Adopting is a huge decision, and even more so if you already have a child or children. Your birth children, adopted children or step-children will clearly be at the forefront of your minds when you are considering whether adoption might be right for your family.

At Caritas Care, we understand that your existing children need to be central to the adoption process. That’s exactly why we do tailored individual work with them. Your children will have their own worker who will be there to listen just to them. Their worker will talk to you first to learn about the child, then will plan fun activities to help prepare them for becoming a sibling through adoption. The activities will be tailored to their age, needs, likes and interests. We have worked with lots of budding big brothers-and-sisters-to-be, in fact it’s one of our favourite things to do! We might make a picture to think about what an adopted sibling might be like, or play a game to think about ways to welcome a new member of the family. With teenagers, we might go to Costa or McDonald’s so we can chat about what they are looking forward to and any worries they might have. We know that adding to your family can bring lots of joy, but it will also be a big change, so we want to help prepare you all as much as possible. We will also suggest books and resources to you, and we can put you in touch with other parents who grew their families through adoption to hear their experiences.

The support doesn’t stop there though. After your youngest child has joined the family, your older child’s worker will come out to see them to see how they are and will do further sessions if needed. We want to be with you every step of the way.

We are particularly seeking families who have older children in secondary school and teenagers. Research shows that it can work best for everyone if the adopted child joining the family is the youngest, by at the very least two years but ideally more. This is so that the individual needs of each child can be met.

Have your children just gone to secondary school, college, university or employment? Do you feel like you could offer your parenting skills and experience to a younger child?

We’d love to hear from you, please get in touch on 0800 652 6955 or visit our website.