Day four
So the last and final day of our adoption training course was on Tuesday. It was a very interesting day and if anything probably the most tiring out of all of them.
To be honest I can't tell you a whole lot of what was discussed and things because it was a while a go and I've done things since then...
Tuesday morning started with a talk from CAMHS, mainly talking about working with older adopted children but also then a bit about about brain development and also about how children get stuck in certain brain stages and such... It was really interesting and both hubby and I felt this was worth while.
From this it was on to letterbox contact, we got one of the agreements, but also got to read a sample letter so that we could understand what can be said, one of the adopters who was there told us some of the bits that she had written. She then spoke to us about life story work, she showed us all of the information that she was given before she met her daughter and the information that is given to her daughter and how that is done, so that she doesn't get too much too quickly.
The afternoon was however pretty pointless, it was on internet safety, which hubby and I both sat there looking at each other thinking why?? obviously it might be relevant in the future but to be honest hubby and I both are pretty good on our internet safety so it just seems a bit odd.. We then had to list to one of the adopters who had been there all week tell us her story all over again because someone asked her a question. It was so dull and boring.
That evening we went out for a meal with a couple of friends, that to be honest was what we needed, it gave us time to reflect on everything but also to relax and be a couple, we had a good night of talking about random stuff and so it was a nice way to relax.
The rest of this week has gone past in a blur, I worked wednesday night so spent most of yesterday in some kind of sleep deprived blur but I did go to my accounting course for an hour but then came home and snuggled with hubby and I've got to work tonight, so I'll be off in a bit to get ready for work...
It's interesting to see what is in the preparation courses these days. I agree that internet safety might seem a bit pointless at this stage but I hope you got something from it anyway.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up to the Weekly Adoption Shout Out x
I found our prep course a very mixed bag. I challenged a lot more second time around.
ReplyDeleteThe internet thing is a really big thing in LAs at the moment because they are realising how easily birth parents can be traced via social networking sites. It's been a real problem for some families because unsolicited contacts can be made, without the proper emotional support in place. I think LAs have been caught napping on this front tbh and I don't think there is an answer as to how to manage it all. I found Katie's BM within 10 seconds of looking for her on FB. Katie will be able to do the same when she is older. There are also other concerns about pictures on FB of children being used for purposes that we don't even want to imagine. It can be hard to see how that relates to you when you've yet to be matched but I suspect it will give you a lot of thought time once you are. It certainly has us after Katie's BM posted pics of Katie on FB after we have adopted her.
I found a lot of the brain development stuff on our prep course very interesting and very informative. I think it can be quite a tough few days though as they tell you all the worst things that can happen. xx
I do understand that it will be more of an issue, but a lot of it was on the security settings, which yes it is useful for now but in a couple of months will be back dated, so that was the main reason it bugged us.
DeleteThe brain development was the most interesting stuff, and we picked up a book on it (which has been useful for work as well)