Kent County Council Adoptions - How do I decide?

[warofthewhorls]

I've name-changed but hoping for some feedback about KCC adoptions - if there is anyone on these boards who has experience of them?

I've been to an information evening, and had a home visit from a Social Worker to see whether I am suitable to start the process.

I've been cleared to proceed, and I have to say, apart from being 15 mins early (I hadn't clinked this might be a little trick they might do so you don't have time to hide your guns and pack of rottweilers ) the social worker was lovely.

She told me everything I wanted to hear, and really smoothed my fears and concerns - maybe I'm too open, and I did just lay it on the line the things I thought might be my weaknesses as a potential parent to an adopted child. She made me feel that these were all ok, and that I was a good candidate.

I understand that it is best to 'interview' a few agencies before deciding who to apply with. My worry is, that they will all be as slick and complementary as KCC has been so far, and that I would be able to distinguish between them all.

The area I have the most (and probably only) concern with (I am only looking at agencies rated OSTED 'good' and above as there are a few that cover my area) is post-adoption support, particularly if issues arise that I find challenging and might require support.

The agencies will probably all say the same thing regarding post=adoption support, e.g. they are amazing at it!
How do i know who is telling the truth?

I am also BAME and was concerned that I might struggle to find another BAME child in Kent (not my biggest concern, but I feel it should be a consideration in matching) but the social worker said they have a wide range of children for adoption and other BAME children included.

Any words of wisdom oh wise ones?

I don’t know about KCC, I’m at the opposite end of the country but if their sw is on time (much less early) I take it as a good sign. And I’m only half joking, social workers are notorious for poor time keeping 😁

I don't know about Kent specifically in terms of post adoption services they provide but we went with a charity as they provide long term support even if things like the adoption support fund didn't exist. BAME adopters are highly sought after and if there weren't any children whose needs you feel you could meet in Kent then there is linkmaker or the online adoption UK site that links you with children countrywide. I think some councils like you to look at the children they are trying to match before looking on linkmaker or similar.

We adopted through KCC 3 years ago. No real issues that wouldn’t apply to any other agency and one significant advantage is that Kent is such a large county - therefore bigger pool of potential children and distance to birth family not such a limiting factor

That's good to know ebeneezer , I did ask about distance from birth parents, the social worker said they wouldn't place children from the same town that I live in, but anything over 10 miles away was ok; I was a bit as I don't think 10 miles is very far at all.
But they said that birth parents don't tend to go actively looking for their birth children after they have been adopted (again I was ) but I'm not an expert!

Do you mind me asking @ebeneezergood if you have used any post adoption support and how was it?

I haven’t yet for a personal issue, but they run some excellent free workshops throughout the year for adopters which I have attended and found very useful. If you do sign up with them I would definitely recommend you try and enrol on the 6 week support course post-approval whilst waiting for a match. Not only do you meet other local adopters but it’s run by a child psychologist and a family finder social worker which all helps!

Thanks ebeneezer!

We went with a different LA and I am happy with how things turned out but I wished many times we’d gone with Kent. It is a huge area so their pool of children and resources is better, and may have made our matching process less traumatic! In over a year we were never shown an in-house profile from the smaller LA we went with and ended up going well out of area which resulted in lots of different issues and inconveniences. But on the other hand that would just have made the adoption process and matching easier, I can’t say whether post adoption support would have been any better. As someone else has said BAME adopters will be very sought after and from memory of looking on link maker the pool of children in Kent is quite diverse. Good luck