A friends baby.

[izzymattmum28]

Hi all, have a bit of a query.

I used to work for a local council with people who had mild learning difficulties, i used to go to one family who's own daughter (with learning difficulties) got pregnant, the baby boy got put into foster care till they had been through parenting classes, but the baby has epilepsy fits on a regular basis and the natural parents have now said they can't look after a sick baby, i don't work for the council anymore so they are not clients to me but i consider them friends does anyone know what the take would be in showing an interest in adopting the little boy.

Don't know whether i have explained this ok so if anyone has any questions please ask.

thanks

Hi! Have you tried contacting your local authority as your first port of call? They should be able to advise you over the phone. Another option might be to contact Coram's adoption agency who aseess parents for children with extra needs. I think also you can be assessed for a particular child, rather than the usual general assessment, but check this out as I am not an expert.

You could be assessed as a kinship carer. Contact www.frg.org.uk for how to go about it.

Our first step was to contact the LA and state our intentions to become carers for a child. We were then assessed under a special rule for family members (which may not apply to you) and baby came straight to us from court (with a fight).

We fostered him until the full assessment on birth mum was completed and then we adopted.

Call LA but make sure you are armed with the facts first. A lot of SW are not aware of the rules around family and friends carers (aka kinship carers) and they may steer you wrong.

Good luck.