“My children were three and fifteen months old when they joined us, now they’re taller than me!” said Paula. “Adoption was something we’d been thinking of on and off for a long time.
“I’ll never forget our first Easter together. When they saw the eggs and gifts, they were so excited. Visiting farms to see baby animals together… it was magical.”
Paula and her husband Gareth hadn’t been planning on adopting siblings but during the process decided to open their hearts and homes to two children. They both come from large families and although they’d initially thought of adopting one young child, they realised that adopting two children at the same time was the right thing for them.
Paula added, “If someone is thinking of taking the next step in adopting, I would say, ‘Go in open minded. Speak to other adopters.’”
Support is so important
During the process, your social worker will talk quite a bit about your support network and how important it is. You definitely need people you can turn to on tricky days and who are there to support you – not just in the short term but in the long term too.
“I think when you adopt, your friends can change over time. People who you considered your closest friends might fade away and others will step up and you’ll gain new friends too. Other adoptees can help because they’ll be experiencing many of the same things,” believes Gareth.
“Our children might have only been young when they joined us, but they have experienced trauma so there has been self-harm and anger issues. We still need support ten years later,” admits Paula. “Family has made the biggest impact on our children.”
Here at Together for Adoption, we offer lots of support, throughout the adoption process, and also once the adoption order has been granted.
We offer:
- Single adopters, LGBTQ+ adopters, and New adoptive parent’s groups for you to attend.
- Training, workshops, and groups.
- Adoption support fund (ASF)The adoption support fund is there to help adoptive families work through their child’s difficult start in life. Our team can assess each child and family’s need and advise whether a fund application is required.
We also use a buddy up system to ensure our adopters are not alone, and have people to laugh, cry, rant and celebrate with.
If you are looking to start your adoption journey or want to find out more, you can contact our team by filling in our online enquiry form or call 01942 487272.