Rachel & Paul

Rachel shares her adoption story:

“My husband, Paul and I adopted a sibling group of three children, Sarah, Ryan and Holly, who were just 3 years old and 19 months (twins).

We had come to adoption through not being able to have birth children and had always wanted a large family. It therefore made sense for us to adopt a sibling group. Seeing the family likeness between them then, and as they have grown up, has been a joy. Sibling groups are so often split up because finding families for them is hard and this would have been the case for our three children had we not adopted them.

Our friends laughed at us when we said we were planning to adopt three children at once and we soon found out why when they arrived! Becoming parents overnight was a shock; it was very intense and fairly overwhelming for the first few months.

We had a lot of support through Adoption Matters, both at the time and since, through the Centre For Adoption Support. Once the children were in school and life had settled down I trained as a social worker, working first in child protection before becoming an adoption social worker.

I have worked for Adoption Matters since 2014 and I have found it so rewarding being able to use my personal experience as an adopter when training and assessing adopters now.

As a family we have always been members of a local church and through the church we have been massively supported. Adoption Matters works in partnership with Home for Good, a Christian charity, and through them and the wider church we have been able to help and support many families considering adoption and those that are sometimes struggling with the reality of parenting traumatised children.

Sarah, Ryan and Holly chose to do a tandem skydive in 2019, as they all love a challenge, particularly where there is an adrenalin rush! They have always known about being adopted – we have a family birthday every year to celebrate the day they moved in and we became a family. They also know all about their birth history and background and why they were adopted. This has given them the desire to want to do something for Adoption Matters who brought us together.”

Sarah, Ryan and Holly commented:

“We were really excited to do the skydive jump as a way of giving back to Adoption Matters for all the work they have done in getting us to where we are in our lives today, and for the work that they will continue to do for the years to come for other families across the country. We were delighted that along with the other five team members who took part, that we managed to raise over £6,000.”

Adoption Matters are always looking for adopters who can adopt siblings, with over 50% of the 2,800+ children currently waiting for a forever family in the UK being part of a sibling group. The demand for adopters who can consider two or more children is very high. If you feel that you could offer a child or siblings a loving home, download one of our free, no obligation, adoption information packs today.