Buckinghamshire Council calls for adopters for children from Black African and Caribbean communities
They are asking people who may be considering adoption to get in touch
Buckinghamshire Council is launching a new campaign to raise awareness on adoption, especially of children from Black African and Caribbean communities.
National evidence shows that children from black communities typically wait longer to find the right family and so spend more time in care than some other children.
Data from 2021-22 shows that on average, black children and children from other ethnic minority groups wait 100 days longer to be adopted.
Bernadette Heron, Senior Social Worker in the council’s Adoption Team, told us about the campaign and how they support adopters.
She said: “Buckinghamshire has got a very strong adoption support team; we can bring in therapy, we run activities and workshops… So you get to meet other adopters, and feel like they understand your journey.”
Alison adopted two children with support from Buckinghamshire Council, and she opened up about the process.
She said: “When I first contacted Bucks County Council, my first question was ‘Am I doing something wrong as a parent?’, and they immediately said ‘You're not doing anything wrong, and we can help.’ The start of the process was really that simple; there's no judgement.
“After that, I didn’t find the process intrusive, but it was quite long winded. However, we completely understand why we had to take so many workshops and learn so much. At the end of it, we realized that these workshops would also be helpful for biological parents.”
Bernadette also explained that it is not mandatory to adopt a child with the same ethnicity as the parent, as long as they can tell the child about their ethnicity and meet their identity needs.
She added: “If we have families that are open to adopting a child of a different ethnicity to themselves, we actually put them through training.
“We try and get them to think about what taking care of a child with a different ethnicity might look like, practically and emotionally, and actually get them to think about whether or not this is something they feel they can do.”
Bernadette also talked about the myths around adoption.
She said: “People seem to think that you have to own a home, but you don't necessarily have to. And you don’t even need to be a UK resident. You do need to have a spare room though.
“And even when it comes to having past conflictions, that doesn't necessarily exclude you from adopting, because we'll consider the timing and the type of the offence.”
One of the ways the council is helping to inform prospective adopters is via a new series of podcasts created in partnership with Home for Good, a faith-based charity that promotes adoption and fostering.
Alison concludes by encouraging people to adopt if they want to.
She said: “With all this stuff going on in the world, if there's something you can do to help, then why not?
“You can give a child a life that they otherwise wouldn't have had, but also at the same time, that child's giving you a life you wouldn't have had.
“My children often remind me that I'm lucky they let me adopt them. Because when you first meet the child, if it doesn't work, then you go your separate ways.”
Bernadette is taking part in a panel on August 11, in London, to discuss the process of adoption and why we need more Black adopters.