adopting a foster child

[Candycoco]

Hi does anyone have any experience of this I've got a few questions I'd like to ask.

I've been fostering for a couple of years now and have a baby placed with me who I've had since birth who is 10 months old now.

They are looking at families for baby now, and I'd like to be considered as an adopter myself. I know id have to be assessed and approved etc. But ..

I am a single carer and as fostering is my job currently, does anyone know if I would be entitled to any kind of adoption allowance from the government or the fostering department. I know the LA pay money for some children but is this unlikely for a baby? Or would they pay it if it meant the baby had continuity of placement.

I only have one spare room where baby sleeps at the moment, would baby be allowed to share a room with my birth dd in the future to enable me to continue fostering?

Or if not, I would look at returning to work at some point but id like to know if there is any support available for the first year or so beyond child benefit and ctc as I have bills to pay obviously!

Thank you.

I'm sending my sister a link to this, OP, as she's been in the same position.

Thank you imperial, I appreciate that

I have a friend who has 2 children on long term foster placement. I asked her once about adoption, as she is going to have them until 18. She said that there was no money or support available if she adopted them, whereas all the while she fostered she was paid and had SS support available.
If she adopted she would need to return to work, and as one child has SN that kind of defeats the point.

It was quite eye opening to be honest.

Thanks for your reply steppemum, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Because it's a baby though, they will never be able to stay with me as a long term foster placement, the plan is for adoption. I would like it to be me but obviously I need to think very carefully about it and the financial repercussions

yes, her kids are older, and had been with her for 2 years before final decisions were made about placement, so they had kind of missed the boat in terms of adoption. (adding in that they are siblings, one has SN and they didn't want to split them)

I'm not an expert but I know there's recently been a push for foster carers to adopt the children they care for rather than them move to a new adopted family - as it's cheaper! When I mentioned it a number of years ago it was a definite no-no for FC to adopt at all, so that's progress at least.

Sadly the "it's cheaper" means very little likelihood of financial support. Even "traditional" adopters are struggling for financial support packages. I've moved on some fairly damaged children over the last few years and their financial support was only guaranteed for the first year. I doubt a baby - unless there are reasons why SW would struggle to place them - would attract any support at all, sorry.

Yes that's what I'm thinking too 3purplecrocs, I think I'll have a chat with my SSW next week see what they say.

Once baby was adopted you could move her in with DD or yourself so continue to use the spare room for fostering.

Yes I did wonder that, my dd had a big bedroom so could easily share. Need to find out how long I'd have to stop fostering for after an adoption now.

We adopted our foster child and financial payment stopped within days of matching panel. Our lo has additional needs but we had no prospect of adoption allowance as they still thought as a baby lo would be easy to place with adopters anyway.
We had to have a room available for lo even though we shared as foster carers. Our LA allow this for children up to 2 years old. We could have secretly allowed our older child to share a room afterwards but would still not have been allowed to foster without lo having his own room.
Our LA also insisted we took a year off.

Just wanted to share our experiences and wish you luck with your decision.

it would be very unlikely you would receive any financial support, and the baby would need to have its own room.
If the baby has no special needs the la are unlikely to encourage you to adopt, you will need to undergo an assessment which could take a year or more and they may well have adopters approved and waiting which would mean a quicker permanent outcome for the baby.

I have no idea I'm sorry but wishing you lots of luck!!
On a seperate note, do you still update your blog? I loved reading it a while back :)

Thanks for your replies and sharing your experiences.

My SSW said I would complete a financial assessment as part of the process and i should be able to get an adoption allowance. I was told that finances shouldn't be a barrier to adopting and if remaining in my care is the best option for the child then they would support me to do that rather than me go to work and use child care.

But I will see what happens, not getting my hopes up! I imagine it's very much in a case by case basis and probably varies between authorities.

Ohoneybee I haven't updated my blog for ages, I should really it was quite therapeutic!

I think it's worth expressing your interest and also asking for the financial assessment as to whether any ongoing financial support might be made available. I have heard of this happening but it may vary by local authority. Please don't be put off like other people said you could probably continue fostering other children in the longer term depending on space constraints.

Thanks babymama, I have sent in my wish to be considered in writing so I am waiting for the child's SW and the adoption team to get in touch now to see where we go from here. I will update when I hear anything

Apologies for being so nosy, but I would love to hear if you have any updates on the adoption OP.

Hi Motherchuck- yes I applied for the adoption order in June so I am just waiting for it all to go through court now. The LA took forever to make a decision as to whether I was a suitable match or not, but because child has been placed with me over 12 months, the IRO supported me in making a direct application to the court and not having to be assessed by LA. Fingers crossed it'll all be through by the end of the year

Fingers crossed for you and your family, thanks for The update :-)