Indian/White couple need advice

[BindiSE15]

I'm British Indian and my husband is White Australian. After failed IVF and a recent miscarriage we're thinking about adoption but are only just starting our research.
We would ideally like to adopt a mixed race child that reflects our cultural mix but does that mean we should apply to a local authority with a high Asian population?
Just wondering if anyone has any information that would be useful. Also is it virtually impossible to adopt a baby under 6 months old? I get the impression that there are very few babies available but perhaps we might get lucky because of our mix of races.
Looking forward to hearing back from this community.
Thanks.

Hi

We're the same mix. We adopted through a voluntary agency rather than a local authority which means that as soon as you are approved to adopt you go straight onto the national register (a matching service for adopters and all available kids).

We had been told there were very few Indian kids available for adoption but we came across several. There were lots of Asian/white kids (often Pakistani) so it depends how precise a match you want.

There are many more babies available now than there used to be (although you might be told there aren't many). I'm not sure you'd find one as young as six months. Nine or ten months tends to be the youngest although we came across a four month old Asian/white boy.

I would suggest that you ring some voluntary agencies to get a feel for them. One which is efficient at calling you back and positive about working with you.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

Hi we are if the same racial mix as yourselves and we adopted a 6 month old whose now an 18 month old . We were told the same as u but we also went down the concurrency route which is why we got s baby ....my advice would b to try LA s which may have a higher ethnic mix
Good luck xx

I would talk to both LAs with a high Indian population and some voluntary agencies - particularly the NCH Black Families project.

It has generally been very difficult to adopt a child under one year (ours came to us at 10 months, one of only 70 infants adopted that year across the whole country) but the new adoption reforms are giving a big push to concurrent planning, which means more children living with their forever families from birth.

Best of luck.

At a recent adoption information evening we were told that more than half the children placed within the last 5 months by that consortium, had been under 1 at placement. However, hardly any were under 9 months. Unless you go the concurrent planning route, finding an under 6 months old might prove difficult.

As foster care's with experience in this area our LA has entered children on national register in every instance

Regards

We are a similar ethnic mix as yourselves and adopted just over 5 years ago. The majority of mixed race asian/white children are of muslim/english mix. We only came across abouth 3 that were Indian (one of whom was muslim and 6mths old) and was told that we couldn't possibly meet her needs as we were not a religious match. It is unlawful for soc workers to discriminate on these grounds (front page of The Times, 27/09/13), but I'm not sure if this is new legislation or has always been the case. That said we eventually adopted two siblings together (also not the same religious background as ourselves), my daughter was 18months old and my son 5 months old. If you are prepared to consider a sibling group, then you stand a better chance at getting a baby under 6months. All adopted children, even babies will have their issues. The majority of babies available for adoption are from families known to LA's for drug, alcohol, or other abuse or neglect which are likely to have left some form of trauma on the child. Very very few are relinquished babies. The process is , but I wouldn't be without my kids. Good Luck!

We are similar racial mix and applied through our local agency, but immediately searched on National Databases. Both our children were about 12 months old on placement.

I would choose the agency you are most comfortable with and that is convenient to where you live.

You could consider concurrancy - not sure how many LAs are now doing this.

Good Luck!