moving region after stage 2

[boobooho]

Hello all. Prospective adoptive dad. Have been approved and early days family finding ( no joy yet are with a VAA). I am main breadwinner, wife doesn’t earn enough for us to live on with an adopted child even though we have savings. Out of the blue my job at threat ( safe for 4 months only) but have been offered another job but in a different place and in a research specialisation so rare , I will be unemployed if I turn it down . What do I do? Will we have to start from scratch again with another local authority/VAA?

You would be best discussing this with your VAA, but no I can't see why this would need you to start again, but it might depend how far you are moving and the logistical practicalities of staying with the same agency. A lot of people specifically go with an agency that's outside their local area and this can have advantages for matching, but if you're moving a considerable distance it may no longer be workable. Does your VAA have other offices where you are going? You'll need to revisit some areas of your assessment like home safety for your new home, and finances if you have a change of salary, as a minimum though. I would have thought, worst case scenario, if you do need to be approved again with another agency, you could surely move through more quickly second time around. You do need to open up the conversation with your sw to get the answers you need though.

thanks so much sunshine for the input.
yes just very nervous about this as our social worker in very invested and supportive of us and obviously has put a lot of work into us. Feel like this might be meaning leaving is process and letting him and the VAA who we like very much down. they aren't in the area we would be looking at unfortunately.
many thanks for the reply

You may find that you can stay with the same Agency.

In Lockdown the SW's did practically all of the training, Assessments and visits post Placement online. So they should be able to do that.

The child's SW HAS to visit in person though.

In the almost 2 years between Approval and the AO being granted I saw my Agency SW I think six times !!! I had countless meetings on line.. inclu the LAC Reviews, Ed Physc, SALT etc etc.

Just about everyone has continued to do things online as its so much easier, cheaper and lots more work can be done. Eg a SW can have 3x meetings in 3 hours instead of a hour travelling each way and then the meeting.

that's really interesting to know cat dog frog. thanks so much

The thing that might have an influence is whether you have a support network where you would be moving to - maybe think about how you’d establish that, though in reality your practical support network will change anyway post placement.

Theres no reason they can’t do family finding at a distance, many children are placed out of area anyway so at this stage distance is less of an issue. Have a chat with them and see what they think. You may even be able to transfer to the local authority post approval which may speed up the family finding process.

@boobooho

if you are with a voluntary agency they have invested a lot of money in you without any funding so I would think they would do their best to make it work. and its obviously far preferable for you to be in work

They may ask you to put a hold on family finding until you have moved and settled in.

Good luck

thanks so much for the perspectives Ted27 and jellycat. I am reading on the adoption boards a lot and your input is always very valuable and has pointed me to research that has impressed my SW so thank you to you and all others with lived experience with adoption. And good point re support network jellycat. i do have some friends there already but i will think about this more.