Experience with Children

[Murphy2021]

We are new to adoption, but have a BC (aged 5). We have had some initial chats with a social worker from the LA and they want us to concentrate on getting more childcare experience that we can evidence on our learning log. We are very happy to do so, but its really hard to work out how to do this currently, given the lockdown and other COVID-19 related restrictions. Especially since they seem to want in person rather than online experience (and most current volunteering seems to have moved online).

So, basically I wondered if anyone had managed to find a creative way to fulfil this requirement in the current landscape. There doesn't seem to be a set amount that we need, so its hard to know what to work towards, but any help or advice would be gratefully received as we feel a bit at sea with this one. I am quite worried, as our SW has suggested that not getting more experience will likely go against us at matching.

Hi there, I think the childcare experience thing is a real conundrum for many. On the one hand, having gone through the process myself, I absolutely understand why they have this expectation but on the other the ability to do so around work etc can feel like a privilege that not all can do v easily at all.

We were very fortunate that our agency were down to earth about it. They made it clear our experience needed to be outside of friends and family we already knew and so we reached out to friends to put us in touch with friends of friends(!) Who we would never have met before but could do with some childcare. We ended up having s lot of intense experience looking after a little girl who was 13ms up to when she was just over 2 and it was invaluable. Our social worker accepted it because we were v careful that it extended beyond "babysitting" and into parental type tasks. So we put ourselves in at the deep end - day trips, supermarket outings whole we tried to get our monthly shop(!), Putting her to bed, taking her to activities etc and we had an observation as well as an observation on a couple other children in our network. During that time we gained experience that was invaluable - difficult behaviour, fussy eating, sleep issues, balancing behaviour in public etc! You hear a lot of talk on here about formal volunteering but I don't think that always has to be the case.

Despite covid you might be able to sort something. I'm not sure how they would deal with it but bearing in mind nurseries are remaining open and have safety measures in place, there is the possibility perhaps that they would allow you to volunteer as a support? It may be that you have to do something less hands on but you never know (I'm sorry I'm not an expert in this but reckon they may be open to it with right precautions on place), same perhaps for school clubs although I imagine they may be slightly more guarded

There may be some children's activities still on in areas or for cohorts of children that are considered extra vulnerable or at disadvantaged (sorry about terminology) (which would also be valuable experience for you) - maybe look at your area online and see if there are any specialist provisions still going on at certain children's centres etc

Having said this I do think your agency would be remiss to not exercise some flexibility during this time. It would be entirely unreasonable in my view to not accept that the threshold of experience you'll be asked to gain will probably need to be lower or in some cases less than ideal given restrictions at the moment. Xx

I’d go back to your social worker and explore what exactly they want you to gain in terms of childcare experience given you are already parents. It would be worth asking about the gaps they are trying to fill because otherwise it’s an unnecessary box to tick.

We have a 4yr old bc and weren't asked about childcare experience at all! We're now approved and awaiting a match. I find it hard to imagine how you could possibly get more childcare experience than being a parent?

I would go back to them as Jellycat says and ask what exactly they want. SW know it’s nigh impossible to get voluntary experience at the moment. Otherwise you could try another agency to see what they say. I would hazard a guess that they are delaying as they don’t have a SW to allocate to you.