Early permanence and work

[robbobby]

We have been matched with a new born under FTA .

My immediate manager and a few close coworkers know we're approved. My team is 30+ and the company is 200+.

How have people handled wider announcements when there is a lot of uncertainty?

Congratulations. I would only tell your manager as I was in this position 4 times with unborn babies. First time I told my manager only but this quickly fell through. Second Time was much more certain and everyone knew once baby was born but this also fell through as family members came forward once baby had arrived. This was devastating. Third time I kept it quiet and only told my manager but this again fell through. Fourth time only my manager knew and he announced to the wider team once baby was home and I was already gone.

Perhaps Tell them you will be fostering the baby for now while SS do their assessments, but that if they find that the baby can't live with with birth family you will adopt him/her. Would that work?

I would just say you are fostering. If people ask how long for/ if it will be permanent/ would you keep baby etc you can say you are unsure what will happen as social work are making assessments.

I am currently in this position. I told my manager and my immediate (small) team pre birth and my manager told everyone else after the birth. We were clear it was fostering while assesments were on going but that if it was decided that the little one remain with us we would then adopt. It felt important to us to help everyone understand what (in our case) concurrency was. That we were not adopters but also that I had not left to become a foster carer. Wishing you well on your journey.