One Adoption is teaming up with agencies across England to support the latest You Can Adopt campaign, The Journey, which is looking to inspire people to take the first step towards growing their family and tackle myths around modern adoption.
During National Adoption Week (w/c 21 October 2024) the aim of the campaign is to showcase adoption journeys of all kinds, as well as the people who are there along the way - from foster carers and social workers to birth families and the adoption community.
This comes as the latest data shows there has been a 22 per cent increase in the number of children with a plan for adoption not yet matched with an adoptive family in England compared to last year, meaning there are currently 780 more children not yet placed with a family, than there are approved adopters waiting to be matched with a child. With fewer potential adopters coming forward, this means that nearly half (47 per cent) of all children face delays of over 18 months to be placed with a family.
Here in Yorkshire and the Humber, One Adoption needs to find, safe, loving, permanent families for over 200 children who have a plan for adoption. Unusually, these children are of all ages, including babies. Although groups of brothers and sisters, children who are Black or who have mixed Black ethnicity, children who have Eastern European heritage, older children and those with additional or unknown health needs always wait the longest.
Carla, 27, was adopted at the age of six:
“I love talking about my adoption journey and I’m incredibly proud of it. I now see it as a strength, but equally, as important as it is, it also doesn’t define me. I’ll be forever grateful to my foster carer for giving me such a loving start to my adoption journey and helping me prepare to meet my forever family. It’s been the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Andrew is Carla’s father:
“To us, Carla isn’t our adopted daughter, she’s our daughter. From the moment she took my hand on the day we met and said, ‘Come on Daddy’, I was hooked, there was no way back. It’s incredible how similar we are – same sense of humour, and even our mannerisms are often alike. Adopting an older child is brilliant because she could talk to us in those early years about what she did and didn’t like, and her understanding of what had happened to her. It’s been important for us to be open about adoption and it really is a lifelong journey – we've had support when needed, long after the adoption itself. But above all else, it’s been a journey that has been filled with fun, fulfilment and affection.”
Angela adopted her daughter Hazel at the age of four:
“It’s just been the most incredible journey – a rollercoaster, but we’ve had a ball. As a single adopter, I wondered if I would be enough, but I just couldn’t ignore the pull to adopt, and after waiting three years to pick up the phone, I took that first step. If you’re thinking about it, just go for it. It doesn’t matter if you start the journey alone, you’ll meet your village along the way. I am so proud of who Hazel has become, and I have loved being her mum and seeing her thrive.”
Rachel, who features in the campaign alongside her two-year-old adopted daughter Winnie, father Daniel and social worker Becky, said:
“You have an idea in your head of what family looks like, and for us it’s been different, but even more wonderful in different ways. For me, it’s really important that Winnie has a sense of herself and her identity – that she understands that not only do all families look different, but she has more than one family, and that’s OK.”
Daniel, adoptive grandfather of two-year-old Winnie, said:
“Being Winnie’s Grandpa is the biggest privilege and she’s just turned our lives upside down in the most marvellous way. When I first met her, it was love at first sight. She has taught us that biology isn’t what makes a family, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
