Anyone know of the quickest and best route to go for adopting a 0-4 child?

Question

Thinking of adopting a child, hopefully a 0-4 year old, but time is not on our side (early 40s). been told the normal council route can take up to 6 years for a placement. We have been thinking about adopting from abroad, is there anyone who has had any experiences on these lines?

Answer 1

For a wht. baby, you may have to go overseas.  

A lot of people are successful at this.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

www.bradandangelina.com

Answer 3

visit an orphanage

Answer 4

You will probably find that the reason why the council said it can take up to 6 years for you to get a child is because of the age group which you chose you wanted to adopt from.

Most under 5's get adopted very quicky as for some reason that is seen as the ideal age to adopt a child, however if you were to extend the age groups you would consider (ie -up to age 8), then you will probably find you'll be placed with a child a bit quicker. There are many thousands of children (mostly aged 5 and over) that need adopting in the uk, so please consider children that are slightly older.

Another option would to be considering adoping children with SEN's, whom are often very difficult to place (I knew 1 baby who waited over 2 years to be adopted, the only reason for this wait being the child had downs syndrome).

Also, have you considered the option of adopting a sibling group? This may involve adopting 2 children (ie - aged 3 and 7). There are also many sibling groups of 2 or more children waiting to be adopted, as they can be notoiously difficult to place.

I have known of people who have adopted abroad, however be warned that a lot of countries (most notorious being china) have extemely rigid rules for people wanting to adopt children (ie - must be earning a certain amount of money per person, must be married for a certain period of time, etc). Also, the process of adopting a child from another country often costs many thousands of pounds (sometimes up to £12k) in fees.

Also, another advantage uk adoptions offer is that you can get a lot more post adoption support, and with some children you may even get a fee to help look after the children. In my experince with international adoptions you do not get this kind of help or support.

Answer 5

Where do you live? In the US most adoptions don't take nearly that long. We live in Massachusetts and adopted from Korea. One of our kids came home in a year flat from the time our application was first submitted. (another took over two years, but that's another story!) The website below is the agency we used. They give time frames for various countires as well as age and marital restrictions for adopting from those countries. BTW, our neighbors adopted two newborns through a local for-profit agency and they waited less than a year for both of theirs. The cut off age at application for most countries if you want an infant is between 40-45.

Answer 6

I have listed some sites below take a look at them.. Hope you find what you need and good luck finding your bundle of joy!

Answer 7

in a word. china. china allow married couples to adopt. get a bit of research done.

edit, whats with the thumbs down? i know a woman who adopted chinese twin baby girls not five months ago. they're about six months old. they couldnt adopt in this country because of the wait so they went to china. seems simple to me.

Answer 8

EBAY

Answer 9

You should check with your local department of children services and look into adopting children that are in foster care.  I don't know about the exact length of time it takes but I know there are a lot of children waiting for a perminate home.  You can get either a private adoption worker through an agency of your choice or one from the county you live in.  They can search all around the country for a child to match your family.  You can also look yourself http://www.comeunity.com/adoption/waitin...

Answer 10

surrogacy!  You are probably more likely to get a baby, and more quickly.

Answer 11

try a foster placement with plans to adopt; or try a local agency and check for rules and restrictions as well as a wait time.

Answer 12

Surely the issue here is not how quickly or easily you can adopt a child, but ensuring that you are the best parents for the child.  The childs interests are paramount.

In the Uk the approval process usually takes 8 months, as long as there are no unforseen problems.  One you are approved then the social workers will start to look for a match.  Usually in the UK you are unable to adopt a child if there is more than a 45 year age gap and the chances of you adopting one child under five with no problems are practically nil.

My partner and I are aged 40 and 51 and our social worker is confident of an early match once our approval comes through.  That is because we are looking to adopt a sibling group of three or four children.  Our social worker recommended us to adopt children between 0 and 5 despite me saying we were happy to adopt older children.  Apparently there are a lot of sibling groups consisting of younger children out there.

Even if you adopted abroad you still have to have your home study done by your local agency (contact social services) which is the 8 month period to gain approval that I mentioned above.

When you first contact your local adoption team they will probably have a lengthy chat with you.  They will tell you straight away the chances of adopting the type of child you are thinking of.  Don't just presume it will take 6 years because 'someone' has told you so, you need to speak to the people on the front line who will give you proper information.

Good luck!

Answer 13

My friends are the same age and they adopted within two months. Go to your local agency to find more info!

Answer 14

I adopted from Korea.  My son came home at 5 1/2 months.  I Sooooo recommend it.  It took 14 months and he came on my 40th BD.  Look into international, there is a lot of lee way on ages.

Answer 15

I think 40 is the upper age limit