Do SWs stay involved in your life after adoption?

[justwatchingtv]

I’m so sorry if that’s a really ignorant question! I suppose I am asking because, say, if you had adopted a child and then two years later had a brilliant job opportunity abroad ... would you have to in effect get permission? Or are you as free to do what you want to do as you would be if you had birth children?

Sorry, please don’t flame me

Hi it's not an ignorant question so no flames! Assuming you're in the UK, mandatory social worker involvement ends once the Adoption Order is granted and you have sole parental responsibility for the child. You can then parent as you see fit and don't need permission to leave the country etc. The earliest you can apply for an AO is 10 weeks after the child comes to live with you, but in practice you might wait longer than that if you are trying to get post adoption support or allowance agreed, and it can take months for the AO process to be completed so you would need to factor that into any timescales you are considering.

Thank you and thanks for being nice!

Is there an age limit with adoption? I know single adopters are OK?

Single adopters are ok and not really any age limits.

Good luck x

whilst its completely your decision, you do need to be careful if you move abroad. I have one friend who moved to Australia last year, she has family and friends so a support network, the services she needs to support her children's needs are great. I have another on line aquaintence who has moved to a European country and is having a dreadful time because they cannot access the support they need

This is a super friendly board, never flaming from the regulars 😂

The only thing I would say (but probably shouldn’t) is I wouldn’t mention the possibility of emigrating during approval process. The social worker is assessing your current support network and will want to k ow you aren’t looking to make any big changes for a while.

After the adoption order you are legally the parent, so you can move where you want. However, apart from the potential lack of support and services, you might want to consider that you are adding another huge loss to your child's many losses.

A move to another country with a different language and culture is stressful and difficult even if you are the adult choosing to do so. For your child it is going to be extra challenging.

How will you support your child throughout childhood and adolescence in their search for their identity? Are you planning to stay in touch with foster carers if possible? How would you manage that? Your child might have direct contact to siblings in the UK. How would that work? A lot obviously depends on your child's individual situation, but it would have made many things we do (and which have been very helpful for our children) very hard, if not impossible.