Adoption Agencies across the South West are working together in National Adoption Week (October 14 to 20) to encourage people thinking about adoption to come forward.

This appeal comes as numbers of adopters drop to an all-time low and the number of children waiting to be adopted in the region rises to over 150.

45 per cent of children in the South West waiting for adoptive families are brothers and sisters in groups of two or more. Sibling groups wait four times longer than single children to be placed with their forever family.

Jim Fitton, Head of Operations at Families for Children said: ‘The majority of people adopting for the first time choose to take a single child rather than considering siblings. It is often in the best interests of the children that a sibling group finds a family together rather than experience further trauma by being separated. This presents an extra challenge for social workers and these factors account for the high proportion of siblings in our region waiting for an adoptive family.’

But The Adoption Agencies report that across the region there seems to be a shortage of potential adopters coming forward for single children let alone siblings.  They are all at a loss as to why.

The adoption process prepares adoptive families to welcome a new family member in as little as six months; anyone over 21 can adopt and there is no upper age limit; single people can adopt; applications from LGBTQ and intersex people are welcomed and many adopters have disabilities;

If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch with either [email protected] or [email protected].