Matt is a paramedic from Wigan and he has been married to copywriter Robbie for eight years. They adopted their son when he was seven and their daughter when she was five.
“We are a family who love playing practical jokes on one another and we love to laugh and not take life too seriously,” admits Matt.
They have some advice for anyone thinking about adopting. Robbie says: “To go through the adoption process you need to have lots of patience and be kind and truthful to yourself. You both need to want to become parents, it can’t just be one of you driving it and the other person taking the back seat.”
There will be tough times, but you get through it as a family.
Matt and Robbie’s wider family have been a huge support to them and when you’re adopting it can be good to have a wide network of people to support you. However, if you don’t have many people in your family/friendship group, don’t worry. Together for Adoption have lots of support groups that you can choose to go to if you wish, and you’ll find new friends there who are experiencing many of the same things as you. They will offer support and you’ll also receive help and guidance from the adoption support team at Together for Adoption.
Matt explains: “Your adoption journey doesn’t end when your children join your family, you’ll have some great times and some trickier times that you’ll need to navigate.
“We’ve loved watching the children grow and seeing the bond form between us all. The first few months though were tough with dissociative episodes. We utilised adoption support for play therapy and it made a huge difference.
“Those dissociative episodes are less now, and the children are fully involved in family and extended family life. They embrace everything but are still not shy about asking about their past.”
Fun as a family
Life is busy for the family of four. Robbie says: “In the summer, they love going for bike rides and having water fights in the garden with their cousins. In the winter, we play hide-and-seek every Sunday night, our oldest had the idea of doing it in the dark so that makes it even harder -and more fun.”
Matt says: “One of my favourite memories was when we tried skateboarding.
“It ended with our son in a bush and plenty of laughs afterwards. Again, it really showed the bond and trust, and them knowing that we're there for them (don't worry, he was fine, it was a hilarious scene). We laugh every time we go past that bush.”
To start your journey today, complete our online enquiry form or call our friendly team for more information on 01942 487272.
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*Anonymous Adopter – Names and LA changed for confidentiality*