THE NEED to find families for children who wait the longest for a loving home is being highlighted during National Adoption Week.
Adoption South East hopes the awareness-raising event will encourage people to consider adopting sibling groups, older children, those with complex health needs and children from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
National Adoption Week, which runs from Monday, October 12, follows the launch of the new #YouCanAdopt campaign backed by the regional agency which brings together services from East Sussex, Brighton & Hove, West Sussex and Surrey councils.
The campaign aims to raise awareness about adoption, bust myths around who is eligible to adopt and to increase the number of possible parents registering their interest in adoption
Head of Adoption South East, Michael Wilson said: “We want to use the national #YouCanAdopt campaign and National Adoption Week as an opportunity to bust some of the myths surrounding adoption. We need adoptive parents from all backgrounds who are compassionate, resilient and willing to give a child a safe and loving home to help them flourish.
“If you are considering adopting, I would encourage you to get in touch, you can chat with one of our friendly team, ask a question online or request an invitation to one of our regular online information events. Meanwhile, there is lots of helpful information on our website about how the adoption process works.”
Applications to adopt will be taken into consideration for anyone aged 21 and above regardless of marital status, race, disability, sexuality or gender.
Ruth, an adoptive parent from the Adoption South East region, explained why she and her partner Mike decided to adopt.
“Mike and I had talked about adopting when we first got together however we went on to have two children and it wasn’t until they were a bit older that we started to think again about adoption,” she said. “I’m white and Mike is black so we wanted to adopt a child who reflected our, and our children’s, mixed heritage.
“We adopted our daughter earlier this year and our three children have had an amazing time getting to know each other over the lockdown period. We’ve had the support from Adoption South East whenever we’ve needed it and we feel really lucky to have had such a positive experience with our daughter settling into our family.”
For more information about adoption in the south east region please have a look at the Adoption South East website – www.adoptionsoutheast.org.uk or ring our information line on 0300 330 9470.