Registartion of Interest (ROI)

Holiday seasons caused a delay between the social worker’s initial visit and the invitation to start Stage 1. Eventually, the forms arrived, and our couple’s story could continue.

Day 96

The paperwork begins! And boy, is there a lot of paperwork. The Registration of Interest (ROI) asks for extensive information required to complete the various references and checks that form part of Stage 1.

This also meant June and Bill needed to tell more people about their journey — both employers and friends. If they hadn’t already told the family members they planned to ask as references, they would have needed to do so now. The good news was that everyone they told was over the moon for them.

In fact, this felt like a good opportunity to note the common reactions when people share that they are planning to adopt:

• Excited for you
• Curious about how far into the process you are
• Wondering how long the process will take / when you might get a child
• 1,001 other questions about adoption and how it works

Going into the process, it is entirely normal to feel ignorant. However, as June and Bill found, the more you discuss it with people, the more you realise that adoption is not generally well understood.

Day 109

It took nearly two weeks, but the ROI forms were posted back. Unfortunately, this would not be the only time they had to post these forms to the adoption agency.

Day 127

After almost three anxiety-filled weeks with no contact from the adoption agency, Bill and June reached out to find out what was happening. The agency is supposed to respond to an ROI within five days of receiving it, so to have heard nothing nearly three weeks later (having sent it Special Delivery at that!) suggested something was wrong. Of course, it was the weekend, so they would have to wait until Monday for a reply.

To take their minds off things, they decided to do some “baby stuff” window shopping. They looked at nursery furniture — cots, changing tables, wardrobes — and also prams. Bill really liked the look of the IckleBubba Jogger travel system. To him, it did everything they needed and was a steal of a price compared to other systems at just £400.

June, however, didn’t like the handle. She much preferred the iCandy travel system, as its handle felt nicer. After a small debate over whether a handle was worth an extra £1,400, they agreed to keep looking and try to find a middle ground. Spoiler alert: they eventually found a compromise, which was almost exactly what June wanted in the first place.

Good news, though — they liked the same nursery furniture. More spoilers: absolutely none of the decisions they made at this point ended up being what they would actually buy when the time came!

Day 128

Bad news from the adoption agency: their Registration of Interest form had gone missing. Thankfully, they had kept a digital copy, and the agency agreed to accept it to get things moving again.

Day 133

The adoption agency confirmed that June and Bill were accepted onto Stage 1.