Time from approval to matched/child placed

[Southerner88]

Hi Everyone!
We have recently been officially approved to adopt and are now in the family finding/matching stage, it has taken us 2 years from initial enquiry to panel/ADM approval, we are approved for both FFA & adoption, we have been approved & in the family finding/matching stage for just over 3 weeks now & have only been sent 1 profile which unfortunately wasn't right for us, I know these things take time, it's just difficult when you are so close to finally getting a child & starting a family, I was wondering, for people who have gone through the adoption process, how long it took for them from being approved to being matched with a child/having a child placed? We have been told there is a healthy pool of adopters and shortage of children coming through so did expect there to be an elongated time frame involved and in addition our preference being a younger single child, just such an agonizing wait!
Would love to hear peoples experiences!
Thanks :-)

We were approved in January, and we have matching panel booked for the end of August. This stage has been hard! We've had a few 'nos' along the way, and me that looked very hopeful but then fell through.

It can vary so much, I think. I was convinced we'd be one of those that had a link before we were even approved - obviously that didn't happen! Then I was convinced it never would. And then suddenly we had a linking meeting!

We were approved June 2020 and went to Matching panel March 2021 and LO moved in in April 2021. Those months were the hardest of the whole process for us. There is no easy way through it unfortunately and it can get really overwhelming! Keep going. Make plans for yourself as a couple and try and enjoy this time (it is so hard). When it is your match, the wait will all be so worth it (I promise. Even though I found it impossible to believe when people said this to us!)

First time round approved December, first link fell through beginning of March and linked successfully at the end of March. Panel was July and LO came home September. Delays for various reasons from link to introductions.

Second time round we were identified pre panel (unknown to us), ADM sign off was Monday and had the initial paperwork on the Friday. Delays meant we were not officially linked for 2 months, panel was 2 months after that and moved in 2 months after that.

We were approved July last year, had matching panel November and our children moved in in December but we were looking for older siblings rather than a bsby

Been approved 2 weeks, not heard a thing. It's killing me tbh. But it's our second time round, so I'm just trying to focus on the 2 we already have.

We were matched before approval first time round (it was 10years ago, when this was allowed) so this is a very alien feeling to me.

We found our match on link maker 7 months after approval panel, and 5 months later lo moved in. I think it varies massively though. Our lo is absolutely the right match.