Please settle our adoption row

[maypole1]

can you adopt with a income of 21k a year

Their are two adults in the family
And i bio child my oh is convinced that we don't earn enough to adopt

Also he will be earning more in the next few years after fishing his masters which he is doing one day a week quick replies please

whyever not?
far more important criteria I would have thought

What is the financial cetria my oh is obsessed

You do not need to earn a certain amount to adopt.
You do not need to own your own house to adopt.
You do not need to be skinny to adopt.
And lots more myths.
What you do need is patience, unconditional love, sense of humour, a rock steady relationship and many others.

The only financial criteria is stability. They don't mind what your pay cheque is so long as you are reasonably secure (i.e. not in imminent danger of getting your house reposessed, or the baliffs turning up) and can afford to take on another child without plunging the family into dire poverty.

another thing you will need is a third bedroom

and enough money for one of you to be at home at least part time, preferably full time

To be honest we foster so have a third room and I am at home full time but for some reason my oh thinks we don't earn enough to eventually adopt

I just wanted to show this this thread as he won't listen to me the fool lol

You need to factor in that you will lose your fostering allowances. Unless you adopt a hard to place child and you are able to get an adoption allowance.
These are usually means tested so you might lose it at a later date when your incoem increases.

I guess you know that your adopted child will need to be sevral years younger than your bio?

And agencies have different views about FCs who then try to adopt the child they are fostering. You might want to check out your agencys policy

Some are flexible, depending on the needs of teh child. Others are VERY against it, as

(a) they lose a foster carer

(b) they belive its a way of people circumverting the normal procedures for adoptimg a baby /toddler

(c) Foster carers are more demanding of the agency. They see themselves ( quite correctly ) as people providing a service. Adopters are usually more complianat /pathetically grateful as they are desperate for a child and this is their last resort. Foster carers know that the agency needs them more than they need the work.

Can i ask, why dont you consider a permanent fostering arrangement?

Are you thinkimg about adopting your 6 yo FC? Or applying to adopt once she has moved on to permenance? Forgive me being so direct, but i know that you are a straight talking woman!!!

No thinking of applying once fc has moved on

Just thinking mind

Hi Maypole - agree with lots of these posts, especially about your OHs worry about finance. You will as Kristina points out lose your fostering allowance, which is mandatory, and yes you could fulfill the criteria for an adoption allowance, but again this is discretionary, and could be reduced or stopped if and when the LA's budgets are overspent. This is more likely than ever now, given all the cuts.

I might be barking up the wrong tree, but is your OH as keen as you to adopt, regardless of the finanical worries. There would be no question of you not being "allowed" to adopt because of a salary less than the national average. Are you good budgetters, and are able to cope with a relatively low salary. You could write down all your incomings and outgoings ans see how it looks on paper. Mind I always find that we seem to have more money on paper!

To be honest this is not for now but maybe five years down the line we had a little set back which nana nina helped us with but was considering adoption before the set back.

I think at the moment our confidence is a little low but maybe one day :)