No problem. 🙂 Our process was very good. It was about 8 months from putting in our registration of interest form to approval of us as adopters. 6 months is I believe the target timeline; but the 8 month pace was right for us and predominantly down to scheduling the interviews with us and all our referees. All our training was online owing to Covid but the social worker sessions were a mixture of in person and online. The online sessions were run really well and we chatted to other people in our groups outside of the formal training. Everyone from PACT I've dealt with over the years has been very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. And there is access to loads of online resources, so you have a good starting point for any material issue that come ups.
We had one social worker for our approval and a different one for matching owing to the original retiring. But again that was handled really well and we actually appreciated having the benefit of different views and opinions as we went.
With matching I'd advise not focusing too much on how long it took others. Each match is highly unique. Our DS's siblings were also adopted by PACT adopters, and they had an entirely different matching timeline/journey to us. Although they have always seemed equally happy with PACT.
Post adoption support has been great. We loved going to the social sessions they ran for our DS's age group in the early days. That allowed us to meet other adopters in person. They've also always been quick to respond to email queries I have had. We've not needed much help on the therapeutic or educational side of things yet; but I've heard good things from other PACT adopters about their help.They also offered us lots of support with building a relationship with DS's siblings' adopters. In the end we didn't need much, as the relationships developed very naturally. But I think psychologically it made a big difference to know any of us could speak to a supportive professional while we navigated that.
My top tip at this stage would be to think critically about what gaps/issues might come up as part of your personal assessment. For us it was my weight and our lack of experience with children. We worked on those ahead of kicking off the process. For others it can be considering finances, existing pets or children, processing previous life experiences or strengthening support networks. There's a lot to think about (as is the case however you become a parent).
Also mentally prepare for the process to be challenging and searching. At times you will be asked direct and difficult questions, that may be highly personal. But all with the aim of making sure you're ready and able to parent a traumatised child/children. Nothing will be as testing as a child can be, so expect it and lean in.
I wouldn't change anything about how we became parents and have always felt very good about choosing to go with PACT.
Good luck! (A feel free to ask any Follow up questions)