Ahead of National Adoption Week... Western Trust highlights the need for adoptive parents

The Western Health and Social Care Trust (Western Trust) is supporting next week’s National Adoption Week (17 – 23 October 2016) by highlighting the need for adoptive placements for children in need of a forever family.

This year’s campaign aims to help people understand what the process of becoming an adoptive parent is and the type of children in need of adoptive homes.

Within the last year the Western Trust have placed a significant number of children for adoption and urgently need to recruit more adoptive parents for children who are becoming available for adoption in the near future.

Adoptive parents are needed for children over four years, children with disabilities and sibling groups where one of the children could be older possibly over five years.

Inviting people to come along to the information events to support National Adoption Week Catherine McKevitt, Western Trust Service Manager Adoption and Permanency Team said: “We would encourage people to come along to find out more about becoming an adoptive parent.

“Many adoptive parents have found taking this first step the hardest and these sessions will provide people with general information about the process and children available for adoption. Adoption and Permanency Social workers will be on hand to answer any individual questions people may have about adoption.”

She added: “The world of adoption is changing and for some children, temporary care is needed until it is possible for them to be returned to their families however there is a growing number of children unfortunately that are unable to live with their birth families. Adoption is a challenging but very rewarding route to becoming a parent.”

In addition to seeking a range of adoptive parents for children, the Trust is also looking to recruit concurrent carers as part of a regional project ‘Home on Time (HOT)’.

Ms McKevitt added:This is an innovative concurrent care scheme which aims to speed up the process for young looked after children to either return home to their parents or to be adopted by their carers.

“This project has been running for a year and has proven very successful in achieving permanency for young children in a timely way.”

Information event will be held on Friday, 21 October next, at 2.00pm in Clooney Hall in Derry.

If you would like to find out more about adoption, contact Roisin Lynch, Social Work Manager Adoption on (028) 7131 4226 or email: [email protected].

Photo shows Western Trust Adoption and Permanency Team covering the Limavady, Derry and Strabane area supporting National Adoption Week. Included (from left) are Roisin Lynch, Social Work Manager Adoption; Vicki Gallagher, Social Worker; Catherine McCarron, Social Worker; Bronagh Duffy, Social Worker; Caroline O'Reilly, Social Worker and Fiona Cowan, Team Secretary.