I think I'm about to give up. We've been approved for a year with not a sniff of interest - lovely social worker has put us forward for 3 children, but we've never even got to the point of receiving a child's paperwork for consideration. We have DS, soon to be 5, so can only be considered for 3yo and under children. Every child I've seen on Adoption Link who we might be suitable for has an upper adopter age limit of 50, and DH turns 51 in 2 weeks. I think at this point we become unmatchable with the very young children we can adopt. I even understand it, because in the current situation with hundreds of adopters for every child, any sensible SW would chose the 30-something parent for the two year old, and leave the 50-somethings for the 9 year olds. I would.
Today I gave most of the baby things I've been saving in the loft, first for the longed-for IVF sibling and then for the longed-for adoptive sibling, to the refugee collection drive. I thought it would make me feel better to exchange dreams with no hope of coming true for a better future for real people with real children and real dreams. But I feel awful. Fighting back tears all day and as soon as DS is in bed I'll give in to them.
Not sure what I want from this thread, really; I just wanted to tell someone who might understand.
Long-time lurker / occasional poster (was MoJangled pre-Jeffreygate)