starting the adoption process

[prumarth]

My husband and I are in the very early stages of the adoption process (met a social worker for the first time today) and we are both really scared! We would love to have a family but we are concerned that we don't have a large support network in our immediate area and also I'm worried about taking on an emotionally damaged child and what to expect.
I wondered if anyone else is going through this, or has been through it and can offer any advice? Maybe if a few of us are in the same position, we can share our journey?

Hello. We've just been approved. We don't have a huge support network locally either our families and most of our friends are several hours away but we've got a couple of friends each near by. We kind of had to demonstrate though that we are the kind of people who can make and sustain friendships though.

At some point you'll go on some kind of preparation course which will help you find out about some of the issues that children needing adoptive homes have. Your LA or VA will be able to give you a reading list too.

Good luck!

Hi and welcome :)

There's a thread called 'newbies' on this forum and there are several people going through the process right now

Feel free to ask any questions or share any worries or anything else. We're a friendly bunch and we want to support everyone going through the process :)

Thanks guys, appreciate the responses. My nervousness about the support network is how the social workers will perceive this. My husband and I relocated and our friends moved also about 8 years ago and I work from home so my work friends and personal friends are scattered across the country. I don't have any friends local to me and that's never bothered me (love email, makes keeping contact so much easier!) but I'm not sure what to do about references or how the sw will read this. My family are about an hour's drive away max so close enough to support but will this be judged against us?

hi prumarth,
We are at a similar place, having met one LA and one VA but not yet gone further. We both moved here from abroad 6 years ago and I work from home too, so the support network is indeed something I worry about too. I know that we can manage and deal with lots and get help when we need it, but to SWs it might not look like that. For instance my mum is a 1h flight away and that doesn't look like she would be able to jump in at short notice to help out, however with our DS we called her the morning after my waters went, and she arrived here before I went to hospital.

We talked to both SWs we saw about this and so far they don't seem to have thought it a problem. I'd be interested to hear how you get along! I guess I'll have to join the newbies thread some day soon ;)