Matching panel-what to expect

[Cheerycherry88]

Hello,

I am currently an early permanence carer with a baby in my care.The final court hearing is in a few weeks time and then matching panel a couple of weeks after that.
I’m just wondering what to expect from this panel. I’ve looked at people’s experience of matching panels but that has mostly been for the more ‘traditional’ adoptions and I’m not sure a lot of it matches up. So are there any others who were EP carers who would be willing to share what to expect from a panel where you already have the child in your care and have been caring for them for a long period of time?

thank you!

Ours was quite similar to approval panel in terms of questions about childcare plans, mental health and cyber safety in the future (!).

We were in the same position - as pp said similar focus to approval but with the addition of how’s he settling where’s he sleeping how /when did you introduce him to family what difficulties do you foresee in future & how would you deal with additional needs as he grows.

we took a small photo album of him with us & important people in our lives and they loved it - it’s now one of his treasured possession’s!

they acknowledged how tough it is doing it as it feels so big given the bond that us already there , they were lovely & acknowledged this and we had the outcome of approval (the sign off person I forget the title was on the panel - they aren’t always!!) before we left. So we were lucky in that respect !

They also asked about contact and how going & future plans for that

Happy for you to pm me if you have specific queries! Good luck !!