Stage 1 - Paperwork

Now the hard part really begins. Their referees have all received their reference requests (or so they thought), and June and Bill have plenty of paperwork to complete too! They’ve dropped forms off with their GP for medicals, but that was just the start. They also need to complete forms for safety checks, financial assessments, family trees, connection maps, personal histories, and more.

On top of that, they have Workbooks to finish, five days of in-person training (more on that in Stage 1 – Training Days), and their own personal learning and research — all of which must be evidenced and submitted to their social worker. Stage 1 promised to be a very busy couple of months!

They also started a baby wish list on Amazon at this point, to keep track of all the things they might need. Handy tip: using an Amazon Baby Wishlist you get 15% off eligible items and receive a free gift!

Day 171

Things felt like they were moving slowly, and it had been a month since their last update. Bill and June had completed the majority of the paperwork and had begun sorting the house. This included stripping the en-suite in preparation for a new bathroom and pulling up an old, slightly rotten deck.

Ready to accept they were far from green fingered, they also found a local gardener to help get the garden ready for a family.

Day 178

This week, their social worker, Helen, told Bill and June that she was unlikely to continue working with them moving forward. They were left feeling in limbo while waiting for a new social worker to be appointed.

They had anticipated this might happen. There had been a large number of staffing changes due to maternity leave, retirements, and so on, but they had expected it to occur after Stage 1, not partway through.

Helen also informed them that some references were still outstanding. Two of the posted replies had gone missing, and a third personal reference had not been received by the referee. Thankfully, these issues were quickly resolved: the lost references were resent from the copies they had kept, and the missing form was emailed immediately.

There were also a couple of employer references and a medical outstanding. The employer references were easy to solve, and the medical had only not occurred yet due to appointment timing.

Day 188

Today, Bill and June received a very exciting email:

They had officially completed Stage 1 and were about to start Stage 2! Given that just ten days ago they thought they were without a social worker, this news left them over the moon. They had expected delays following the previous conversation with Helen, but she had pulled things together and got the process moving again.

Day 198

Bill and June heard from Helen once more. She confirmed that she would remain their social worker after all and booked a visit shortly after Adoption Training Day 3.