Helen’s Story, Part 3

As part of National Adoption Week we’re serialising one adoptive families journey through the process, today it’s ‘stage two…’

Part three

‘Stage Two’ was a much anticipated part of the adoption process and although we had some reservations we were open minded and ready for the probing and interrogation we had been warned about. One fear that we did have and perhaps the biggest, was what if we didn’t like our social worker. Visions of a person dressed in hemp , with dreadlocks, smelling faintly of joss sticks who would greet us with a humourless face and critical glare had haunted me, and I worried about baring my soul to someone who just wouldn’t ‘get us’. How wrong I was, having met several social workers in trainings and information evenings, I can reassure you they are not like this at all. They have senses of humour and are really quite normal. Hopefully the look of relief on my face wasn’t too obvious when we opened the door to Liz that day. Quickly it became apparent she would totally get us…. and our dog.

People you meet will have their ‘adoption story’. You know where they tell you about the friend of a friend who adopted a child who was so awful they gave them back … People will try and put you off having only seen adoption on TV or read about it in some trashy magazine. I can’t begin to explain how little we all know about adoption as a society, but you will learn more than you can imagine and feel honoured to become a member of what I consider is the very special and life changing world of adoption.

If you’ve been following Helen’s story and feel it’s time to start your own adoption journey you can find out more here: http://www.leeds.gov.uk/adopt4leeds/Pages/default.aspx or you can come and talk to a member of our team at Trinity Leeds on 24 Oct 10-4pm for confidential advice and information.

There’s also a Q&A session on Twitter tomorrow, 22 Oct 09:30-10:30 from @child_leeds using #adopt4leeds