Salford charity Caritas Care is getting ready to be part of National Adoption Week which starts on October 16 – when its team will be out and about spreading the word across the region.
The charity’s Salford base is in Frederick Road, where a range of services and projects are run which are dedicated to making a positive difference to the lives of all children, families and communities.
As part of National Adoption Week, Caritas Care’s Adoption Information Hub will be at Salford University between 10am and 4pm on Tuesday 17 October. Anyone who is interested in adoption is welcome to pop along and ask questions.
Caritas Care’s adoption service holds an outstanding Ofsted rating and the team take pride in finding families for children who may wait longer because of a range of issues. They may be slightly older than many adopters can consider, they may need to stay with brothers or sisters, they may have additional needs, or due to their young age there may be significant uncertainties about their future development.
Adoptive families are encouraged to see the child first and are reassured that they will be able to access support throughout the dependent lifetime of their child.
The adoption team in Salford is led by Patricia Hurst, alongside Kay Baker, Alison Taylor-Farrell, Laura Gilligan and Rachel Leigh.
The team offer a supported service to all of their adoptive families, keeping the child at the centre of its focus. They thrive on making a positive difference to the lives of the children and families that they work with.
Kay Baker, Senior Social Work Practitioner in Adoption, works with people who are finding out more about adoption and are in the early stages of the adoption process.
“Often many people are nervous about taking the first step, however frequently there is also excitement as people begin their journey to become a family.
“I enjoy the diversity of meeting many different people from a huge range of backgrounds. It is great that there are so many people from different walks of life who are interested in adoption as the children who we are family finding for have many different backgrounds too.”
Alison Taylor-Farrell, Senior Social Worker, explained her role involves training, assessing and supporting adopters.
“Having worked in adoption for several years I feel I’ve built up a lot of knowledge about the needs of children who have experienced early trauma. I enjoy sharing this knowledge with adopters to help prepare them for the specific challenges of adoption. It’s really rewarding to be on that journey with the family and to see how much they grow together, and to see positive life-long relationships formed with the child”.
Laura Gilligan, Adoption Social Worker, said her role involves supporting adopters through training, assessment, panel, family finding, introductions and post placement.
“Working in adoption is very rewarding. There are often unexpected challenges, however being part of finding a child a forever home makes the job really worthwhile. I particularly enjoy experiencing the journey with my adopters, as they prepare for a child and develop insight and understanding of the adopted children’s needs.
“Matching my adopters with a child often feels like a momentous step and it’s fantastic when the right family for that child is found. I love to catch up with adopters who are a year or two into a placement, it is great to see the progress the children have made through being in loving, stable adoptive families,” Laura said.
Caritas Care’s adoption service also has offices in Warrington, Preston and Carlisle. Their diverse range of services support people through adoption and fostering, as well as disability support services, homelessness facilities and ex offender programmes.
If you are unable to attend the info event this month and would like information about adopting with Caritas Care call free phone 0800 652 6955
