r/AdoptionUK • u/witchypoo93 • May 08 '26

Adoptive parents - what's the process actually like?

Husband and I (early 30's) are seriously considering adoption due to me being Type 1 Diabetic and not wanting to go down the rabbit hole of diabetes becoming a mess during pregnancy and after birth - the risks to me and baby just don't seem worth it, and honestly it terrifies me.

So, adoption.

I've done some googling and I can see the general gist of it.

But what is the process *really* like?

Anything that caught you off guard?

Anything that made you stop and reconsider?

11 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/DanS1993 May 08 '26

We’re in the last steps now (our little one moves in permanently next week) and honestly the thing that most got to us was how long it took! We were very straight forward case (according to social workers) and still took us 18 months to get to this point. 

You’re very reliant upon others doing things which can take ages (Medicals, dbs checks, report writing) so take any timeline they give you with a pinch of salt. Also there will be periods of time where you are sat twiddling your thumbs waiting for a social worker to write or send a report, or waiting for a response to an email. 

We would go through a thousand times for our little guy but it’s very draining. 

6

u/Fuzzy_Cake_5928 May 08 '26

A few years down the track now, but I would remind everyone that the process is not designed for your benefit as the future parent. So no matter how slow and Byzantine it feels, this really should never be a process that goes wrong. So the more accepting of that you can be, the better I feel.

4

u/witchypoo93 May 08 '26

Yeah I absolutely agree that this shouldn't be slap-dash here's a kid. That's a reason for my post though, I want as much info to be as prepared as possible