Meetings after a child is placed

[PaintedLadyWBB]

How long do meetings for on with social workers following the placement of a child. I get that it’s when the AO is granted but how long is it until we can apply and how often should our SW and LO SW be visiting?

It really depends on your local authority. We initially had both my and the D.C. social worker visit once a week, after 4 weeks they alternated every week, then moved to each visiting once a month (so every two week). Our adoption order was granted after 14 weeks by which time we saw one of them once a month. We continued to see a social worker every 6 weeks or so until about 6 months after placement.

What I’d say is the support was invaluable in the early days, knowing they’d be coming meant I didn’t need to ask for help, which would have felt very difficult for me, but I knew a two points in the week someone would be focussing on how I was coping. We had a good relationship and I could be really honest about what I was struggling with - and they witnessed some of the behaviours etc.

A good social worker post placement is worth their weight in gold.

Our timescales were very similar to those des river above. However, once the AO came through, all SW involvement ceased. That’s the same for everyone I know in real life (quite a lot of adopters now). I think Jellycatspyjamas might be in Scotland, while I’m in England, so perhaps that accounts for the difference.

*described - no rivers involved!

Hi,
I'm England you can apply for the adoption order after 10 weeks, which I did. There can be delays with the legal process though for various reasons. It was about 7 months after placement that our AO was granted, and SW visits reduced gradually until then. I've known people have it happen much sooner, and also for it to take much longer.

Also meant to say I had regular visits from both my SW and my daughter's. At first this felt like a lot of visits, especially when there are also meetings in your home with an Independent Reviewing Officer, but by the time of the order it felt more strange when they came round.

At first this felt like a lot of visits, especially when there are also meetings in your home with an Independent Reviewing Officer, but by the time of the order it felt more strange when they came round.

You can ask for those to be held off-site - I refused to have “professionals” meeting held in my home. I didn’t want the kids upset by more people in their home than need be and I also wanted to be able to focus on the meeting without worrying about the kids.

In terms of social workers visiting post adoption order, our adoption order was granted very quickly - you need to wait 13 weeks in Scotland and we were in court within the week and it was granted at first hearing. In the normal scheme of things that process would have taken a good bit longer so we agree to continued SW visits to the 6 month mark. If we had asked for them to stop, they would have.

There are statutory requirements for social worker visits and full reviews as part of the child's status as a looked after child. Until the AO is granted these have to be followed.

* You can ask for those to be held off-site - I refused to have “professionals” meeting held in my home. I didn’t want the kids upset by more people in their home than need be and I also wanted to be able to focus on the meeting without worrying about the kids.*

If you can do this, it’s a great idea. However, if you don’t have a school age child, it’s really difficult to do this, especially in the early days.

The review meetings weren't a problem for us in terms of unsettling my LO as she started school soon after placement so wasn't at home - agree this must be harder to manage for younger children/single/working parents in the days before others can babysit.

There are PEP meetings to manage at school/eyfs if your child is older - further SW involvement to be aware of. We managed to combine these with other visits though.