Any other adopters out there?

[suejonez]

I'm in the process of adopting internationally. Hoping to be matched by Sept. Anyone else?

Any adopters home from work yet?

bump for evening crowd.

there's at least one other adopter on here, sue.

Thanks - am beginning to feel like Naomi No-mates.

Bumping aswell, even though I have no experience. We do have a little girl coming to play in a minute who was adopted from China, but that's not exactly the level of support you need, is it! Which country are you aiming for? If I see Issyfit I will point her in your direction- her dds were adopted (one from Vietnam and one from Cambodia I think, but may be wrong...)

I suspect Issyfit / Issymum will be the woman you need - she's quite busy these days, though, so she may take a while.

Well, you're a mum-to-be just like so many of us on the board :)

Do you have an age range for your child? A gender?

How exciting!

We would LOVE to adopt internationally. It is costly, however. But dreams have a way of working out.

Try shouting out for Jayzmummy too, she has two adopted kids.

i am a adoptive mum how long have i been waiting for this to come up i saw somebodies adoption announcement but i didnt feel confident enough to put mine on but i have been waiting for somebody to say something else look at me cowerdy custard i forget that we managed to get approved by social services

I've been approved for age 0-2yrs from kazakhstan, boy or girl. Hoping against hope to travel in september. Feel a bit wierd on a parenting site as I haven't quite got used the idea of myself as a parent! Despite all the social workers visits!

Sue if you think that you feel strange on a parenting site wait while you go for your car seat or buggy without a baby bump in front of you i felt like i shouldnt even been looking nevermind bying .and clothes we had them hanging in the wardrobe for a baby that we had never seen the whole process feels unreel and wonderful and i cannot wait to do it again

What age did you adopt, how long ago?

I couldn't imagine myself as a parent until the day my daughter was born, sue! You're far from alone in that.

Glad to hear it. I can't shop for clothes yet as it will be either boy or girl between 6months and 18 months probably.

I've thought of unisex clothes around 12 months but there aren't many unisex - I think they assume that you know the sex by then!

But I've done pretty well on ebay, boot sales and friends and have got cot, stroller, pram and travel cot for the combined total of about £30. All in pretty good nick too. Car seat is next purchase but need to get 0-4yrs to cover all eventalities. Reluctant to buy 2nd hand but skint - any advise on cheap car seats? Are the Argos ones any good?

Hi Sue we got approved about 3.5 yrs ago and waited to be matched for about a 10mnts our daughter came home in very early 2004 she was just over 4mntsi cannot help with argos car seats we got ours from mothercare but thay do ours in argos about the same price ours is 0 to age 4 it reclines and has a inner booster that lifts out when thay get bigger

Thats fantastic - why does everyone say is impossible to adopt a young child in the UK? I shall start disabusing them.

If you're near me ((south west UK) I have a first stage car seat you can have. I can vouch for it not having been in an accident etc.

car seat for free btw.

I'm in London, though coming through Portsmouth shortly - I doubt that is close enough to you? Thanks so much for the offer, its an expensive business isn't it.

I think I showed myself up on the "lets pretend that people who spend lots of money on prams are nobs then all discuss how much money we spent on prams" thread. Admittd I had my cot given to me free and stroller, pram and travel cot were got for a total of about #30 on ebay and garage sales.

After a shocked silence, everyone ignored me then moved on so I think I've got away with the faux pas!

TBH spending #500 on a pram means going back tp work a week earlier - no contest!

AARRGH I've lost my pound sign.

Sue it isnt a impossability to adopt a young child or baby in this country i think that we were very very lucky i think that maybe where you are in the country and which authority you apply to for approval

Hi suejonez my dp and I looked into adopting before I finally conceived ds, we were told by our social services that it would be highly unlikely, alhtough not impossible, that a baby would come up. More likely to be under 5, more likely to be under 7, or part of a family group.

I don't have much experience with adoption other than that now, but 3 of my sisters were adopted by my mum and dad, and one of those has adopted children herself as babies. But they are now 11 and 16 so it was a while ago.

My sister didn't go through our local social services, but instead went through the Bristol Catholic Adoption services.

I have all their contact details if your're interested, or I'm sure you can find them on the internet.

I would love to adopt despite having birth children of my own....i looked into it and found you cannot adopt from china if you have five children. Seems odd when there is such a problem
Good luck to all of you x

My SIL was adopted at 6. My ILs had been her foster parents since she was 4.

Sue, when it gets closer to the time and you know the gender/age, I'm sure you'll find plenty of folks who have stuff you can have.

I'll have loads of baby girl clothes, for example :)

Thanks for all the support I would be unlikely to get a young child where-ever I go as I'm single and (wait for it) 41 .

I am a long way down the track (2 years) of adopting from Kazakhstan and am hoping to get a referal in Sept to travel shortly after.

I'm most likely to get a boy as most people ask for girls (apparently girls are "easier" but no-one tell my mum that she may die laughing).

I do get a bit cross with local authorities as there are loads of younger kids of mixed race or asian or black but they will not adopt them into a white family (even if birth mother was white and single). Very sad, I understand thats it better for a child to be placed with a family of similar background but in the absence of that possiility surely any loving permanent home is better than none?

I get a real bee in my bonnet about this topic. It's OK for me to adopt a child of a different race from abroad but not good enough for our UK nippers who are then often condemned to a life in the care system or foster care which is patchy and not continuous.

sue if you do get a girl i have some things that might be usefull or for somebody from your meeting group i bet you are scared and excited all in one and a chunk of disbelief i can only draw from experience what we were feeling but you have the added twist that you are having to travel to a different country . i know that people are saying that thay were told that the waiting lists are so long for babys and infants at first we were told that from one authority we approached a differant one who we sat on there border and everything went well sometimes i still cannot believe that i am a mum even when we had gone through court it is such a strange feeling