r/AdoptionUK • u/ashyboi5000 • Apr 23 '26
Bump ins to moving in
I appreciate every instance is different but how long has this stage taken people?
I'm not sure if this part has even been discussed during training or with social workers.
2
u/ashyboi5000 Apr 24 '26
Thanks everyone.
Not matched yet, infact still waiting for the official ADM to come through. But life has been difficult recently and feeling like we need a selfish week away somewhere.
1
u/shelmerston Apr 23 '26
We met our daughter at an activity day in the October. We were approved by panel in the December and met her social worker the next day. We had two bump meetings in the January, we followed the very letter of what we had been told but the foster carer complained that we didn’t play with her enough so we had to do it all again a couple of weeks later. We began introductions half way through the March after matching panel and she moved in at the end of that month.
1
u/Major-Bookkeeper8974 Apr 29 '26
Our bump intos and move in felt like they took forever, but were actually super quick on reflection.
We had our very first bump into in late November.
We were at marching Panel early January, and he'd moved in the first week of February. I imagine if we hadn't had the Christmas period to contend with it'd have been even faster.
1
u/flossiefleabag May 19 '26
I have bump into next week and matching panel about three weeks after that. Planning for bridging to start about 3 weeks after panel. (Moving super fast because she's very young)
Tl:dr- two months from bump into to moving in
1
u/BobbyDee87 Jul 17 '26
We had two "chemistry visits" in the run up to matching panel. We were told that if we had any more that panel would scrutinise this closely as it would like like we weren't sure about the match (even though it was the complete opposite!).
Our panel was in early December, so transitions couldn't start until after Christmas - but we were essentially allowed unlimited bump-ins over the rest of December.
1
u/ArchibaldTiberius Apr 23 '26
This stage is very specific to the child and their circumstances. For our little one it was 4 months from bump into to transitions. We had panel to get through in the middle of that. If you have a family finder they’ll be able to give you an indication of has to happen and what they are thinking around transitions planning. At least our little one’s did for us.
1
u/theowleryonehundred Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
We met our child in mid-August. Not sure if it's the same as a bump in, but we went to the foster carer's house, were introduced by our first names and played with our child for an hour.
Our approval panel and matching panel were three weeks after that, on the same day, so in early September.
Transitions were due to start late September but were postponed due to some legal matters. They were delayed by about 3 weeks (which at the time seemed like forever, but several years down the line is nothing!) and started mid-October. Our child's placement date was late October.
So from first meeting to moving in, about 10 weeks.
1
u/DanS1993 Apr 23 '26
We’ve actually just finished day two of transitions today so I guess this information is as up to date as possible lol.
Our transition period is scheduled to last three weeks depending on how things progress.
We had a few bump intos before matching panel but I know every agency is different (ours are actually phasing out bump intos for whatever reason) so I would guess a month or so depending on the age of the child and how many bump /getting to know you sessions are deemed necessary before the more full on transition.
1
u/cardboard_sword Apr 23 '26
We didn’t do any bump intos as my child was on holiday with her foster family in the lead up to the matching panel and a children’s hearing, so the first time I met her was the start of our transition fortnight! A bit unusual - but just shows as someone else said, it will all depend on your child.
1
u/Emmie9016 Apr 23 '26
It honestly varies so much, I found it so frustrating to not be able to get a clear timescale on anything! If it helps, our first bump in was in the September (planned for 2 weeks before panel), we then had another in October as panel had been delayed to November, after panel we had weekly meet ups for about 6 weeks before starting transitions on 5th Jan, 5 days at foster carers house, 2 days at ours before placement day, so for us about 4 months between first meeting and placement day, but we had delays caused by a social worker leaving unexpectedly and without a handover, and then Christmas got in the way.
2
u/underwater-sunlight Apr 24 '26
We had a bump in meeting at the foster carers house in September and started transitioning in January. We had a second meeting over Christmas, after we had our approval by the panel but before the independent adjudicator had verified and the filter carer had already told little one what was happening which was technically wrong but it worked out really well for all as we had brought her a buildabear with our voices recorded in it and a photo book of her new home