“The cutest chemistry visit ever!”

Our adopter Lucy* talks about meeting her children, a sibling group of three, for the first time during a 'chemistry visit'. A Chemistry visit is an opportunity for you to informally meet the children you are being matched with as a 'friend' of the current carer.

“The cutest chemistry visit ever!”

We had heard of other potential adopters sitting for a while in the car frozen in thought and nerves before they met their future children. We anticipated we may feel this way for our chemistry visit (where you don’t interact with the children, but you get the opportunity to observe them and speak to the foster-carers), a little nervous and apprehensive, after all, we would never get this first chance to meet our children again. There were several factors which meant our chemistry visit and introductions were a little different than usual. The chemistry visit would be held at the foster-carers home, and we had instructions to try and not directly engage with the children, unless of course, they interacted with us. It was as difficult as you are thinking it may be!

We parked outside the foster-carers home, looked at each other and then jumped out of the car…too excited to wait any longer! Those moments of reflection which other potential adopters claimed to have, for us, came later.

As we walked up to the house, this cheeky little face appeared at the window, he was shouting ‘mammy and daddy’ as the foster-carer came to open the door. I think in that moment, we were already smitten. George was so excited to welcome us into his house and show us his little brother and sister. He then proceeded to show us his favourite toys but then quickly settled back down to playing with one of the foster-carers, showing off to us every now and again.

Meanwhile, the twins were crawling around, picking up toys and smiling. All three children were so smiley and happy, it was late, and they were still happy to interact with these strangers who had come into their home. The toughest part for us was thinking of questions to ask the foster-carers when so much cuteness was around us!

When we left, that is when our frozen in thought moment came, we sat in the car outside the foster-carers house, smiles across our faces. We could not wait to meet them again; an hour had not been enough! Our phones began pinging with messages from our social worker and family members desperate to know how the first meet and greet with the children had gone. Our words: “they really are super cute!” and “when do introductions finally begin?”