In the world of adoption we often talk about a cohort of children that take longer to find their forever home, within this group are the so called 'older children'. However, this is a bit of a misnomer, by older we generally mean over the age of four years - which when you give it some thought isn't really that old at all! Still very much a child, still very much in need of a permanent, stable and loving home.
Head over to our adopter stories to hear from an adopter who recently welcomed their eight year old daughter home. Our sincere thanks to the adopter for sharing.
Compassion, empathy and tolerance. These are three of the key qualities real adopters say we should be looking for in potential adopters of siblings.
Interested in finding out more about adopting siblings, please do get in touch.
http://ow.ly/tdi850FwCFA
We are always looking for people to consider adopting siblings, but regardless of whether you take siblings or not, you will probably still need to consider siblings bonds at some level.
Very few children who are adopted are only children; they may go to live with an adopted sibling, they may have full biological siblings living elsewhere, they may have half siblings living elsewhere, they may have siblings in the future.
Nearly every adoptive parent will need to consider their child's siblings and what contact will look like for those children and how this bond affects their child.
We are here to help with this and want to offer support, should you need it.
Did you know Adoption West represents the adoption services for six local authorities? As such we are not only responsible for recruiting adopters and supporting adopted children and their families, but also (and perhaps central to this post), we are responsible for finding families for those children awaiting adoptive families within these six local authorities.
These are 'our children' and our teams know them and see them as the unique and wonderful individuals they are. The Family Finding Team here go above and beyond to find these children the best possible match to meet their needs now and in the future.
If you think you could adopt, or you'd like to know more, please get in touch.
A little bit of philosophy for you this Friday.
What if we approached other people the way we consider this bowl? What if, instead of seeing the flaws and imperfections, we saw the beauty of what has been created and the wonder in what that person has become as a product of their experiences?
The background of many children that come through the care system is traumatic and long-standing, but the impact adoption can have is immense and the families and children that emerge are truly dazzling.
This week we are devoting our social media feeds to Dads/Fathers/Papas - especially those that have adopted or were adopted, or are considering adoption 😍
Yesterday saw a flurry of social media activity around Father's Day, most of which we suspect will be overlooked - so we are sharing a selection of articles and resources all this week on our Facebook page - why not pop over and have a look.
When you think about your future family, what does it look like? Is there more than one child?
Very often we talk to adopters who every intention of having at least two children, but they opt to do this by adopting one child and then later down the line apply to adopt again - which is fantastic.
However, we have brothers and sisters that need to stay together now. If you are interested in adopting siblings, please do get in touch.
http://ow.ly/xR5g50F9HfH
Laurie just beginning (with the help of his foster carer) to start climbing trees, which he thinks is amazing and takes great pride in telling people about.
There are children just like Laurie that are currently waiting for their permanent forever home in our region. Find out more by following the link in our bio.
*Laurie is not a real child; stock image and fictional description
