This is a visit to get to know you and assess if you are the right fit for the child in question. It’s also an opportunity for you to get to know more about the child and ask questions. They might even show you additional photos and videos of the child.
When social workers undertake these visits, it means you are potentially a good match for the child. However, on occasions, they undertake visits to more than one person/couple (also known as competitive matching), and then select one of them (your own social worker can confirm if they are only visiting you or more people).
Pretty soon after the visit, and if you are still interested in adopting the child, there would be a matching meeting between your social worker, the child’s social worker, the family finder, and their managers, to discuss and decide if you are a match. If you are, then they would book you into a matching panel and agree the next steps with you. The child’s social worker and your social worker would write a report to take you to matching panel. Before matching panel you might have an opportunity to see the child in person as part of a ‘bump in’ meeting with the foster carer.
If you are pretty confident about the child, then it’s good to be prepared for the visit. For example, when we had our pre-matching visit, we prepared and printed a little presentation with photos of us, our house, information about the nearest schools, nurseries, parks, GP, hospital, etc., and also included a table summarising what we thought were the main needs of the children and how we could meet those needs. We did this to show we were really keen on adopting our sons, and in case they were visiting more people. At the time, the social worker and the family finder really appreciated this and they said it was quite useful to then show the presentation to the managers during the matching meeting. I know most people don’t do this, however, it is good to show them you are prepared and have thought about your neighbourhood and practical things, and also about the potential needs of the child and how you can meet those needs.
Good luck and let us know how it goes. :)