Celebration hearing

[MixedUp7]

We have the celebration hearing for our two children later in the month. They are doing a joint one as our eldests should have been during Covid therefore never went ahead.

it’s first thing in the morning in the middle of our city so will be an early start. We have both sets of grandparents coming, along with a couple of adult cousins that the children are close with and our social workers, I’m conscious it’s only a very quick time in the actual court so we are taking family for breakfast afterwards however I wanted this to be more of a day that the children would enjoy/remember. We are considering going to a big soft play afterwards but unsure what to do.

does anyone have any advice on things that they did to make the day feel exciting and memorable?

I’m also going to put them in matching outfits and have the clothing sent off with special baby/toddler clothes that I’ve saved to be turned into memory blankets.

your plans sounds very similar to what we did 😊

We also went to one of those decorate a pot studios & put our hand prints on a vase along with the date & a little verse about family.

we were all exhausted by the afternoon it was all lovely but quite emotional and we were glad we’d kept it low key.

Hope you have a lovely day and enjoy your celebrations!

We had the same slot for ours - first thing. As we were coming out, court sessions for the day were just starting. The court layout was cramped due to building work and I felt quite odd feeling relieved and happy in close proximity to other people potentially there to fight to keep their kids. The info we were given by the court said photos in the foyer were preferred but in retrospect I wish we had taken a group shot outside instead as it felt insensitive due to the lack of space We had grandparents, my brother who worked round the corner at the time, plus our 2 social workers present My bro and the SWs headed off, and we went to a nearby park to let off steam/drink a coffee. We did have to string that out a bit as it so early! We then had a celebratory early lunch together. My husband had designed a special badge for everyone to wear that he had had made, (which we also sent as thank yous to various friends and family.) The restaurant didnt really understand what we were celebrating but looked after us and we had a glass of prosecco. (First drink in 2 years due to foster to adopt!) The grandparents surprised us with small gifts including a doll that my Mum had made (i cried it was so lovely!) All done by 2pm which meant the grandparents could travel home the same day and our tiny one could get a bit of a nap. It was a lovely, fairly low key day. I hope yours is just as fab.

We had the early slot too and went for celebration breakfast afterwards. We then hired a small swimming pool as this was LO’s passion at the time. On the spur of the moment we went to our local toyshop and LO chose a special teddy which is still much loved today. It was exhausting but so special. Enjoy your day whatever you do x

Your plan sounds lovely and a good balance of event and play.

We were a large group including several social workers, foster carers, birth siblings and their foster carers and grandparents. We took pictures with the judge and all of us in the court room - similar to the film Instant Family. Afterwards we went for lunch in a nice restaurant and then the children had a water fight in the garden. We gave the children a big photo album of our first year together. Many years on those albums are still in good use. They love them.