Experiences of adoption

[shhhhs]

We are so incredibly lucky to be able to have biological children, and we do have DS. But for as long as I can remember I've always wanted to adopt, and my partner is on board too. Does anyone have experience of bringing an adopted child into a home where there are already children?

There are loads of posts on here from people who have done this. Take time to read through the board, there is a huge amount of advice and knowledge.

I know several people who have done this, most adopted from overseas but I know one person who adopted from a personal contact situation and another from the care system, but they fostered first

There are adopters on here who have a birth child. As FineRain said, look through this board and you should find some useful threads.

We adopted ds when our birth daughter was 9.

What do you want to know OP?

Can I ask why you want to adopt?

You need to be really certain about this, an adopted child will more often than not, need a great deal of attention and most probably therapeutic parenting... there may also be issues for your biological children in terms of having to share your time.
I urge you to research these boards, and read widely, before you embark upon an adoption journey.

@shhhhs I also wanted to adopt for a very long time. We had a birth child and then could not have any more. We tried everything, and I mean pretty much everything, donor eggs, a special injection because of immunology issues, etc.

Then adopted ds when he was 3 and our birth dd was 9. Now the kids are 9 and nearly 15.

It has not been easy but for us it is our autistic birth dd who is often quite hard work.

Adoption has not been easy but it has been something I wanted and thought about for around 20 years, (from my twenties to when I adopted in my forties). Please feel free to ask me anything, you can PM if you like.

Thanks for all the replies, it's nice to hear others thoughts and experiences, it is something that, if it happens, is a good few years in the future for us. We have so much more research to do first and will of course make sure it is 100% the right thing to do for our family before starting the process.