Suffolk Adoption Agency is urgently appealing for more people to consider adoption, and provide a permanent family for Suffolk’s looked-after children.
At the moment there are 27 children in Suffolk who need to be adopted if they are going to have the same chances in life as their peers.
Why is this?
Simply, we mean well by ‘care’ , we do our best, but right across the UK ‘looked-after’ children remain the most vulnerable in society. And although they need the most support, nationally the outcome for such children is dreadful. 35% of children in residential care leave at 16 and 56% before they turn 18. Almost half of those leaving care at 16 are not in education, employment or training when they reach 19. Nationally, children in care are more likely to end up with worse exam results, to have poor mental and physical health, to be convicted of crimes, and unemployed or out of education.
All for the want of a family.
And this is simply because a ‘corporate parent’ is not and cannot be a parent. An organisation – with the best will in the world – cannot replace a domestic bond. It cannot love, it cannot nag, it cannot hope or fear or turn up proudly for graduations or weddings, or or remember birthdays and Christmas as a parent does. And a parent is not just for Christmas – a parent is for life – for practical and emotional support in both directions through good times and bad. Who does a young person who has been a child in care fall back on?
For some ‘looked after’ children, return to their birth family is simply not an option.
In Suffolk, 27 children are waiting to be adopted. The Suffolk Adoption Agency is particularly looking for families for children aged over 3, for sibling groups and for children with disabilities.
National Adoption Week is 5-9th November. If you think you could change a child’s life changes, call 0800 389 9417, or go to the Suffolk Adoption Agency website
