime i look at my panel ticker it scares me


Awww but it's so exciting though!!!! 

Out of interest how long was it after your prep course that you got your panel date? Think I have possible asked this before 
Obviously all LAs will be different but is it right that I'm excited about things moving forward now or should I calm down a bit?? 

Some less good news.... turns out there is a game on the final Staurday... which means that if Steve plays in it he wont be able to make it  Am going to talk to them tonight about it.... I'm so worried that they would make us do the whole thing again, there was a couple there on Tues where the DH had missed some of it last time and they had to re-take the whole thing.
If that happened the next one isn't until July - which there is no way Steve could do. The next one after that wouldn't be until around October and it would seem such a waste to have to put things on hold like that 

Lou xxx


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## Suzie

hi lou

dont worry! one couple on ours had a wedding and couldnt make a session so they just did that session at another time 
Also one of the couples the man had to work one session and they said it was fine as the woman of the couple had been present at the session 

im sure it will be fine 

We did the course in february and we started home assesment the week after our course finished  
we could have gone to panel now but 12th june was the first one she could get us on! as they dont meet that often.
We started the home assessment quickly after the course as our sw has only 2 couple on at the moment so was quite flexible as to when she could come round etc.

hope tonight goes well for you 

xx


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## Lou W

Hello!

Thanks Suzie, you were right (as usual     ) I went down there early to talk to them about it, and they said they totally understand the situation and as long as I'm present it wont be a problem  YAY!

If it's ok I thought I would give another brief outline of what we covered in each session, thought it might be nice for future FFers who may go down this route. 

Last night went well too, It felt like there was a lot more listening this time, and we covered 
*The importance of a name - spelling it right, not assuming its ok to shorten it etc
*Prejudices, Discrimination, Racism etc. 
*Watched another video where children talked about what aspects of foster care were most important to them. 

I was amazed at some of the things that came up on the video, like one little girl who said that at school her friends didn't treat her any differently but the teachers did. 

I went through the helath and safety check list around our home and am qute amazed at some of the stuff I'd never thought about having to change before. Silly things like not being able to have a vase of flowers where I like to becuase the glass will be within reach of the child, as well as more important things like our fridge being at the correct temperature (well ours freezes things if you put them too close to the back so think we'll have to get a new one AGHHH!)
Theres all the obvious ones like stair gates and socket covers, but also a carbon monoxide detector - didn't even know they existed before!! 

Steve and I were talking last night and we have a few questions. Obviously we will talk to the SW about them, but I thought that if I perhaps wrote them down here others might know....

1) Babysitting. 
How does this work? I think it will be important to Steve and I to still have a night to ourselves, even just once a month. I'm pretty sure my M I L would be more than happy to come up and stay in order to give us this time, and I would trust her implicitly. Does she need to be CRB checked and approved to be with the child unsupervised? She is a retired teacher so I know there is no problems there, but I just wondered? And if she does have to be CRB checked do we need to pay for this to be done? 

2) Staying with family.
All my family live up in the Midlands, and I often go and stay with them when Steve is on away trips. Do you think I will still be ok to do this? I know obviously this will depend on the particular child sometimes too, but if the child is comfortable enough to do it would it be ok? I would think that it's important to the child to have the experience of our extended family, to show how loving and caring a whole family can be.

3) If it is ok to do the above, then do those people have to be checked CRB etc as well? Or only if the child would be left unsupervised with them? Also we were learning a little about how the parental rights remain firmly with the birth parents when a CPO is not in place and the fostering is on a 'voluntary' basis. The SW did warn that some can choose to be awkward in order to fight the system, would the birth parents object to the child going visiting outside the county do you think?

4) Insurance. 
Am I right in thinking that if an accident was to happen whilst the child is in our care then we are responsible and the birth parents can take legal action against us? If this is the case then can we be insured for this? Also if we have SWs visiting the premises on a regular basis do you need something like additional liability insurance at home? And will our normal house insurance provider need to be informed that we have a child living with us and that they are fostered? 

Ok that's all the questions for now!!  
If anybody knows any answers that would be great! If not I'll talk to the SW about them anyway!

Thanks for listening to my ramble!

Love Lou xxxx


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## Suzie

Lou see told you! im always right   ummmm not!

Glad that its ok !


Can try and answer your questions  

1 Re babysitting :  I have spoken at length with our sw about this as there is one night a week where dh and i both work ( in term time ) and my mil or my bro and sil will be looking after our child/children that we have at the time.
The sw said that its no different as if they were our children, we have to use our judgement on who we leave them with, 
she did say that if the child has issues with routines such as bedtime routines then might be helpful for my mil to babysit at our house so the routine isnt affected etc. She also said it is important we still have couple time 

2. I also asked about taking the child/children away to stay with family. although my situation is slightly different in that my parents live in france so depends on if they have a passport and if they dont it can be difficult getting one for  a child in care sometimes, but just depends on the placement.
With regards to taking them in this country its not a problem. as long as it doesnt coincide with contact visits if they have any. You just have to out of courtesy let your supporting sw and the childs sw know that you are going away etc 

3. We talked at length about the placements that are not on a care order and are in care on a "voluntary" basis. Although the parental rights do remain with the parents when child isnt on care order , you have to use your own judgement as to what you do and how much the sw decides to tell the parent as to your movements etc, that prob sounds awful for the parents but we cant put our lives on hold and be dictated to if someone decides to be awkward, does that make sense? Prob has come out all wrong but didnt mean it to  

If someone is on an occasional babysitting duty then the sw said to us that they dont need to be crb checked, it would only be if someone was looking after the child for a long period of time and regularly.


4 Re insurance :  You have to make your home and car insurance companies aware you are registered foster carers, it shouldnt make any difference to your policies but they do need to be told if not can invalidate your cover.
Also re parents taking legal action, im not 100% sure on this one , i think when you become approved you get some sort of protection cover provided by social services and also the fostering network. May be best to check this out more with your sw.


The thing i have tried to keep in my mind is that yes they are in care and yes depending on their background and past experiences will have lots of maybe different issues then children of their age but they are still children ! Who if they hurt themselves need a hug or if are naughty then need the time out step   etc 
When they are living in my home they will be treated as part of my family and i will treat them the same as i do my neices and nephews  
When we were asked about our motivation for applying , we simply said we have a home and we have love and there are children who need these, so coudnt be any clearer in my mind  

Hope i have answered some of the questions for you?

 with the next course ! 

love
suzie xx

p.s have to keep typing child/children as still getting my head around there is prob gonna be more than one!!


----------



## jilldill

Hi Olive and Lou,
Just to say it is fascinating to read all that info. I hadn't given foster care a great deal of thought as I have never considered it as an option. I think it is a fab thing to be doing hats off to you both.
Love JD x


----------



## lisa.m

hi,  i hope you dont mind if i join you, (ive got a few questions)
we sent our fostering application back in january 06 as i didnt think i could go through with ivf (i have a terrible fear of needles) but then in march we decided to have a go, unfortunatly it didnt work but im planning on having one more go in june, we had a letter from s/w in feb saying they ll be in touch but still havent heard anything. what i was wondering was  how long does it normaly take to be contacted? but my main question is  if my second ivf works, will i still be allowed to foster? i would realy like to continue down the fostering route if i do get pregnant as its something we ve always wanted to do, but im not sure if they have policies on fostering whilst pregnant, but i dont want to postpone the application because the success rate of icis/ivf  isnt that high.
any advice would be appreciated,
lisa x x


----------



## Suzie

hi lisa 

social services wont process an application for fostering if you are still having treatment. They are happy for you to have treatment once you have been approved and had some placements.
We are having a break from ttc so are in the process of the fostering assessment, we may go back to having treatment next year as we have some on hold. 
If you sent your application in january you should have heard something way before now! Sometimes you have to give them a kick! they even told me that i should chase them once in a while! 
It is probably best to give them a ring and have a chat with them about it all as different counties may have different polices but ours definately doesnt allow tx while in the fostering application assessment.



hope this helps a bit 

love
suzie xx


----------



## lisa.m

thanks suzie,
i think ill wait until we know the out come of our second ivf before i go chasing them, so what would happen if you were half way through the process and you fell pregnant, would they not allow you to foster or would you have to wait until your child was a certain age?
sorry for all the questions
lisa x


----------



## Suzie

Hi

They ask you to use contraception while you are going through the process to avoid pregnancy as i guess they feel its a waste of time and resources if you were to fall pg and give up half way through. Not sure how many people actually do use contraception though 
If you fell pg and wanted to continue with the process too im not sure what would happen?

love
suzie xx


----------



## Suzie

did my questions not help Lou?  

Only joking 

xx


----------



## Lou W

Hello!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date with how the course is going! Had a bit of a mad few days really!

Suzie your answers to my questions were great hun - thank you so much for that. The opportunity came up quite nicely at the next session to ask them, so I was glad to get it all sorted. Thought I would write them down here in case anybody else ever wonders similar things....

1) Babysitting. 
How does this work? I think it will be important to Steve and I to still have a night to ourselves, even just once a month. I'm pretty sure my M I L would be more than happy to come up and stay in order to give us this time, and I would trust her implicitly. Does she need to be CRB checked and approved to be with the child unsupervised? She is a retired teacher so I know there is no problems there, but I just wondered? And if she does have to be CRB checked do we need to pay for this to be done?

Basically we were told we would nominate various people who we felt would be having a fair amount of contact with any child in our care. Social Services would then complete CRB checks on these people to make sure they were suitable. They encouraged us that yes we would need time to ourselves sometimes and were more than happy for MIL to babysit. 

2) Staying with family.
All my family live up in the Midlands, and I often go and stay with them when Steve is on away trips. Do you think I will still be ok to do this? I know obviously this will depend on the particular child sometimes too, but if the child is comfortable enough to do it would it be ok? I would think that it's important to the child to have the experience of our extended family, to show how loving and caring a whole family can be.

3) If it is ok to do the above, then do those people have to be checked CRB etc as well? Or only if the child would be left unsupervised with them? Also we were learning a little about how the parental rights remain firmly with the birth parents when a CPO is not in place and the fostering is on a 'voluntary' basis. The SW did warn that some can choose to be awkward in order to fight the system, would the birth parents object to the child going visiting outside the county do you think?

This would be fine as long as the child was comfortable with it, and obviously the people would be CRB checked re above answer. They did say that sometimes awkward birth parents may have issues with the child leaving the county, but in that instance they just wouldn't place a child with us that would disrupt that family visiting. 

4) Insurance. 
Am I right in thinking that if an accident was to happen whilst the child is in our care then we are responsible and the birth parents can take legal action against us? If this is the case then can we be insured for this? Also if we have SWs visiting the premises on a regular basis do you need something like additional liability insurance at home? And will our normal house insurance provider need to be informed that we have a child living with us and that they are fostered?

The SW said on the personal insurance front (ie us getting sued) they are going to discuss this further with the management and get back to us. So far as both house and car insurance go we do have to notify them that we will be fostering and they may in some cases attach and extra premium. We don't need liability insurance for SWs visiting as the council covers that.

So there you go! 

Saturday's session was interesting - we started to cover more indepth things such as abuse and safe care for us as carers to protect ourselves against allegations and such like. It threw up some interesting points for Steve and I to discuss - for example we didn't feel we could take on a child who was unable to be bathed and dressed by a man, primarily because this would put a massive responsibility on me and if I wanted to maybe go up and stay with my best friend overnight it would be impossible to leave Steve alone with the child. We briefly discussed this at tonight's session - and it didn't seem to be a massive problem, just again something they would not match us with.

Tonight's session was about what we could and couldn't cope with behaviour wise, and discussing how a child's development may be behind their chronological age, and how they act this out in their behaviour.

It was another good and positive meeting, and I'm looking forward to the next session again!

_hmmm wonder if this might be the longest post in FF history_ 

Love to all,
Lou xxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou W said:


> Saturday's session was interesting - we started to cover more indepth things such as abuse and safe care for us as carers to protect ourselves against allegations and such like. It threw up some interesting points for Steve and I to discuss - for example we didn't feel we could take on a child who was unable to be bathed and dressed by a man, primarily because this would put a massive responsibility on me and if I wanted to maybe go up and stay with my best friend overnight it would be impossible to leave Steve alone with the child. We briefly discussed this at tonight's session - and it didn't seem to be a massive problem, just again something they would not match us with.
> 
> Love to all,
> Lou xxxxxxxxxxxx


lou this was something that dh and i brought up on our course and with our social worker. As i work some evenings and as you say i cant be here 24 hours a day every day.
Our sw said to us that although you have to think about safe caring and not putting ourselves in situation that could cause a problem, we also have to think of the practicalities of things. and that safe caring can be taken too far! Such as dh not being able to put a 2yr old in the bath etc ! which quite simply is mad! as a 2yr old can not be left in the bath alone or is able to wash or dry itself properly! 
Hope im conveying what i mean? prob not knowing me 

hope the next ones goes just as well for you!

we have sent off for our lifebook to be completed for us today  just hanging around waiting for panel now!

love to all
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Hmmm should I be worried that I understand what you mean Suzie   
 

must have been on here too long if you're starting to make sense to me    

Seriously though, I know exactly what you mean. I think Steve and I just got a little bit worried because having no older children (as most of the others on our course have) there will be lots of times when we are on our own with the child. I think like you say though it's mostly about being aware of situations you put yourselves into. 

Last nights session was good, but it brought up a few feelings for me and I was close to having to take a break at one point, but I didn't want to as I was worried it might reflect badly on me. I got through it though so that's the main thing. 

Saturady is the last day!!!! We will be covering attatchment in the morning and then going through the rest of the registration process in the afternoon. Unfortunately we wont find out for another couple of weeks who our SW will be as they missed their meeting. 
I really hope it's one particular SW, but to be honest I think I'd be happy with any of them. 

Getting very exciting now, as well as scary. 
I was wondering, is it normal to occasionally have little doubts about it? I dont mean anything major but sometimes I do get a bit scared and think what a lot it is to take on. I always come back to the point of really wanting to do it after I think about whatever it is that was worrying me, but I just wondered if it was normal?

Love Lou xxxxxxxxx


----------



## Ruthiebabe

totally normal lou....i switch between being terrified and then being ecstatic....difficult for DH to keep up, but then he's used to me by now!!

have fun tomorrow


----------



## Suzie

lou

Absolutely completely NORMAL!!! as ruth says!! 

For me its the fear of the unknown!  About what our first placement is going to be and how many children for a start!! as that is a big thing! I guess once you have done it you know how to deal with the first few days of a placement. All i keep remembering is how that child/ren must feel to be placed somewhere totally alien to them and thats its 1 million times more scary for them than it ever will be for us. 

Im really really wanting to just get started now! As soon as you start your home visits with sw you will really get into the swing of things! you will have things to do and feel like you are getting somewhere. 

For us now we are all done til panel and thats ( let me just look at my ticker   ) 40  odd days away!! seems like ages but im sure it will fly by as off to parents in france before then too 

Sw is coming back with finished report/folder for us on may 15th so looking forward to seeing that.
Hopefully on sat you will get your form f folder so can see what things you will be doing with your sw. Gives you more of an idea what to expect.

I think if someone said they dont have doubts then they are either not normal or a good liar   I dont have doubts about doing it as it feels 100% the right thing for us , but i have doubts about everything else and the changes that are going to happen etc 

love
suzie xx

p.s yes i would start to worry if i were you that im starting to make sense to you


----------



## Lou W

Well that's it - PREP COURSE COMPLETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Today's session was great, it was really quite informal, more of just a group discussion with lots of opportunities to ask questions and really get to understand what happens with regard to registration from here on in. 
There was one sticky moment for me when we had to talk about our own experience of leaving home (mine wasn't out of choice) but to be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. 

We're both feling really, really positive now. We have been given part one and two of the F1 form to have a browse over, and hopefully we should hear in the next week or so who our allocated SW will be. 

They said that from here it should take between 3 and 6 months until we go to panel, 6 months being the absolute maximum providing everything is straight-forward. I can only imagine how quickly those months are going to pass - so very exciting! 

One of the SWs talked about a foster carer they have at the moment who is a baby pre-adoption foster carer. Steve and I have been discussing this, and we really feel this might be perfect for us, not just with babies, but with any children whp are getting ready for adoption. We are starting to really think in-depth about what type of fostering we think we could do, and what type of children we could take on. There's so much to think about, and also lots of instance where we just don't know - bcause quite honestly a lot of the time how do you know if you could cope with something until you have experienced it? Some of them we do just have gut-reactions on though, and I guess it is important to honour those feelings. 

Ruthie and Suzie thanks so much for the reassurance on being normal! And Suzie you are so right, thinking of it from the child's point of view really does put it into perspective. 

Right we have been given a reccommended reading list so will go and add it to the book thread for everyone. 

Love to all, thanks for your on-going support.
Lou xxxx

PS Suzie I'm counting down the days with you hun - so exciting! xxx


----------



## Suzie

Lou

prep course finshed  and the home study will fly by for you im sure 

We finshed prep i think in feb and panel June and they told us about 4 months so they were spot on! 

Lou i think the pre adoption fostering is what our sw's call bridging placements.
As well as short term and respite we are also being approved ( hopefully  ) for bridging placements 
As it feels right for us too 
She did say we wouldnt get any bridging placements until after our first couple of short term ones as lots more to consider such as working with the adoptive family and also preparing the child etc but they sound like great placements to be able to be involved with.

Hope sw calls you soon! If not call them  

Im just biding my time til panel!! Im not to good at waiting 

love to all
suzie x


----------



## Lou W

Hello!

Well just to say we still haven't heard who our SW will be or when they are going to come to start home study - but they did say it oculd be 2 weeks before we heard and it has only been a week - I'm so impatient though!!

Am also a bit concerned that our CRB checks still haven't been completed.... seems to be taking an awfully long time. 

Dh and I have just sat and done a first draft of our ECOMAP this afternoon - it was quite enjoyable really. Wish there was more stuff we could be getting on with to help it all move along a bit quicker... any ideas?

Hope everyone else is well, seems we're all just sitting and waiting at the moment  

Lou xxx


----------



## cindyp

I thought I'd just do a quick pop in to see how you're all getting on and a lot seems to have happened.

Lou, it's a pain whatever you do, you either "sit and wait" or "phone and nag".  Neither option being very appealing.  Unfortunately sometimes the CRB checks can take a long while dependant on the local police authority and how much work they have on.  If you look back on some posts some people have had their CRB's back in 2 weeks and others have had to wait months.  Unfortunately, apart from reading more books there is not generally a lot more you can do.  As for the doubts, Suzie is right.  I think we'd be lying if we didn't say we'd all had them, it's a major change to your life.  Hang in there.

Suzie, I can't believe your panel date has come around so soon.  I know it's been a while but it hardly seems a second since you started this fostering thread.  I must admit time seems to fly a lot faster when you have children.  How many children are you going to be approved for?  Are you going to be like that foster Mum who was voted Mum of the Year, she had about 32!!   

Lisa, we said we'd use contraception and of course we didn't.  We considered it the one positive aspect of being if, not having to use anything.  My attitude was if I was incredibly lucky enough to full pg after 10 years ttc then it would be meant to be.  From a SS point of view, they consider it would be a waste of their time and resources to get you to panel if you couldn't 100% devote yourselves to the children they place.  Whether they take this attitude as much for fostering, I couldn't comment.

From a recipient of bridging fostering, our foster carers were great and it was such a good thing that they did.  However, it was hard for them to let go, DS's foster Mum said that she wanted the best for him but it was sad to see him go. She'd looked after him for almost a year from the age of 3 months, she'd watched him take his first solid food, his first steps, say his first word, have his first birthday and his first Xmas and then she had to hand him over to us.  When we met her a month later she told me that she'd spent the whole day crying when he left, but that she was so pleased that he'd settled with us.  It's a rewarding job but a hard one, then again the same could be said for any form or parenting, and it is so much better for the children if they've had a good, loving foster home to come from.

love
Cindy


----------



## Suzie

cindyp said:


> Suzie, I can't believe your panel date has come around so soon. I know it's been a while but it hardly seems a second since you started this fostering thread. I must admit time seems to fly a lot faster when you have children. How many children are you going to be approved for? Are you going to be like that foster Mum who was voted Mum of the Year, she had about 32!!
> 
> love
> Cindy


Hi cindy thanks for popping by to see us! 

I can't believe panel is so close now either   and i havent finished our life book yet!!
We are  being approved for 3 to 11 years and one or 2 children . We are doing short term , respite and bridging placements first of all 

The sw is going to visit my sil and sis and 2 of my friends this week   so that should be interesting 

Lou - have you heard anything yet? If not then give them a nudge call the end of the week  They told us to do this 

love to all
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Hello,

Cindy thanks for your message, lovely of you to pop in!
It was really good to hear your experience of bridging fostering. I can totally understand how hard it must have been for them to say goodbye - but to be honest I don't know if that would ever be easy, particularly when you've had them from so young as to hear/see all those firsts. 
I guess the way we have been looking at it is that if a family has been chosen to adopt that child/children then we can have faith in the system that an awful lot of research and work has gone into that match and that the child will be safe, loved and happy. I only hope that this would ease the pain of waving bye bye. 
I think that saying goodbye to a child who is returning to their birth parents and then fearing that they will become a 'yo-yo' child or that their b parents will not cope again will make letting go so much harder. 

Does any of that make sense??!!

Suzie - no hun we haven't heard yet - it will be two weeks on Saturday, which they said it could take 2 weeks. So if I haven't heard from the before I will ring them on my lunch break Monday. Fingers crossed we hear something before then and I will be sure to let you know as soon as we do!!

Hope the visits with family and friends go well hun - I bet they will. 

Love and huggles,
Lou xxx


----------



## Lou W

*WE GOT OUR LETTER!!

HERE WE GO.... ITS STARTING!!  * ​
Woke up this morning to a letter from SS! We have been allocated our SW and she will be in touch soon to organise first date of our home study!

It was from the Family Placement Team manager and she said she expects us to go to panel by October this year!!
OMG all feels very real to think of Panel only being 4 1/2 months away!!!!!!!!!!

SO excited and got flutters in my tummy - not sure if they're nerves or excitement, bit of both I think! 

Woohoo!


Hope everyone else is ok.
Love to all!

Lou xxxxxx  xxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

WOO HOO LOU ( that rhymes ! )









fab news on getting your letter  October will be here before you know it! It will be 4 months from when our home sessions started and we go to panel and its flown by!
Im busying working on our life book! I realised i dont have any recent pics of me at all as i hate having them taklen so dh is gonna take some of me tomorrow ! doing what i have no idea as cant have one sitting in the pub can i 

Sw went to see my bro and sil last night and they say it all went well! She is off to my sisters on monday. 

she did take someone to panel on monday and they got defered until july !! I think it was due to personal problems but of course i then start panicking !!  so now until 12th i will be worrying about the slightest thing 

Glad you are getting started! lou

love
suzie xx


----------



## Suzie

sw just did an unannounced visit 

good job i was looking tidy and house was tidy 

I have a copy of finished report in my hand to look over!! How exciting 


love
suzie xx


----------



## kee888

aww excellant olive well done lol whats it say is it good? lol hope you all well not long now we have just got our dates for our medicals somne time in june cant remember exact date lol sorry guys  good luck to everyone so busy at min p.s our friends got matched again tody they got a girl going to say with them 9 years old and she is long term so exciting lol cya soon love kee


----------



## Lou W

Thats brilliant Suzie!!! 

Hows it look - are you happy with it? 

Ooooooooooh its all getting exciting for you now!  

Lou xxxxxxx


----------



## Laine

Hello,

Lou - Great nnews on starting HS....good luck.  Panel by October is good to hear too.

Suzie - hope the report is ok...not long for you now  

Laine


----------



## Suzie

Lou W said:


> Thats brilliant Suzie!!!
> 
> Hows it look - are you happy with it?
> 
> Lou xxxxxxx


well sw did say its draft copy and to underline all spelling mistakes! ( never heard of spell check! ) and amend any facts that arent correct!

A couple of incorrect facts , but spelling and grammar is shocking   and dh being a teacher has gone over it very carefully 

But all in all is really good  and says really positive stuff about us  I also think sw thinks i am gonna make a fostering my vocation!  as she has said it about 6 times  
I told her ask me after the first placement has arrived 

So just putting finishing touches to lifebook which is looking ok  and then final sw and her manager visit on monday with completed file for panel ! Not long now ^shocked^

Kia - lovely to hear from you, and good news about your friend 

Laine thanks for popping by and the good wishes . hows your home stdy going?

Lou - have you heard from sw yet?

love 
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Hello,

Just some news from me....
We have decided to put our application on hold. Theres lots of reasons and DH and I have discussed it a lot over the last week or so. He is going to ring SS tomorrow to let them know. 

I will still be around on here, and wishing you all so much luck  

Love Lou xxxx


----------



## alex28

hi Lou 

oh my god!  im really sorry to hear your news and i know it must of been a hard decision for you to make and you have your reasons.

Just to say we are all thinking of you and only you know whats right for you both.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## Suzie

oh lou sorry to hear this , understand you have to do whats right for you both



love
suzie xx


----------



## cindyp

Lou, these decisions are never easy but you have to do what is right for you both.  Whatever your next step is, I wish you both the best.

love
Cindy


----------



## jilldill

Hi Lou,
I hope you are ok, take care love JD x


----------



## Jo

Sorry to see your news, but as everyone has said, you must do what is right for you both.

Wishing you luck in everything
Jo
x


----------



## Lou W

Just wanted to thank you all for your support, it really means a lot. 

Love Lou xx


----------



## Ruthiebabe

Hi Lou,

sorry to hear your news, but I'm sure you know what's right for you. best of luck and enjoy your break,

XXRuthie


----------



## Laine

Hi Lou,

Sorry to hear your news too.  It must have been hard to reach your decision.

Laine


----------



## Suzie

just popping by  

I have been trying really hard not to think about panel and not to get excited in case anything happens   but today is the first day i have started to be thinking about what if we dont get approved. I know everyone says there is no reason why we shouldn't but you never know do you   

got to get my positive head back on 

hope everyone is ok?

love
suzie xx


----------



## Laine

Hi Suzie,

I think it is natural to feel the way you do today.  I know I have been thinking the same myself  

There is no reason why you shouldn't get approved, so be positive  

Laine


----------



## Suzie

thanks laine  


Glad you have panel date now 

love
suzie xx


----------



## superal

Suzie

You'll be great foster parents and we need more like you! 

I've been following this thread as it has happened over the last months and its great that things have happened for you.

As you may recall we did concurrent planning, fostering with a view to adoption, the baby we looked after was returned to her birth parents, at the time it broke our hearts, it still hurts nearly 6 years on but we know look at things differently and myself & DH would love to foster when our 2 are older.

You would have thought that experience would have put us of but quite the opposite, we realise that we were there for her when she needed us and we'd like to be there for other children in the coming years.

Love
Andrea
xx


----------



## Suzie

andrea many thanks for your post  

Its very much appreciated.  

Love
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Suzie - can only imagine how you must feel nervous and excited all at the same time, but I agree with others I reckon you'll get through it with flying colours and be the most wonderful foster parents a child/children could wish for. 
Keep going sweetie you're almost there!!! And we're behind you all the way!

Love Lou xxxx


----------



## kee888

Hello there everyone! Sorry for been awol lol its just been a bit manic lately round here I hardly sem to get any time in the house to get jobs done.

Louw hope you are well and im sure the descision you have made is right for you both enjoy your time out and take care hun.

Suzie omg I cant belive how kwik its come round for you and I say here here to what every one has said so far about panel etc there I no reason for you not to get through panel and we need more foster carers like you not long now love cant wait to here your news take care love.

Well not much to report on our front apart from all the staff from the la seem to be leaving 1st our assigned worker left and we still have not been re allocated and then the head of fostering and adoption has now left and they are currently trying to recruit and we have had letters off la to say they are sorry for the delay but that does not seem to help at the minute if you know where im coming from? It seems to be delay after delay sorry if I sound selfish but we have been going through the approval process now for 12months and seem no further forward than we were when we started the process if that makes sence? Oh well we have our medicals on Monday 5th so after that I will be on the phone finding out what happens next as we know all the checks have been done then we have our crb’s, medicals and all ncpcc checks etc have been done and refrences have been sent bac all we need now is a worker and our home visits to start then hopefully it will be panel date oh well at least I can hope lol 

Hi to everyone else hope you all well take care catch up soon love kee xxxx


----------



## alex28

Suzie - i think we all get the jitters at times like these, its only normal - we are worried too for our panel date, what to wear, what they are going to ask, are we going to be able to cope etc - very scary but quite normal im sure!!!

just sit there and think of Brad and George !!!!


----------



## Suzie

Kee nice to hear fronm you! Sorry things have been slow for you!!! I hope they get their bums in gear for you!! Let us know

Alex and lou thanks for the words! Feeling calmer at the mo! Might be the french sunshine and red wine 

Alex i will do my best to think of brad and george 


xx


----------



## KarenM

Lou - Good luck with your time out.  It must have been a hard decision for you but you need to do what is right for you and your DH.

Suzie - don't panic you are going to be just fine.  Good luck for the 12th.

Kee - Sorry you are getting delays.  If they are not leaving then they are on long term sick (that was our experience) but hopefully, like we did, you will end up with a great SW.

Good luck girls
Karen x


----------



## lisa.m

hope you dont mind if i ask a few questions!
just had our first phone call since returning our application (which we sent off in january) we ll be having our first meeting in a month or two and i was just wondering what to expect, not just with this meeting but with the whole proccess, what they ll ask? time scales ect, any info/advice would be great, ive tried to read up as much as possible but id rather hear from you guys who have/are actually going through it. thank you
lisa x x x


----------



## Suzie

hi lisa

The first meeting is usual just an informal chat to go through with them about the process and for them to meet you and vis versa.
We had our initial chat i think the end of october and we go to panel in 10 days 
It all depends on your local authority and the work load they have at present. 
The best thing i can advise is to have a list of questions you have ready for when they come so you can get some answered which will help 

Then if the initial meeting goes ok, they might want another informal one and then they should invite you to go on the skills course and after that you will start your home assesment with your assigned social worker. We have had about 10 home interviews since we completed the skills course. Then its panel to see if you get approved.

 with the visit

feel free to ask anything and i will try and help

love 
suzie  xx


----------



## lisa.m

thank you for taking the time to reply, ive got a few more questions if you dont mind. skills course- what do these consist of and how many are there ?
what happens on the home assessments? do you have any idea on why people dont get accepted?(im a bit worried that they ll hate us!) sorry for all of the questions ( they proberly sound dumb!) im just exited that they finally got in touch (and i wanna know EVERTHING) thanks again x x x


----------



## Suzie

hi 


Our skills course was 3 full saturdays and 1 evening , they consist of things such as safe caring, why children are in care, the issues they face, what to expect etc
I was worried about them but dh and i both really enjoyed them, and you get to meet others who are going through it, I still keep in touch with one lady from out course.
The home assesments are where the sw gets to find out who we are , what our up bringing were like , our families, how our relationship works etc, 
We also enjoyed the home visits, they can seem a bit daunting but they really were ok and informative, its so the sw can make notes to put together the report for panel. 
They also go through what issues we might face with placements and what age group would suit us etc
Also what children we would be best matched to. We are being approved (hopefully) for age 3-11 yrs and one or two children , on a short term basis and bridging placements and repite care.

I think its natural to wonder what they will think of you ( i have red and black hair  ) but the best advice i can give you is to be honest and just be yourself and they will get to see the real you 

xx


----------



## lisa.m

hi (again)
i have one last question i need to ask (this is proberly the stupidist question of all)  do you get to choose the child/children or do the sw choose, the reason im asking is that i had a friend who fostered through a private agency and once she got approved she was given a booklet with pictures and information about each child so she could pick the one she thought would be most suitable, is this how it works? (it was about 10 years ago!) 
lisa x x


----------



## Laine

Hi Lisa,

Just wanted to wish you good luck.

Laine


----------



## Suzie

sorry for late reply lisa , i was at my parents in france when i answered the other questions the other day and only just home 

The way our local authority works is that we get given a case report on the child/children to look through which outlines the details etc and then we make a decision to whether we feel we can take that placement.  Thats for a planeed placement 
But for an emergency placement we basically get a phone call with minimal info on the child/children and we have to give a yes or no there and then! 

I guess it depends on what type of fostering you are looking to get approved for. If its long term/peremance then im guessing that the sw would know the whole background on the child/children so you could make an informed decision.


Thanks for popping by laine  

love
suzie xx


----------



## lisa.m

hiya,
thanks again for replying, we re looking at long term placements so hopefully we should get lots of info, hope you had a good time in france.
lisa x x
hi laine
thanks for your message, its realy nice to be able to talk (well, type.) to other people who are going through the same process. take care x x x


----------



## Suzie

Lisa

No prob 

Keep us updated 



love
suzie xx


----------



## kee888

Hello everyone

louw hope you are ok love if you read this have been thinking of yu and you dh and admire you decision hun it must have taken some doing but am sure it was right for you as a couple hope you are both well.

Lisa welcome to thread hope you are well and hope the fostering journey is non too strenuous for yu love.

suzi omg i cant belive how quick its come round just want to wish you best of luck bet you cant wait have you decided on your outfits etc yet take care 

well quick update on us we had our medicals yesterday all went very well just wainting to have another sw assignd now when they employ someone then the ball can fiannly get rolling again all refrences done and all checks etc have all benn done now so cant see anything else stopping us so fingers crossed we can start moving now! yippppeeeeeee


----------



## Suzie

kee fab things are starting to move  keep us updated 

Lou - thinking about you , and  for friday  

Well can't believe panel is on monday  It seems to have flown by! Dh is off to holland in the morning but back on sat then need to get ready for monday

What will be will be!

love to all
suzie xx


----------



## Lou W

Hello!

Sorry I've been so quiet, but have been keeping an eye on you all, so great to hear how well everything is going!

Lisa - wishing you loads of luck on your fostering journey, looking forward to hearing how it goes!

Kee - thankyou for your kind words, I'm so pleased to hear you have positive news and things are finally moving forward for you, I wish you all the very best

Suzie - OMG I can't believe the time is almost here!! Will be thinking of you on the day - I know you'll be just fine and I can't wait to hear all about it!

Love to all,

Lou xxxxxxx


----------



## Jo

Suzie and DH
Just popped in to wish you luck for Monday !!!
It will be fine, you will fly through  

Good Luck hun

Love Jo & Paul
x x x


----------



## Suzie

thanks girls 

It's much appreciated 


xx


----------



## kee888

Suzie and dh

heres wishing you all the best for your panel today i know you probably racked with nerves but just be your self hun and im 100% posotive you will both fly through with flying colours all the best of luck cant wait to here your news ill be on and off all day to keep checking for your news good luck and have fun love from keeley patrick n meg


----------



## alex28

Susie - hope all went well today - cant wait to hear how it went..................


----------



## Suzie

WE ARE ACCPETED! 

Panel was a bit daunting as i get nervous in situations like that 

The sw coming on 3rd july to sort out supporting sw for us and hopefully if they get their bums into gear we will have a placement this summer 

all a bit not real still  but im sure when i get sorting out the bedroom it will sink in 

xx[br]Posted on: 12/06/06, 15:31p.s just to add that sw has taken our lifebook as wants to show the team and to use it for the skills foster training so it cant have been that bad as i thought


----------



## Lou F ❁

Great news Suzie so pleased for ya
lol
Lou xx


----------



## kee888

great news suzie n dh well done we said you would fly with flting colours lol what were you approved for etc etc well done and congratulation hunni love kee


----------



## Jo

Excellent news Suzie  
I knew you would be fine 

Enjoy doing up the bedroom  

Love Jo
x x x


----------



## Laine

Hi Suzie,

Congratulations!  Thrilled to bits for you hun  

Laine


----------



## Lou W

Oh Suzie thats such fantastic news - congratulations hunnie you deserve it!
And well done on the obviously fab life book! 

Love Lou xxx


----------



## Suzie

thanks for the messages guys 

We actually got approved for 0 to 10 and one or 2 children, 
from what they were saying to us today its likely we will get a sibling group so one of them might be younger than the age 3 we were expecting 
Just letting it sink in. We both know its only short term fostering and that we are not offering them a permanent home but we are making a difference however small to a child/childrens life and that has to be as good thing

love suzie xx


----------



## Viva

Great news Suzie, 
So exciting! Hope that you're having a lovely relaxing evening celebrating tonight...sounds like it won't be long before before you'll have your hands full!
Love Viva


----------



## KarenM

Suzie

That's great news so chuffed for you and dh.

Hope you get a placement soon.

Karen x


----------



## jilldill

Suzie, that's great news well done you love JD xx


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## lisa.m

congratulations suzie you must be sooooooooo excited
lisa x x x


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## cindyp

Suzie, congratulations to you both, so pleased for you   

Sounds like you did an impressive life book, maybe you can give lessons to the rest of us   

Enjoy the celebrations

love
Cindy


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## keemjay

*well done suzie*  

i agree with cindy- tips on your lifebook please..am just starting mine and panicking!!

kj x


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## alex28

Excellant news Suzie - knew you would pass with flying colours of course!!!!


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## Mel

Well done Suzie hun (and hubby of course)

You will soon have some little people living with you 

Mel
x


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## kee888

hiya everyone just had some good news today we have finally been allocated a sw yippeee cant wait now she is coming to see us for the 1st time on the 4th july at 2pm cant wait were so excited the ball is rolling  were so happy and can wait to meet her she sounded lovely will keep you all informed! 

from one very happy person lol

how is everyone else love kee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Suzie

woo hoo kee  way to go

you are on your way now! Fab news 


xx


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## Lou W

Kee hunnie thats fab news!! 

So pleased you have got a date to look forward to at last!

Love Lou xxx


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## cindyp

Congratulations Kee on starting your journey.  Not long until the 4th.

Cindy


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## wynnster

Congratulations Kee - Best of luck for the 4th July - That will soon be here    Look forward to reading the rest of your journey  

Suzie - How did i miss your news   OMG CONGRATULATIONS!      Really chuffed for you   You are right you will make a difference to that childs/childrens lives  - The 3rd July will be here even quicker for you  

Kim xxxxx


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## Suzie

thanks kimmy   


xx


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## Ruthiebabe

Hi Olive,

i didn't notice this before either, but belated congrat on being approved. what age group have you gone for or did you specify?

let us know how the first placement goes,

xxruthie


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## Suzie

hi ruthie

We asked to be approved for ages 3 to 11 but they approved us for birth to 11 , as we are likely to be having siblings groups and one is likely at some point to be under 3

Hope you are well 

love
suzie xxx


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## alex28

congratulations Kee - not long to wait now!!!


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## kee888

thanks everyone for the good luck whishes belive it or not we are so nervous about it now lol am sure will be fine hi to everyone love from kee


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## superal

Hi Suzie

Just wanted to add my congratulations as well on being approved to foster.

Your going to be great foster parents & you WILL make a difference to children's lives.  As you may recall we fostered a baby for only 7 months on concurrent planning & I'm sure we made a difference to her life.

I would have posted sooner but have been struggling with my emotions over loosing one of my dogs, he died the day before your panel date so that is my excuse for the late congratulations.

Hope you are OK & please keep us posted.

Love
Andrea
xx


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## Suzie

andrea 

thanks for the post  


Im so sorry to hear about your dog  to you xxxxx


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## KarenM

New home this way.......

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,61219.0.html

Good luck
Karen x


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