Savings during adoption process.

[NotAnotherHeffalump]

Had initial visit with SW today and she mentioned that they would like evidence of savings when they do their financial checks. At the moment we have savings, but we have just moved house and have a bit of work to do, so in the near future our savings will likely be empty or significantly depleted.

I totally understand that they want to be confident that you are financially stable, that's fine, I don't mind them asking for it, it just like to have enough there when the time comes.

Has anyone been asked for proof of savings before? If so how much?

Hey, we were asked to fill out a financial info form detailing our savings, income & expenditure right at the start of the process. We never showed bank statements or anything like that. In stage 2 our SW checked a box saying she'd seen proof of this but certainly never even raised the question with us - which was crazy as we'd bought & done up a house in that time so our finances were totally different by then.

My advice would be just do whatever you need to do between now & stage 2 but try to make sure you always have a separate 'kids pot' of money even if it's only small it will be enough to show you're planning ahead.

We provided all bank statements, including savings. DH had nothing, I had about £300. I was also going to be getting a £1500 bonus shortly after approval panel, and a 1% pay rise - I asked my HR to provide a confirmation letter for my SW which they happily did and SW was happy with that. It was basically just so she could say we were financially stable enough to buy what we needed for a child in the initial outlay, and evidence we could afford adoption leave (I took 6 months at full pay and then 4 months of accrued annual leave, so 10 months at full pay).

Thanks. I'll definitely put some to the side. Just don't know whether to aim for £300/1000/3000 or What they would consider enough. I'll have to ask her.

Enough for the initial outlay of what you'll need to buy at short notice, and enough to get you through adoption leave. That's really all they are concerned about

We were asked to have about £2000 or £3000. Nobody checked how many savings we actually had!

We never showed bank statements during stage one or two, but we did have to show proof of income and savings, we also had to do a expenditure form. Our placing authority also wanted to check finances again when it came to matching, I guess they are all different. We again showed proof of income and savings and filled out another expenditure form, but we never provided bank statements even though they were asked for. No questions were asked about that, but our savings are quite healthy. Remember though it's not just about ensuring you are financially ok, it's also about them possibly advising on what benefits you may be entitled to (well that's what our placing authority do anyway).

No one has actually asked to see any of our financial stuff, though we've had to do income and expenditure forms. The reality hits when you really have to sit down and figure out how long you can take off work and how you are going to pay your mortgage and bills in that time. You need to know you can cover it!

We had about £5k savings when they asked us, but we then did a loft conversion which took all of that and then some!
After we did the financial form we were never asked again for proof or about our savings.
I think they just need to be confident you have money there to cover you if you couldn't work (because of the childs needs), and they always say they ideally like one person to be off for 12 months, so it's to prove to them that if the child needed you off work you could afford to do it. It's also to show you have money to buy things for the child when they come to you - buggy, cot, clothes, toys, nappies, formula etc.
The only other time we were asked about finances was when they did the paperwork for the adoption order, and we had to fill in the 'income/expenditure' form again.

focus on what you need to get you through adoption leave.

So for example I had 6 months full pay, three months half pay, and three months zero pay. So I needed enough to cover mortgage and bills for three months plus a bit extra,

If your morgage/rent is £1000 a month, you obviously need more than if it was £500 a month.

I had to evidence enough savings to manage 12 months off work and th ability to go back part time after my return.

They wanted to see bank statements and I had to complete a summary of my outgoings and what money I’d have coming in.

We had very little and to be honest we really struggled. .
Try to save as much as you can.