Looking to adopt, please help?

Hi everyone, I would just like to know a little bit about adopting a baby/toddler? I am happily married, we have a little boy and would love more kids. I know there are alot of little children out there all over the world who are with families that cannot look after them properly and must feel so unloved and because of this myself and my husband have decided we would like to adopt to give a child a loving home and a stable happy environment. this is not a hasty decision, we have been thinking about this for a long time.

now the reason i am asking for advice here is,
no:1, i just dont know where to start
no:2, i'm not sure which type of adoption we should consider first, a baby from ireland (i live in dublin) or a baby from another country.

basically i would just love genuine help from anyone out there who can help us, what channels we have to go through and how long we could be waiting for a baby/toddler. we are really excited about the prospect of giving a child a good home and all help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance
Additional Details
i appreciate everyones answers, thank you. i understand that foster kids NEED homes, my husband and i did consider this but i think quite honestly i would find it very difficult to let go of a child if i had him/her for a long time. i had considered taking a year or so off work and concentrating on fostering but after ALOT of thinking we decided that adoption was the best way forward for us. also the reason i am interested in adopting a baby or toddler is because i want the baby to be able to bond with us from an early age and to consider itself part of the family from an early age also. i am not looking for a designer child or trying to make myself look good, we are simply looking to adopt a child who has noone else to look after him/her like thousands of other people in the world.

kate

Step 1: Make the initial enquiry
Firstly you need to get in touch with your local council adoption department, or a voluntary adoption agency. If you want a contact number, for your area, search for adoption and fostering agencies on www.yell.com.

Step 2: Information meeting
After your initial enquiry you may be sent an information pack in the post or asked to an information meeting. These meetings are designed to give you information with a chance for you to ask questions. Often adoptive parents, who can give 'hands on' answers, will attend these meetings.

Step 3: The first visit
The social worker will arrange a suitable time to visit you at your home. At this meeting you will have more in-depth discussions on why you want to adopt and what you can offer a child, and the kind of children available for adoption. This is also an opportunity to discuss more personal issues and how the process will work.

Step 4: Health and CRB checks and preparation
If you decide to proceed with your wish to adopt, you will be asked to take part in preparation, often by attending group meetings, and you will give permission for checks to be made by the Criminal Records Bureau .These checks are routine and nothing to worry about. It's essential that social services ensure the safety of the children by checking the potential adoption parents have no criminal convictions or cautions for serious offences against children or vulnerable adults. You will also be asked to provide information about your health from your GP, who may require you to be medically examined.

Step 5: The application form and assessment
If the agency considers, when it has the health and CRB information and you have taken part in preparation, that you may be suitable to adopt a child, you will be give the application form to complete and then your assessment will begin.

This is the big one!

You will be given very detailed information about adoption and how it will change your lives. You will have to think very hard at this point if you can commit to adopting the child.

Do you think that you could cope with a child with disabilities or one that has behavioural problems? All these type of searching questions will be asked in addition to explanations about adoption law and what rights etc birth parents.

The social worker will make several visits to your home, known as home study. This will allow the social worker to build a profile of you. If you live with a partner you will be interviewed both individually and as a couple.

This part can feel a little intrusive. There will be detailed questions about your past and your family. Three references will be required, including one from a family member. All three must be interviewed by the social worker - what they say about you will not be revealed to you without your referee's permission.

This is a lifetime commitment so all these checks are necessary to ensure you are able to take a child into your lives.

Step 6: Report following the home study - the Prospective Adopters Report [also known as Form F]
After the home study has been completed both you and your social worker will put together this report. This will contain all the information gathered during the home study. You are entitled to see most of what is in the report [except the references and health report] at least 10 working days before the adoption panel and will have the opportunity to comment on what is written.

Step 7: Adoption panel
Once it is completed and your comments [if any] added, the report goes forward to an adoption panel. This panel is made up of social workers and other professionals and people with personal experience of adoption .You must be invited to attend the panel but you are not obliged to do so, but either way your social worker would attend the panel. The panel then makes a recommendation to the agency as to whether you are suitable to adopt a child or not. The agency then makes its decision.

Step 8: Matching a child
After you have been approved your social worker will begin to look for a suitable child. The search usually starts locally but may spread to other authorities in the country. The now-approved adopter can also start to investigate this by looking at profiles of children. One option here is to look at the Adoption-net profiles section.

Step 9: Placement
Once a suitable child has been found you will be given full details including the child's background and why the child is available for adoption. This information is contained in the Child's Permanence Report.

If you are willing to proceed, and the child's social worker thinks you are suitable for the child, you must be given, at least 10 working days before the Adoption Panel meets to consider the match, a copy of the Adoption Placement Report - providing details of the proposals [if any] for support for you and the child and contact between the child and the birth family.

Nurse Autumn Intactivist NFP

Foster Care, those kids NEED homes.

Gaia Raain

Most of the kids who need new families aren't babies or toddlers. If your intention is to help a child, I'd recommend upping your age limit to accommodate the kids who need YOU, not just the kids you want.

Due in October with #1

Greetings I am adopted but I was adopted from the United States so I am not sure how Ireland works.
However here, before you adopt you have to go through many many many medical,financial and emotional screenings along will background checks.
Start off, By searching Adoption Agency's.
But Beware If you want an Infant you will probably wait a long time.
I took me 6 years to get adopted because no one wants 4 year olds, they want newborn babies.

funkifoo

First of all you should discuss it with the child you've already got and make sure he's on board.

I have a friend whose parents considered adopting when she was about 6. They sat down and discussed it with her, and after being assured that they still loved her, she agreed to the adoption.

A friend of a friend's parents had 2 children, and when they wanted more, they decided to adopt. They didn't discuss it with the children they already had, and in an attempt to show the adopted child that they were a part of the family, the parents ended up neglecting the children they already had. The 2 boys felt left out and unloved, and as a result, they don't have a very good relationship with their parents.

I think it's a wonderful thing that you are doing - giving a child a loving and stable home, but don't forget that your number 1 priority right now is still the child you already have.

Good luck and I wish you all the best!
XXXX

Esther

Check here, this is the Adoption Authority of Ireland. I'm not sure about Ireland but in the U.S. there are many countries where we can adopt from. The requirements are different from country to country as well as the adoption agency. One agency may require 5 years marriage while another may only require 1. South Korea has a lot of boys (mainly because many people request girls) around the infant and toddler age. They also have a great foster system so that these children aren't in an orphanage typically.

You could check out adoption.com but again, me being from the U.S. it may not benefit you too much.

pink! pink! pink! :x) (stacey g)

try this:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Adoptionfosteringandchildrenincare/index.htm?cids=Yahoo_PPC&cre=Parents

wisdom

last spring I went to Panama to work is missionary with homeless children and I ask the social worker about adopting a child she explain to me that was relatively easy and dint need to pay and you can use the money for the child when he comes home which I though it was cool. I encourage you to think about a Panamanian child.

lollylops23

Im up for adoption. lol.

Lauren...

Sorry i cant answer ur question, but how lovely that you are going to save a little baby tht hasnt got a family !

Good for you :D

Good Luck

xx

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