Adoption

We are are looking to recruit adoptive parent for a range of children.  South Lanarkshire Council have a high number of very young children who need adoptive families.  We are concerned that people considering adoption don't think that there are young children available for adoption when in fact there are a number of very young children in temporary foster care who are unable to be cared for within their birth family and need a family resource for life.

We need:

• Adoptive parents for children of all ages ranging from babies to young children

Our commitment to you

On receipt of your enquiry:

• We will arrange for a social worker to meet with you within 4 weeks of your request for an initial interview;
• We will aim to offer you a preparatory group within 6 weeks of your initial interview; We will aim to complete your assessment within 4-6 months;
• We will offer you support throughout the assessment process;
• We will offer you support, and further training opportunities, post approval

If you think you could be a child's future, please complete and return the enquiry form.  Alternatively you can contact Family Connections on 0303 123 1008 if you wish to discuss anything further.

"When someone calls you Mummy you've just got to be their mother", says Michelle a young South Lanarkshire mum, when she was asked to consider what adopting her son had brought to her life.

For Michelle and her husband adoption seemed the natural choice when they discovered they could not have children and for them the process from application to bringing home their son took just under a year.

She said: "When we first decided to apply the process seemed a bit nerve-wracking but when we contacted South Lanarkshire Council there was so much done to let us know what to expect and to walk us through the whole thing that it all seemed to fall into place very naturally."

"There are a lot of questions and research but then you see how hard they work to make sure they match the right parents to the right children you realise it is worth it."

"The classes we attended during the process also helped us understand why children need adoption and to think about the issues they face growing up and the situation for children in care, it was during those classes that we first read our sons profile and we knew straight away he was our perfect match."

Three years ago Lyndsay and her husband adopted sisters aged three and four, she said: "We had originally thought of adopting a baby but then as we went through the process we were given approval for one or two children up to the age of four - we put a lot of careful thought into it and even made a list of pros and cons of having two but the adoption service clearly knew what they were doing because we just cant imagine the girls with any other family."

She continued: " Your assessment does go into everything but having been through it we realise how important it is to fully engage with it, the team involved have a real commitment to ensuring that families are well matched and that does help reassure you that they are helping you to get it right."

"I can't remember what it was like having five minutes to myself or not having to pack a survival kit to go out for dinner," Lyndsay joked, "but the girls were definitely worth it, we gave them a safe, loving home when we adopted them but we can't even start to count what we are receiving in return."

Michelle said: "I think it is sad that some people who can't have children but want them don't even consider adoption, I know there are families out there who could give a child in care a permanent family and I promise what that child can give back is more than you can imagine."