Spelling change

[DaddyYannis]

Hi guys. We're fast approaching matching panel for our beautiful LO. We're very lucky in that she has a very nice name, however the spelling is somewhat unique which we're not keen on for two reasons, one being security (makes her very easy to find on social media) and the other is that we want her to feel as "normal" as other children as possible.

We are absolutely decided that we are going to change the spelling to the more normal version, and have already discussed with our own SW who saw it as a non issue, but we're just wondering about whether we should mention it to the child's SW or FF before panel. Has anyone else done this? We don't particularly want to rock the boat at this stage!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Just put the new spelling down when you submit the papers for the adoption order. I dont think you need to mention it before that tbh.
On the court papers you fill in a section on the legal name you want after the adop order is granted and you put it there.
Congratulations to you as well x

What flapjack said.

What Flapjack said. Don't rock the boat. You are doing the right thing so you do not need anyone else to OK it.

yep i agree...dont' mention it. same name, normal spelling. put it on the AO and thats that.
Congratulations :)

We are just about to put the order in next week. We also have a different spelling from the norm. We only mentiones to our soical worker jus before the matching panel and she was in agreement but said not to mention it in panel

Panel might surprise you, though.

SW advised us to change DD's name entirely and I was worried what panel would think. They brought it up and told us that they thought we should change it too. An adult adoptee on the panel had particularly strong views that she didn't think the name was in DD's best interest, which I found really surprising and interesting.

Our panel wanted names changed completely, despite the age of children, so I expect a spelling change wouldn't be a big deal but as the actual name is pronounced the same I don't think you have to raise it with them.

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. Glad you agree that it is not a big deal. Part of the reason I keep thinking of it is that I have been putting in applications for nursery places and have been using the new spelling, so it feels a bit weird to then switch back to the old spelling for SW communications...

We will keep it to ourselves for now and focus on the bigger issues for panel.

Yes, we did this (exactly the change you describe and for the same reasons). Didnt mention a thing about our intentions until it was time to submit the paperwork for the adoption order. It wasnt an issue - all went smoothly.