Blimey - how did that happen.
It's November!!!!!
I've just been catching up on all the National Adoption Week News, we were away for it this year, our first trip to Malta, and I have to say that if you are looking for a laid back, family holiday then Malta really delivers. After the few weeks we have had it was lovely just to relax as a family and remember that adoption is only part of who we all are and that, despite all the problems, the boys are struggling just as much as we are with everything and that they need a break from it all as well.
It was lovely to see KC run off with some other children his own age and... smile! I don't think he has smiled for a long time. The problem with school is it doesn't allow children to be just that... children.
The jump from primary to secondary education can just be a step too far for many children but for children with significant difficulties it can be really difficult.
We kept both boys at the same school from primary into senior - it seems to be working for TJ but KC struggled, as you know.
Homeschooling does seem to work in some ways - he is definitely more relaxed, but I know its not the solution to our problems - he needs to learn how to socialise properly and, more importantly, appropriately.
So I have to provide a series of reports to prove to the LA that his EHC Plan now needs adjusting to take into account his emotional needs rather than his educational ones.
It was funny that the Post Adoption Social Worker called me this week to ask for advice to help another family in a similar position to ours - but thats adoption for you - we are all just muddling along, hoping somehow the answers will suddenly appear.
I had mixed feelings about the theme for this year's National Adoption week, if I remember rightly, it was sibling groups back in 2014 as well - but now, three years later, I sometimes feel like saying - 'don't do it - sibling placements don't work!"
Then I watched the boys playing together over the holidays and perhaps I changed my mind - for a while...
It's November!!!!!
I've just been catching up on all the National Adoption Week News, we were away for it this year, our first trip to Malta, and I have to say that if you are looking for a laid back, family holiday then Malta really delivers. After the few weeks we have had it was lovely just to relax as a family and remember that adoption is only part of who we all are and that, despite all the problems, the boys are struggling just as much as we are with everything and that they need a break from it all as well.
It was lovely to see KC run off with some other children his own age and... smile! I don't think he has smiled for a long time. The problem with school is it doesn't allow children to be just that... children.
The jump from primary to secondary education can just be a step too far for many children but for children with significant difficulties it can be really difficult.
We kept both boys at the same school from primary into senior - it seems to be working for TJ but KC struggled, as you know.
Homeschooling does seem to work in some ways - he is definitely more relaxed, but I know its not the solution to our problems - he needs to learn how to socialise properly and, more importantly, appropriately.
So I have to provide a series of reports to prove to the LA that his EHC Plan now needs adjusting to take into account his emotional needs rather than his educational ones.
It was funny that the Post Adoption Social Worker called me this week to ask for advice to help another family in a similar position to ours - but thats adoption for you - we are all just muddling along, hoping somehow the answers will suddenly appear.
I had mixed feelings about the theme for this year's National Adoption week, if I remember rightly, it was sibling groups back in 2014 as well - but now, three years later, I sometimes feel like saying - 'don't do it - sibling placements don't work!"
Then I watched the boys playing together over the holidays and perhaps I changed my mind - for a while...
