I’m Lianne, I have been with Adopters for Adoption for two years now and it is hands down my favourite job that I have had.
I undertake the checks and references in Independent of the approval process. Once applicants have completed and returned their Registration of Interest (ROI) pack to the agency, my role starts.
Once an ROI has been accepted by a Team Manager, I email the applicants to confirm their acceptance and the search begins for a social worker. I also start sending out the checks and references. This usually take a couple of hours, and by the time I have sent the last request some references are already being returned. This is great news, as Independent has a national timescale of two months.
Checks and references can sometimes be quite difficult to obtain. Although you would think that it is a straight forward task – it isn’t always.
Receiving references can be a lovely part of my role, as reading the responses that people have written about our applicants can be very touching. It’s great to see the support and encouragement applicants have from their support networks.
Each week I get together with different members of the team to discuss our cases in Stage One and Stage Two. This is a great way to learn from each other about different scenarios, to share advice and to ensure that we are all on track.
At the end of Stage One, the social worker submits your Stage One report to a Team Manager for Quality Assurance.
Once the Stage One Report is finalised it’s time to let the applicants know the outcome. The report is sent to the applicants together with a Stage One completion letter and feedback form. From this point your journey with me ends, and you start the next step of the journey with Angela and your social worker in Stage Two.
In addition to the checks and references, I also assist with marketing for the agency. This involves designing, writing blogs, creating videos and analysing data. We tailor our marketing to answer commonly asked questions that we receive (spare bedrooms, length of process, etc).
I also create this bi-monthly newsletter. We want to ensure that the information we include is accurate and interesting, and I’m always open to suggestions on articles, so please don’t be afraid to contact me if you have any suggestions.
Being based in the office also means that I am here on Panel day. Although my role is ‘in the background’, it’s nice knowing that I have been part of your journey and it’s great to put names to faces on your Panel day. The emotion that can come from applicants afterwards makes the hard work worth while.
The team at Adopters for Adoption truly are the nicest people you could ask to work with. Everyone has time for each other and is happy to help out whenever they can. At Adopters for Adoption, we all have the applicants and children’s best interests at heart.
