A new eye-opening campaign by Adopt South West has shed a light onto how long some children in care can wait before becoming adopted.
Children with disabilities can wait the longest to be adopted, on average spending more than 450 days in care before their forever family is found.
Children over the age of four wait on average nearly 250 days in care; black, Asian, and ethnically diverse children wait on average over 100 days in care; and brother and sister sibling groups wait on average over 150 days in care, all before they are adopted.
There are currently 56 children awaiting adoption in Devon, Somerset, Plymouth and Torbay. 30 are boys and 26 are girls. Of these children, 20 who are currently waiting the longest, are primary school age.
The group contains nine siblings, six children of duel heritage and three who have recorded disabilities.
The statistics are being shared in a new promotional campaign in the hope that potential adopters will be encouraged to ‘Think Again’ and be open to adopting beyond their preferred age group and gender.
Adopt South West is looking for people from all walks of life to meet the varied needs of children in its care.
Age, faith, ability, sexuality, relationship status and family status are not barriers to adoption. The focus is always on finding the right family for the child, not the child to fit the family.
People are required to be over the age of 21 to adopt, but there is no upper age limit. They can be single, married or unmarried couples including same-sex or couples in civil partnerships.
Kath Drescher, Head of Adopt South West, said:
“Some children wait longer to be adopted, and yet all children long for the love and stability of being part of a family.
“We are focusing on time in our campaign because every month, every week, every day, every minute of a child’s life waiting for adoption is time they’ve not enjoyed with a forever family.
“We would like this campaign to make potential adopters think again, and if they have apprehensions, to talk to us about any concerns that may be discouraging them from applying.”
To watch the videos to our latest campaign, visit our You Tube channel.
If you could be interested in adopting any of the groups currently waiting the longest in our care system; brother and sister siblings, children over four years old, disabled children and children with additional needs or black and ethnically diverse children, please get in touch. Visit the Adopt South West website.