Passports before adoption order

[Adopter12345]

Does anyone know whether you can get a passport in child's birth name before adoption order granted if birth parents aren't around (ie disappeared to another country) to give their consent? Can you even take child out of country without birth parents consent if LA consents?

You need LA consent, not BP

Thanks Oleannas - good to know

If the LA can get the birth certificate of the birth mother (and birth grandmother if BM was born after 1982 I think it is) then the LA can apply for a passport for the DCs.

Adopter12345 being nosy here but can I ask why you want to get a passport for your child before things are finalised? I only ask because it can be quite hard travelling with newly placed children. We only took our adopted son around England and Wales, for more than two years after placement. That may be a bit long and I expect people have done it much sooner, but just to be aware that it can be quite hard travelling with newly placed child/children.

I mean we got a passport and went abroad after two years!

For some people, hopping on a plane to see relatives is as normal as it is for others to drive a few hours to see them. While I intend to wait for the adoption order, if it's delayed for some reason, I'd hate to miss a family Sunday lunch for an extended period, if LO was settled, and there was no reason LO couldn't go. Some areas of the UK are nearer other countries than other parts of the UK!

I mean, some parts of the UK are nearer other countries than they are to other UK cities etc. So "staying in the UK" to visit distant relatives for one person could mean more travel time than a quick hop to another country to see relatives. Travelling to a family event may be an important part of building identity as a normal family member.

My SW told me that BM had to sign the application if it was pre AO when I asked but they got loads wrong so I'm not sure I believe her

It's VERY easy post AO, I've just done it for DS, had the passport within a couple of weeks of applying.

Weefreeladies I am soeakingcas an adopter. I know hopping on a plane is very normal for many. It is unlikely to be normal for an adopted child. That's the point. And in the early days families who adopt are encouraged to have as much of a peaceful quiet time as they can, bonding and attaching as a family unit. It is hard a d we took little one to visit family after a few months. But it is n't always easy to know how a new child, unknown to you, will handle travel etc.

Speaking as! Sorry typos!

I'm coming from being told by SW we must travel long distances by car with LO, much sooner than I'd like. Whereas a plane trip to family is probably quicker and easier. If our adoption order is delayed, I don't want to go potentially years without seeing these elderly relatives, and LO never knowing them, should the worst happen.

Nothing is "normal for any child, until it becomes normal. Sometimes adoption orders are delayed.

We went abroad within 1st year, before AO. Firstly, you will need BF OR BM's birth certificate and one of their parents (your childs birth grandparent) birth certificate, if your child's BP is born after 1982. SS will then apply on your behalf. Only if they agree mind you, we had 5 SW's assess whether we could and 2 said no, but as 3 said yes we got them. So don't presume that even with documentation they will apply on your behalf.

I do agree with Italian. You need to think very carefully about whether your child will cope. I don't agree with a blanket rule of a certain time period because every child is different. Ours were absolutely fine (we're off on holiday again before even second year is complete) BUT we planned the hell out of it! Pictures of everything, room where we were staying, pics and videos of every place we were going to visit , pics of plane, airport etc. We had these all over a wall in our house. We watched every show on CBeebies that featured going on holiday. Wooly and Tig had a good one showing airport. We made sure luggage looked nothing like suitcases they moved to us with and we then made a big deal of decorating them with luggage tags etc. So we could find them at airport to bring them back to our house. We also had a family member drop us off at airport and pick us up who made a big deal about when we all return. We had count down calendar to going and when there, a countdown calendar to coming home. We bought gifts to bring back for people to reinforce going back and things to put in their bedrooms, again reinforcing they were going back to our house. We all slept in same room while away, we never left their sight.

It was a lot of effort but it paid off. We did have pre-schoolers so that worked well. If you have a much younger child who are pre-verbal they may be disturbed by change once again with no understanding of an explanation, so working around that will be impossible.

I do know of someone who went on holiday in this country and really struggled, the change was just too much for the child to handle and that's without flying for first time etc. I know we were lucky and are in the minority. So all I say is, go for it if you believe they can cope but plan, plan, plan, and try to think of everything that will scare them rather than everything that will excite them, leave the latter as the bonus when you get there :)

Sorry...just remembered we also did trips in the country to stay with family and at hotels....This gave us a lot of confidence and having had numerous successful trips was, alongside our planning, what convinced SS it would be ok.

Sorry for multiple posts.....I dont like the word 'impossible'...difficult is better