Bit of a hard one,

Me and my husband are considering adopting some children as we are unable to have our own, we have been on a waiting list in Sheffield for over 14 months now and we are still waiting to be allocated a Social Worker, it is National Adoption week this week and they make the process seem quite quick and easy, just ring up and the process is quite simple, but its not like that

Does anyone know anything about agencies such as Barnardos, by the time we get sorted another year will have passed, and if any one has any insight into adoption and children the advice would be greatly received, younger and older children, any thoughts.

could anyone pm back

many thanks a hopefull Nichola

hi Nichola!

I don't really have any info - but good luck!

I think it's great that people choose to adopt - there are so many other options now - surrogacy, IVF + surrogacy, but I think it's great that there are people like you around who will give a child a home.

I know it's not easy as a friend of ours wanted to adopt a little boy who had a medical condition. The man who wanted to adopt him had the same medical condition so both he and his wife were very clued up and they could understand what the little boy would go through but still they were told they were 'unsuitable'.

They have successfully adopted a little girl now and are enjoying her a lot so keep up with it!

I know it must be so tiring waiting for them, but just think how special that little person will be when you've finally won the battle for them!

I hope somone else can help you more!

You don't say whether you're wanting to adopt a baby, an older child, or a child with special needs?

I know I'm not in Sheffield, but when making enquiries about adoption, LB Bexley's advice is that, if you would like to adopt an older child or a child with special needs, then the whole process should take around about 2 years (sometimes not even that long). However, if you wish to adopt a baby, you won't even get an acknowledgement of your application for at least six months (it can be even longer), and then, as there are so many people wanting to adopt babies, and there is very few babies available for adoption, it could take years. All this information was given in the application pack.

I don't know what the situation is in Sheffield, although I shouldn't have thought it would be much different, but if you contact the adoption agency or whatever where you made your application, they should be able to tell you.

I hope you hear something soon, but it may be as well to review your options if you're worried about it taking so long.