Sort your life out 2

[Ulysees]

New fred

Yes. They did.

The friend gave them to be used for the future art room.

So many questions!
why did friend have so many to donate?? A few around that table would’ve been useful.

Yes they did belong to her friend. She'd given them to her to use in the art room that never happened.

Am finding Stacey's dungarees really don't suit her tonight 😕

Presumably the fact that they are plastering their adopted child all over the telly and half telling some of her story is not going to cause issues in the future for her.

I've been wondering that too.

Loved the bed/storage/play area Rob made for El's room tonight. Really gorgeous rainbow design too 😍

I did wonder about the safeguarding side, it sounded like an adoption due to child protection and thought about the implications for the little one, as well as people who may know and recognise her / how they felt.

190 plus boxes back in seems like a lot, I'm sure that is what they take out of some houses at the start, yet the house didn't seen that big to start with! Does any else try to guesstimate how many boxes they would have?!

Our house is a reasonable size, and doesn’t look too cluttered as you walk through it, but every drawer/ cupboard is absolutely crammed so ++++++ boxes. I’d love to have a drastic declutter but wouldn’t make a good story and I’d be too embarrassed!

The vast majority of adoptions are due to safeguarding, the child's needs cant be met within their birth family

Very few are due to the child being orphaned or given up

Im surprised they were approved as adopters if their house was like that during assessment, although I assume it wasnt and has built up since then

Stacey said that they had moved a few times and had to downsize, so maybe their old home was big enough and once they had adopted El it then became harder for them to keep on top of it all and work too.
I can’t imagine the people going through the adoption process wouid be too happy that the house was so cluttered , it couldnt have been like that before.

They must have spent an absolute fortune on all that stuff - they've been working hard and downsized their home and they've spent tens of thousands on dross.

They could have spent it on saving for their child's future or working less to spend more time together now.

Sweet family but I hope they give them some financial counselling as well behind the scenes

(I'm an adopter).

DH and I were discussing the safeguarding concerns whilst watching this.
We came to the conclusion that they must have been considered before going on, as it would be far too irresponsible not to. Especially as the programme had clearly taken advice on how El might feel about possessions going etc. Furthermore the Dads would be crazy to do anything that might jeopardise their chances of adopting again.

They really didn't share much of her 'story' - all i can remember was she was in care and came with very little; that's hardly news and is quite 'standard'.

Only just caught up with last week's, what a lovely mum and daughter and fantastic friends. Hated the Mum's bedroom colour though, I would have had to redecorate straight away, it was like something from the 1980s.

I love this show so much. Just jealous that I couldn’t afford to hire the staff or the warehouse to do this myself !
It’s a very good idea for a show.

I love the show too but I do think it's a bit surface-skimmy.

Elle was just a delight.

They have definitely gone for the ‘heart strings’ stories this series.

They knew that the condition of the house would mean they wouldn’t be able to adopt any more children, so I guess it was mainly as a result of the downsizing. They both seem to work a lot of hours and just hadn’t got to grips with the stuff! I hope they are successful as I know lot of children need homes, and they would have a lovely sister!

Did they say why they had to downsize? I thought SS said something at the beginning but I didn’t catch it.

I’m surprised an adopted child was on this but I’m sure they will have followed procedure.

It said they’d rented a bigger place then bought this house I think.

What a lovely family! The Craig’s both seemed so nice and loving and hard working.

Of course safeguarding around sharing that Elle was adopted was considered, don’t be silly to think that it wasn’t. And they didn’t share any of her story at all, just that she came little.

I’m so happy they can now adopt again. Another lucky child will leave the care system and enter a loving family as a result.

What a lovely family. Stacey said they took advice from lots of adoption charities etc, I’m sure that safeguarding will have been covered, especially as they want to adopt again they are probably all over it. So special for Dilly too.

I was wondering about the clutter too, do other people think that would likely be a barrier to adopting a child? If so for what reason?
The whole family were lovely.
And does anyone know where SS got her strappy denim dungarees?

It would be taken as part of the whole picture. If they are a bit chaotic as a family/ clutter is a safety issue, then that would be discussed and advice given. If it was extreme and suggested significant mental health issues, or significant safety issues/ fire risk etc, then obviously that would be a bigger concern.