Two parents never have enough ears, voices, patience, or energy. Today, five years on, it is still a very tall order one parent never has enough hands, laps, time, or attention. I can still conjure up the terror of the first time I took them to the park on my own. The mental and physical effort of becoming instant parents to three is indescribable. And then when we were at our most vulnerable, our social worker once again stepped in and negotiated a supportive adoption plan to help us through the first six months. We scrutinised reports and met doctors and teachers, until we were as confident as we could be that we could meet each child’s needs, and that the bond between them was positive. We walked out mesmerised, but we knew we had to shrug off this sense of destiny and get serious.

That day we also met the foster carers, family finder and social worker and discovered that we had already been shortlisted as potential adopters. The event had a waiting list and was already packed with prospective adopters who had shown interest in ‘our’ three children.īut somehow with hours to go, she got us through the door and there we suddenly were – a group of 5 heading together to the party food tables. She sent us off to do some research on larger and older sibling groups and quickly found out that the children were attending an over-subscribed ‘adoption activity event’ taking place two days later. Our social worker was not a little surprised when we called her and asked her to help us to explore being matched with three children aged four, five and six. Then one day on Link Maker, we saw a picture of children who seemed to be looking right at us, as no others had. Confused, we wondered whether we would ever recognise who the children for us would be. We were approached a few times about children soon after, who – on paper at least – we seemed a good match with, but each time something held us back. During our adoption training we learnt about the potential benefits for children and for families, of adopting siblings simultaneously – and having established that this was emotionally, and practically manageable – we were approved for two children aged three years and under. I could say this was all part of a plan, but it wouldn’t be the whole truth. And unknown to us we have just met our future children. We are at a jungle themed “adoption activity day” for prospective adopters and “harder to place” children. To my left, a handsome lion performs a trick with a wand and a coin, and just to our right is a camel, giving us a very hard stare.

A We Are Family member offers an affecting and engaging window into their experience of adopting three siblings five years ago.Ī tiny little hand with bony fingers pushes its way into mine and a pixie-faced elephant looks up at me with the bluest eyes I have ever seen.

Linkmaker adoption