New Blog Posts - Sunday 7th July to Saturday 13th July

[Lilka]

I finished off my post series about siblings who are split up to be adopted into different families. This final post is about post adoption contact

Splitting up Siblings - Contact

My Silent Sunday Who recognises this monument?

literally just some endless waffle about some charity shop stuff I picked up recently

Its not too late to sow some vegetables with your kids

kidsinthegarden.co.uk/what-to-plant-with-your-kids-in-july/

Shoe shopping and autism Things have changed!

Lilka - I've found your series of posts about siblings fascinating. I didn't realise parents could opt out of sibling contact, I always thought SS could (and would on the whole) insist on it. It sounds as if you have worked really hard to do the right thing.

When did it become ok for holiday companies to charge us to eat on their planes?

give us back our Free inedible inflight meals.

saintlyjimjams thank you :) Once the adootion goes through, adoptive parents gain PR and legal parent status, and can therefore do whatever they like in terms of contact. Social services no longer have any official involvement, they only pass letters on. That's not to say they won't put pressure on to continue contact if they think contact is a good idea, but they can't actually insist on it or do anything about it if adoptive parents do not wish to keep up contact. In order for contact to be mandatory, the family court has to make a contact order. CO's are very rare in adoption, judges are loathe to make them against the wishes of the adoptive parents.

Ah I think I misunderstood because I have a friend who has adopted and she continued letterboxing with the biological mother even though she had some reservations (mainly due to the nature of the children being taken into care) because SS had said it was important. My other friend who has adopted had face to face meetings with the biological mother. I'm not sure how involved the children were in the letterboxing - it was an annual report. I guess I just thought people tended to follow SS advice.

It seems a shame for sibling 6 to have to keep it quiet from their parents & strange to go through the adoption process and still not really take on board by the end that contact with the first family can be important.

Anyway, thank you - it's been really interesting to read.

Baby you're a firework 4th of July fun and cake!

Before you head outside to enjoy summer, here's 10 things you need to know about sunscreen

Should we allow children to play with guns? wp.me/p29Oas-iD

Hello everyone!
How Do You Feel About Your Child Starting School?

Looking for barbeque inspiration? Here's the Big Cheesy Barbeque: Shropshire Blue Burgers, Halloumi Rosemary Skewers and Aubergine Tricolore Parcels

What a rotten birthday

If you are flying with a small child this summer you can introduce them to the experience using Amazing Aeroplanes - a fun, rhyming picture book.

Hi, I'm recovering after foot surgery and am fighting through woozy-inducing painkillers. I've never tried it, but yesterday I wrote this post about wild camping: mumsdotravel.com/2013/07/wild-camping/

Today's post: Quick Knits Small & Pretty - my review of a Susan Penny knitting pattern book.

How Not To Do Playdates

I write about how singing simple songs helps my children to learn language

My latest blog post made the front home page of Mumsnet this week - hurrah!
This one - "Addicted to Pinterest - the land of pretty things!"

castawaywithdreams.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/1468/

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS!!!

Mine's the busy mum's guide to getting ready in the morning. Bit of light reading :)

moaningminnie25.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/busy-mums-guide-togetting-ready-for.html

I got all seasonal and made a Fennel Goat's Cheese, Tomato and Samphire Tart

Absolutely loved reading your blog post, artifarti! :D