Too old at 4? Not at Adoption Matters
National Adoption Week 2015 takes place this week from the 19th to 25th October and this year’s campaign theme is ‘Too old at 4?’
There are estimated to be 2,960* children currently waiting for an adoptive home and 50% of these children are part of a sibling group. Older children (over the age of 4 years) waiting to be adopted are often likely to be in sibling groups or to have additional needs and there is currently a shortage of adoptive parents coming forward for these children. Sadly, sibling groups, those with complex needs and children from black and minority ethnic families are amongst the children who wait longest to be adopted.
Adoption Matters, a leading children’s charity and adoption agency, has a successful track record in placing children who fall into these categories (70% of the 64 children placed in 2014/15) and the expert ongoing support and training offered means they have one of the lowest disruption rates in the UK.
Norman Goodwin CBE, Adoption Matters Chief Executive commented: “This year’s National Adoption Week theme is something we strive to promote all year through our own campaigns. We know that every year there are vulnerable children requiring loving homes through adoption, some wait longer than others. We want to help change that and we encourage our prospective families to think the same. Children are never deemed ‘Too old at 4’ in our agency and we have placed children up to the age of 9 and 10 years old and recently placed a sibling group of five children with a family”.
The charity are holding a series of recruitment events during National Adoption Week for interesting prospective adopters to attend – why not come along and meet our team and some of our adopters at one of these events:
Tuesday 20 October 8pm Bolton – special Adoption Match Bolton Wanderers vs Birmingham City – Macron Stadium Bolton – tickets required
Wednesday 21 October – 12-7pm Warrington Warrington Hospital – an opportunity to find out more about our award winning Adoption Support services.
Thursday 22 October- 6-7:30pm Chester & Blackburn –
Chester: Mark Mitchell Mazda Showroom Stanney Mill Lane, Cheshire Oaks, Chester CH2 4RG
Blackburn: Adoption Matters Office, 2nd Floor, 50-54 Church Street, Blackburn, BB1 5AL
Sunday 25 October – 12-6pm Manchester – outside John Lewis at The Trafford Centre, Manchester
For more information visit: www.adoptionmatters.org or contact us on 0300 123 1066 or email: info@adoptionmatters.org