Name change?

[MultipleMama]

Hello, posting on behalf of my dad who's wanting some advice.

He's in the process of adopting a little boy (2), now living with him and he's just waiting for the court date (which won't be until at least late November).

My little DB has had a very rough start in life, and my dad is worried about people recognizing him or his name especially family members who live in the area.

He's wondering when would it be okay for him to do so, and when would it be appropriate for him to use the name he intends to use and how to help the child adjust to the new name (DB has already told my dad he's a special name).

He doesn't want to bother the SW if it's not something he can do until after the court date.

Any tips/advice would be really appreciated.

Hi MultipleMama there are lots of threads on here about th e pros and cons of name changes and exactly how you do it is up to your dad but my only caution would be not to discuss this with social workers at all. The irony is you do not need their permission to change a child's name when you adopt them but some social workers are very anti-name changing for adopted children. If your dad starts to talk about it with social workers and they are against it it can cause problems so it is best (IMHO) just not to bring it up at all. How you do it, I will let others who are wiser say, but in terms of this I would not involve anyone in the social work team because once it because an item to be discussed social workers can make things more difficult. Hope that makes sense.

Some views are expressed here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adoptions/a1981964-A-rose-by-any-other-name-would-smell-so-sweet

Thank you. I'll pass on the link. :)