Success stories: Adopting siblings

Sarah and Dan’s story

Our social worker was so positive and welcoming. Her attitude always seemed to be ‘you will make great parents’. She explained that she’d support us through adoption, help us understand the commitment that’s involved and then make a really good match. We were delighted to discover that you could adopt siblings at the same time. We’d always hoped to have more than one child and we jumped at the chance.

A girl and a boy

One day, our social worker contacted us about a baby girl, Tracy and her big brother, Christopher, who had just turned three. As we learned about their lives, we began to understand what it would mean to be able to offer them security and love. They’d been the only constant person in each other’s lives, so needed to be adopted as siblings. Our social worker understood our strengths as parents and had put a lot of thought into the match. Within six months a panel approved us and the children moved in later that year.

Settling in

Our social worker had explained there might be some ‘teething problems’ as children are likely to test the boundaries of their new home, but things actually went quite smoothly. After about six months our son was having some difficulties that we needed support with. He had often had to act as a primary carer to baby Tracy when the children had been neglected by their birth parents. Although we were looking after them, he was still worried about her and showed little interest in playing or making friends. We contacted our adoption agency and talked things through. They were very reassuring and suggested a parenting course which was really helpful. Before long, Christopher started to trust that he and his sister would be cared for and began enjoying being a little boy. It was wonderful to see him let go of his fears and lose himself in a game or a joke.

Ten years later

We are so lucky to have two such lovely kids to call our own and we’re so proud of them. My best friend went on to adopt a child a few years ago after seeing the difference it’s made to our lives. The children both know they’re adopted and our son even did a presentation about adoption to his local Scout group. The children say ‘we’re extra-special because mummy and daddy picked us’, and they’re right; they are.