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SHORTAGE OF ADOPTIVE FAMILIES LEAVES CHILDREN WAITING 3 November 03

The Highland Council is appealing to people in the Highlands to consider adopting a child.     Their call coincides with the launch of National Adoption Week, a nationwide campaign organised by the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering, aimed at finding families for children waiting to be adopted.

Over 3,000 children in the U.K. are waiting to be adopted and many older children in the Highlands wait too long to find permanent and loving homes due to a shortage of people coming forward to be adoptive parents for the older child.

Irene Bloomfield, Principal Officer (Children, Young People and Families) says:  �We are calling on everyone to think about whether they could offer an older child a permanent home through adoption. When most people think about adoption they think about babies. In Highland we are able to find families for pre-school children. The children who really need what one boy recently called, �a new family forever� are those in the primary and secondary school years. Adoption is for life and like all parenting, it can be a challenge but it is also one of the most rewarding things you can do.

�Many people rule themselves out from adopting as they do not think they fit what adoption agencies are looking for. In fact, all kinds of people make good adoptive parents and it doesn�t matter if you are married or single, over forty or are in or out of work, we are urging everybody interested in adoption to contact us to find out more�.

Felicity Collier, British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering Chief Executive says: �For a waiting child adoption can be a dream come true and many children are hoping that this week will bring them the family they are wishing for. Of course, adoption can be hard work, at times and for all the family, but we want people to know that support is available. We hope that this year more people than ever will pick up the phone and take the first steps to becoming adoptive parents�.

Anyone interested in finding more about adoption in the Highland can call tel: 01463 703462.