What kind of questions do they ask at panel?

[Rainatnight]

We're going to approve panel a week today (excited!). We want to be as prepared as possible but we're finding it really difficult to find out from our SW the kind of thing they're likely to ask.

He's written us an incredibly positive PAR, which doesn't really flag up any issues or things to think about. And his manager has given him a report on it with loss of positives and 'no issues'.

It's terrific they're being so positive (though makes me wonder if he's been thorough enough, because like most people, we have our flaws! ) but it doesn't really give us anything to go on in terms of what the panel might ask us.

So I thought I'd ask you lovely lot what are the kinds of things panels ask in general terms, and then we can swot up on that.

Thanks very much.

[Rainatnight]

And sorry, that was supposed to be 'approval panel' obviously.

[jimbob1]

We were asked how we had prepared our birth child.
What the differences are between parenting birth and adopted children.
How our experiences in mental health will help us support adopted child.
I think that was it as our sw had been very thorough.

[Chocogoingcuckoo]

Hey, we're also going to panel in a couple of weeks so interested to see what replies you get here. We're getting our Form F's to read at some point this week too.

Good luck, let us know how you get on!

[Rainatnight]

Thanks very much! We don't have any BCs.

What's a Form F?

[Sillyshell]

Hi, we were at panel in June. It was a much better experience that I was expecting, they asked us about why we were renting instead of owing a house and how we had coped with fertility treatment etc and that we had definitely finished with it.

On the whole, we got the impression that they were all on our side and wanted to approve us.

Good luck, I'm sure it will all go well :)

[MintyLizzy9]

First of all good luck!

Secondly try not to worry as they won't be asking anything too difficult/not in your report, any difficult questions are usually given to the SW before you are called in.

During mine I was asked about what I would do to continue my new more active lifestyle after a child is placed (my weight was flagged in the medical), asked about my job and time off and some general chit chat. I think they also asked about my support network as I am a single adopter but it was all very 'light'. There have been other threads about this that I found useful pre panel. Honestly can't remember what else they asked me now and it was only a couple of years ago! I do remember thinking oh was that it when I came back out of the room.....I did cry like a baby when the chair came out to say yes though so bring tissues 😏

At matching panel they gave me their questions when I arrived so I had half an hour to think go slightly mad before going in.

Exciting times!!

[Mightywease]

Health issues for me (I have MS) and the support network I had in place.

How we had come to terms with not having our own children and how that may affect us when a child was placed with us i.e. dealing with grief over the birth children we never had

How we would cope with the lifestyle changes an adopted child would bring

What could we offer an adopted child

The panel try to make it as relaxed as possible but with all the emotions surrounding the event it was quite intense!

Just be honest. And good luck

[Hels20]

Some of our questions were:

1. how would we have fun with a child
   
2. how I would cope with going from being a career woman to a SAHM
   
3. how we thought our DS would cope and what we had done to prepare him

[Rainatnight]

Thanks so much for all the tips and good wishes! Fingers crossed.

Really surprised they asked about renting as opposed to buying. Thought they accepted that lots of people wouldn't be buying these days? Doesn't seem entirely fair.

[Truffle87]

I think sometimes they just like to ask some questions so the questions can be a little random. They have all the info they need in the PAR and they ask the serious questions of the social worker before you go in if there is anything they really want to drill through.

We had questions about our support network and if we thought it might change, what hours I was thinking I would return to work on, how would we manage our hobbies as we both had several things we participated in. There were a couple of others but they were straight forward. If your social worker is experienced and knows the panel well they could probably pre-empt the questions. It's really a chance for the panel to meet the faces behind the report. Both times at panel for us (approval and matching) were quite relaxed, I was still mightily relieved when they were over though!

[Rainatnight]

We were approved!

Thanks for all the help.

[selly24]

Great News!

[Rainatnight]

Thanks! And here were our questions if it helps anyone else -

• your life is described as being very calm and orderly at the moment. How do you think you'll deal with the upheaval of having kids?
  

• can you expand on your experience with children?
  

• how will you protect your child from any bullying due to you being same sex?
  

• what surname will the child have? (I confess I thought they were just being nosy at that point!)
  

There were one or two others that I've managed to forget already - I'll have to ask DP.

One thing we found a bit awkward was that they told our SW off quite a bit. Apparently they brought him in beforehand and asked him a couple of questions of things they thought should have been in the PAR. And then during the panel, as we answered questions, they kept saying to our SW, 'well, that's the kind of thing it would have been very helpful to have had explained in the form'. Which was a bit awkward and our SW (who we love) was clearly a bit stressed by it.