‘Life changing’ route to adoption for Preston children and families

A leading charity is encouraging people in Preston to think about adopting children older than four who are often deemed “too old” for adoption.

Caritas Care’s alternative and unique route, Fostering for Adoption, is run by its Future Families for Children service, which brings together both fostering and adoption to meet the needs of children aged between four and ten.

This new approach provides a route to finding permanent families for young children who may have had a difficult start in life, and yet can be labelled as ‘too old’ to be adopted.

Future Families carers are well supported and trained as both foster carers and adopters. They are then matched with a child, or possibly siblings, who are initially placed with them as foster children.

Within 12 to 18 months - and assuming it is right for the child as well as the carer and their family - they can start progressing to formal adoption.

“Many of the children waiting for a family will have had a difficult start to their early life and may have been affected by abuse or neglect,” says Susan Swarbrick, head of children’s services.

“This new route to adoption means that more children experience stability and long-term security from a young age and carers are continually supported and prepared through our intensive training and support.”

All children and carers are provided with high-quality and sensitive support. As well as helping the child build a strong attachment, carer receives guidance on the best ways to parent their child in a positive way.

Patricia, who has adopted two children with Caritas Care through the Future Families for Children service, said her experience had changed her life.

“I wanted to give a home to children aged between five and ten years,” she says. “I was introduced to two children over a four-week period, then they moved in with me and settled into the family perfectly.

“I’ve had lots of support along the way from Caritas Care and the whole experience has been wonderful, not to mention life-changing.

“My advice to anyone thinking of taking this road towards adopting a child, would be to just go for it!”

You can read Patricia’s full story here.Caritas Care, a registered charity which has its headquarters in Ashton-on-Ribble, offers a diverse range of services to support people at many different stages of life, including disability support, a homelessness facility and ex-offender programmes as well as adoption and fostering services.

Both the child and the carer are supported on their transition from fostering to adoption, with tailor-made training, regular individual visits, support groups and therapeutic services.

All families are assessed by Caritas Care to make sure they have the right qualities to be able to adopt a child, such as patience, warmth and resilience, to give potential carers the best chance of succeeding.

If you would like to know more, contact the Future Families team on 0800 652 6955 or email [email protected]