Adoption UK - 50th Anniversary

Adoption UK is 50!

50 is a big milestone, and an opportunity to pause, reflect and plan for the future. For 50 years we have supported, advocated, championed and been there for adoptive families around the UK.

Today our cause is as clear and compelling as ever; to secure the right support at the right time for the children at the heart of every adoptive and kinship care family.

For Adoption UK, this all began in 1971, when Elvis Presley and The Jackson 5 were in the charts, a gallon of petrol was 33p and two adopters starting running a voluntary organisation from their homes, for adopted children with special needs. Adoption has changed a lot since then, and so have we.

Fleur

Fleur

My husband and I are parents to Amelie, who will be three in May 2021. She crash-landed into our lives when she was only two days old with literally twenty-four hours’ notice and has turned our lives upside down in the best way possible ever since.

She was born on a Wednesday, we had the call from our social worker about her on the Thursday, then on the Friday we went to the hospital to meet her and take her home. My work also only got twenty four hours’ notice that I’d be going on adoption leave. Luckily they were very supportive!

We had discussed foster to adopt during the assessment process but never in a million years thought we would get the opportunity to actually do it. The day we met her is truly the happiest of my life. I was expecting the love and bond to take time since we’re not biologically related, but I fell in love with her the moment the nurse put her into my arms at the hospital. My husband also felt it immediately. Not only that – we also got to name her.

Amelie has brought us more joy and happiness than we ever thought possible. I love her more than I think I would a biological child, because everything had to line up so perfectly for us to find each other.

I’m so grateful for the long road, at times very difficult and heart-breaking, that we had to go down to become Amelie’s parents. I believe I am a better mother having gone through the adoption process, because it forced me to stop and think about how I wanted to parent and what cycles I wanted to break moving forwards.

There have of course been difficult moments. Amelie is a very strong-willed toddler! There was also the uncertainty of the foster to adopt situation, with her birth mum able to change her mind until the adoption order was granted. But we told ourselves that if that did happen, at least Amelie would have had a good start to her life in a loving and warm environment.

We will see what the future holds, but we hope the strong and stable start that we feel we’ve given Amelie will allow her to overcome the trauma and loss she is likely to feel towards her story at some point when she’s older.