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I wasn’t happy before I came here. I was always upset and crying. No-one really wanted
me, or loved me. I was frightened of getting hurt. It’s much nicer now I’m living with
my new family – they really look after me. I look after my cat, Mitsy, too! I’m so
much happier here. As you listen to this, there are around 150
children in Lancashire who are in our care and ready to be adopted. They are of many
different ages and backgrounds. They have all sorts of needs – some medical, some
emotional, some to do with challenging behaviour or learning needs. Some have brothers and
sisters who need to stay together. Many have been neglected, or hurt and abused. But they
all need the love and care of special people who are willing to become their adoptive parents.
It’s not for everyone, and there’s a very thorough process to go through, but the right
adoptive parents can make an enormous difference to a child by giving them a permanent loving
home, and a new chance for a better life. Could you be one of them?
The decision we made was a very difficult decision – do we have the abilities to meet
the needs of a child? The difficulties of bringing up a child that isn’t yours? You
start to realise that children don’t need super-parents. Most children just need to
know that they are cared for, that they are secure, and that people love them. It was
a big difference in the family structure, because you have another child coming in,
and you’re learning – slowly but surely – about that child. Relationships and bonding
starts, and you start thinking to yourself “this is my daughter”. Nearly all adopters
say that they had worry about whether the child would build bonds and become part of
the family, and slowly, those worries go away because you can see a relationship growing.
You can then see that love starts creeping in, and that creeps in from both sides. Adoption
has been extremely rewarding. To have a little girl say “dad”… there’s nothing that
compares to that.