Finances to adopt

[terrigrey]

I would be a single adopter.
At the moment I earn about £40k working full time.
I own my own house with a very long mortgage, it's aprox £900pm.

After paying for my adoption year off, I will have a few grand savings and no debts.

I worked out that at the moment I spend £20,000 on basics per year, eg mortgage, food, bills, car. Some of these cost could be trimmed but not by too much (eg I have pets and so I need to have money to feed/vet treat them) & I need a car where I live etc (I don't have sky or Spotify or things like that).

I can't continue my ft job if I adopt as the job involves travel & overnight stays.
So I'm looking for a local job, which isn't easy as it's a small place with limited opportunities for someone like me who basically has managed to earn quite a bit despite not having a career (plus I'm 40+ which doesn't help).

I would probably adopt a nursery/school age child so I can work after taking my year off, will the social work ask to see proof that I can get local employment? (I don't want to switch job until adoption as I will get a great adoption leave package and I love my job & colleagues).

I do have an investment or 2 which can be cashed in (circ £50-£60k) in the next few years which I was planning to pay down some of my mortgage, so I could use that for living expenses if needed (or get into debt knowing this invest emend could pay off the debt). The investment is very secure and no danger of it not being realised.

(I know it might sound like I'm ridiculously rich compared to a lot of parents, but birth parents don't have to prove their incomes like adoptive parents do, plus I also have no family/partner support as I am single & I live the other side of the country to my family, so it will all be on me.)

Anyone got any ideas on what the bar social workers use in terms of finances?

Forgot to say, I assuming I wouldn't be able or want to work FT again after adopting so could possibly earn £20,000 working PT (school hours) and using some holiday clubs.

I could use a tiny bit of the investment money for holidays/treats etc.

Hi will you have to pay back some of your maternity leave if you don't go back to work. Would a change of job be a good time to move back closer to your family?

No I wouldn't have to pay any adoption pay back.
I have thought of moving but, I don't want to live closer to my family because:
a) most of them they live in a much more expensive area which would mean me living in a much smaller house/flat.
b) My family are fairly scattered, so they don't live where I grew up - not sure who i would puck to live nearer to!
d) None of them could be relied on for childcare, (apart from emergencies of course) - they have their own commitments.
c) I love where I live, and have lots of friends where I currently live.

pick not puck!

Hi I'm a single adopter, finances are always tricky.

Adopting a school age child is a sensible approach, it reduces child care costs and enables you theoretically to work part time. Its what I did
Everyone has to compromise somewhere, you have to find your compromise. I think your job situation is a dilemma for you and whilst your mortagage may be affordable now, its very high. For comparison, I have a similar income, some of which comes from benefits. Until last year my morgage was also around £900. I don't run a car. Quite frankly it was crippling me, even though I only had three years left I had to extend the term to bring it to a more managable level.
If you have worked out you need £20 k a year to cover your existing expenses, add a bit more for chold costs, I think you need to be bringing in around £2000 a month. So you need a job which pays more than £20k.
For comparison, I currently work four days a week and my take home pay is around £1700, my salary is around £30k. I don't think a £900 mortgage is sustainable for one person long term on that income level. All you need is for the car or the boiler to break down and you are stuffed. I remember one half term a few years ago when I found myself with around £1200 of unavoidable and unexpected bills, no choice but to put it on a credit card. Don't deliberately plan on accumulating debt.

You will get child benefit which is £80 a month, you may qualify for tax credits. But personally, I never factored in benefits when doing my finances because they can be removed. If you work things out on your earned income, any benefits you get are a bonus.

I think your job is an issue, I travelled regionally with long days and a few overnight stays but its wasnt compatible with being a single parent so I switchec jobs before I adopted. Part time jobs that fit with school hours are hard to come by, its much easier to be in a job and ask to go part time when you come back from leave.
Being practical, the school day is actually quite short, you have 13 weeks of school holidays to cover, plus 5 teacher days and random snow days. Where is your child care ? If you have to use holiday clubs thats ok but they can cost £80 to £100 a week. Very few holiday clubs run over Christmas. My son is older and doesnt need clubs now but I used to factor in around £700 a year for holiday clubs, plus the costs of any holidays we wanted.
Sorry I havent answered your questiond but I think you need to think a few things through before you have that conversation with an SW.

So I need to earn £2,000 net pm @Ted27 ?
There is a possibility of that even working school hours if I can move jobs nearer home.

I can't bring down my mortgage any further as I am at maximum term already.
I already live in the cheaper area I can personally be happy in - plus I would lose my local support network if I moved too far.

My investment which will mature in 5 years will be used to bring down my mortgage, and I could tighten my belt with groceries etc until then?

Well we are talking round figures arent we. You say you spend £20k on basics, which you can't cut. So thats around £1700 a month, add on a couple of hundred extra a month average over the year, for child related costs then you are in the region of 1900 to 2000 pcm.
Off the top of my head you need to factor in
childcare costs
food
increased utilities - you will be home more. My central heating was never on before 8.30 in the evening, now its 6, and a lot more at weekends
school uniform, school lunches,school trips, shoes ( good childrens shoes are not cheap)
christmas
birthday
any interests they may have - swimming lessons, cubs/scouts/brownies. any sport or whatever.

A lot of people bring familes up on full time incomes in the low 20ks but they won't be forking out the best part of £11k on a mortagage.

I'm a bit puzzled about your assumption about work. At the begining of your posts you say there are limited opportunities where you live, but then you seem very confiident that you can pick up a part time role that pays more than £20k.

When I went back to work, 21 hours a week, my salary was just over £20k, my take home pay was £1300. £2k a month, or 24 pa, must bring you into a FTe salary of over £30k.

Honestly part time, school hour jobs are rare, even in large cities, let aIone one that pays in the region of £30k. I don't know anyone working part time on that sort of pay, unless they asked to go part time in their current role.
Have you factored in things like location of school relative to where you might find a job? That can limit your working hours even more.

5 years is a long time to live frugally. The only benefit you are guaranteed is child benefit. I dont know how universal credit works. But on a salary of c£20k I did not qualify for working tax credit. I do qualify for child tax credit but only because my son gets Disabilty living Allowance. So you may or may not get some additional benefits.

I adopted 9 years ago and was lucky enough to be given an adoption allowance - this is the only reason I can afford to work part time and bring in less than £2 k a month earned income. Adoption allowances are very hard to get now.
Speaking as a single adopter, I think you need to look very hard at your finances, tightening your belt is one thing, but you don't want to spend your life worrying about the car breaking down or the boiler blowing up, or if you can afford to buy your kid an ice cream in the park.

I'm sure you can make it work, we all do one way or another.

Thanks Ted for your helpful advice.
The £50k - £60k investment could be used to reduce my mortgage - so I won't need to pay out so much on a mortgage.
I could go back to an old employer and earn about £30k working school hours (but still working most of school holidays- apart from holiday leave) as the local primary school is 5 mins away from old job so no commuting time/petrol cost really.
I definitely want to have enough money to give them a good life, and money for hobbies & holidays.
I also have heard that adoption is encouraged in all sections of society, not just the very well off....so I rather hoped I would be considered.
Worse case I can sell my house and move to a saner place if things were too difficult.
I'm a bit of an optimist and in generally things always work out for me, so I would be happy to take the plunge....I just don't know if a social worker would support me doing that?

@terrigrey

to be fair, I don't think most adopters would describe themselves as well off, most of us are ordinary people doing ordinary jobs. But you have to be able to live. Couple have the advantage of two incomes to play with. We just have one, so of course its going to be harder, thats just how it is.
When I adopted I was on £34k, I could manage fine on that staying full time. As I mentioned I was very lucky to get an adoption allowance and we qualify for some benefits so my income is now similar to yours even though I work part time.
But its not just about income, its outgoings. Yours seem very high. My 'fixed' outgoings are approx £1300, excluding food. Yours are around 1700. That £400 wriggle room is a huge difference.
I had a mortgage of £900 for several years, it just became unsustainable, my income has not increased for 8 years, but my council tax has, my utilities have, cost of food has. Reducing my mortgage put me in a far better position.
I think you also have to factor in the long term economic impact of the pandemic. I'm a bit baffled to be honest that you think you can walk into a £30k a year part time job with an old employer, in 2 to 3 years time. How do you know that this employer will come out of the pandemic unscathed.
Optimism is a great quality for an adopter, you will need it in bucketloads.
But it needs to be tempered with a healthy dose of reality. I'm 8 years into life as a single adopter, with 18 months left on my mortgage. I have had lots of financial wobbles in that 8 years but have always had sufficient wriggle room to jig things about.
My best advice to you as a single adopter on finances is
reduce your outgoings now, not in five years
do not plan on increasing debt to cover shortfalls based on investment paying out in 5 years
are you absolutely sure you won't have to pay back your adoption pay if you don't return to your current employer. Even the civil service requires a minimum amount of time back from.
Don't gamble on things turning out all right. When I was 40 I took redundancy, I had a shaky few years and it worked out all right. But I was not responsible for a child then. No way would I take such a risk now.
Don't rely on selling your house to get out of financial difficulty. We are about to enter a recession, the housing market could collapse, you might not be able to sell.
Honestly, adoption and single parenthood is hard enough, you don't need financial stress on top of it.

I used to work at a school as a teaching assistant, I early £8000 per year! Certainly not enough to live off x

I am single, live in North East and my annual is £18500. I rent a little two bedroom house. I am going to adopt a child and feel so confused how will I manage financially. I suppose school age child, so I can work part time. Does anyone have similar experiences or any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks

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@SparroW123 hello

remember that its not just about income but outgoings. The OP had a good salary but also very high outgoings, including a very high mortgage.

Its possible to manage on a lower salary if you have lower outgoings. If you go part time on that low a salary and as you rent, I would imagine you would qualify for Universal Credit. I receive tax credits so havent a clue how UC works. You need to look into the benefits that may be available to you.
Where are you in the process? The other thing you can do is look for a higher paid job. Thats what I did, my salary wasnt enough to go part time on, so I looked for a job that paid me what I needed.

Hi,

My experiences as a single adopter have also taught me to be frugal! When I was approved I was on 52K and my finances were down as one of my strengths at panel. 3 years down the line, and I'm struggling financially. I had to change jobs not just because of the hours but because of the personal investment needed for both work and parenting. I was really career driven. Now I'm not at all - parenting won of course as I couldn't do both properly and I don't regret it.
Now, I work 97% (so I can do the school pick up once a week) and earn 25K, plus child benefit. That would be fine - but the mortgage and the childcare and the not getting any other help! Eek. I could move and solve my financial difficulties in a heartbeat by downsizing, but my LO doesn't manage change well and has had too many to ask another of her now. If you think you might need to move, do it now!

I regret not moving beforehand but not being a million times more skint than before as parenting is worth it. Can't remember the last time I bought anything for myself or paid for a haircut...long before lockdown! I agree with Ted, shoes (and children in general!) are expensive! Birthdays, Christmas.....

Good luck!! 😀

Those fixed costs are the big issue. As a single adopter who had to go part time and drop several levels of responsibility (and the related pay levels!), the thing that has made it survivable was a minimal mortgage. The flip side was living in a tiny flat, which could be a bit of a pressure cooker as we were on top of each other all the time.

10 years in and it was all worth it but my pension and long term financial stability has taken a big knock. Wouldn't change anything though, my daughters are wonderful...

I know this thread is from a few weeks ago, but another thing to consider is that many adopted children have difficulties at school. Some may only be able to manage on a part-time table, others may end up out of school for many months. There is the possibility with adoption that you may never be able to work full time, part time or at all depending on how the needs of the child evolve over time. Of course some children may manage fine in school, but it is a possibility that they won't and therefore this has a big impact on finances, and this can't always be predicted at matching even for a school aged child.
So like another poster said, I would focus on reducing outgoings as much as possible and do not take on any further debts.