At Caritas Care we are encouraging people who are thinking about adoption to enquire about our alternative and unique route, Future Families for Children.
The Future Families for Children service brings together both fostering and adoption to meet the needs of a particular group of children, aged 4-10. This new approach provides a route to finding permanent families for those children who are often deemed “too old” to be adopted.
Future Families carers will be well supported and trained as both foster carers and adopters. They will be matched with a child, or possibly children, and in the first instance, the children will be placed as foster children.
Within 12-18 months, if it is agreed to be absolutely right for the child, as well as the carer/s and their family, the progression to adoption will commence.
Susan Swarbrick, Director of Children’s Services said: “Many of the children waiting for a family will have had several losses in their early life and may have been affected by abuse or neglect.
“This new route to adoption will help find families by making sure that carers are continually supported and prepared through our intensive training and support. This means that more children experience stability and long-term security from a young age.”
All children and carers are provided with good quality, sensitive support. This helps the child to build a strong attachment and provides the carer with guidance to work out the best possible ways to parent their child in a positive way.
We are currently supporting families on their transition from fostering to adoption, providing support which is tailor made for the child and also for the carer. This includes training, regular individual visits, support groups and therapeutic services.
Patricia has adopted two children with Caritas Care through the Future Families for Children programme and has spoken about her experience.
“I wanted to give a home to children aged between 5 and 10 years. I was introduced to two children over a four-week period, then they moved in with me and slotted into the family perfectly.
“I’ve had lots of support along the way from Caritas Care and the whole experience has been wonderful, not to mention life-changing. My advice to anyone thinking of taking this this road to adopt a child would be just go for it!”
You can read Particia’s full story here
To give potential carers the best chance of succeeding, Caritas Care assess all families to make sure that they have the right qualities to be able to adopt a child, such as patience, warmth and resilience.
