We are joining forces with Bristol City
Council to recruit gay adopters as the first-ever Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Adoption and Fostering Week is
launched later this month.
The two councils will be holding a joint LGBT information
evening on Tuesday 21 February, from 6pm to 8pm at the Colston Hall
in Bristol, in a bid to encourage potential gay adopters and foster
carers to come forward.
The event will include talks from local LGBT adoptive and foster
parents about their own experiences and give those interested
information on how to start the process.
Events are being organised across the UK as part of the
country’s first-ever LGBT Adoption and Fostering Week. It comes as
gay adopters and foster carers are being hailed by social workers
for their significant strengths in a survey commissioned by New
Family Social, the LGBT network co-ordinating the week.
At a time when adoption figures are at a 10-year low, a new
study shows lesbian and gay people often have the right mix of
skills and experience to raise children who have been in care and
give them a great new start in life.
72% of social workers surveyed saw the “amount of energy and
enthusiasm” LGBT adopters bring to the process as a significant
strength. 76% saw “openness to difference, and supporting a child
with a sense of difference” as equally important.
For a long time LGBT people tended to be seen as a “last resort”
when placing children. Now adoption and fostering agencies see them
as having a key role to play in meeting the urgent need for more
new homes for children in care.
The LGBT Adoption and Fostering Week is a recruitment campaign for
prospective LGBT adopters and foster carers with 18 events around
the UK hosted by local adoption and fostering agencies.
Hugh Thornbery, Strategic Director of Children’s Services at
Action for Children, said: "Over the years our LGBT foster carers
and adopters have helped to transform many children’s lives. We
welcome more applications from LGBT foster carers and adopters. The
main thing is that you are able to give children and young people
the care and support they need to be happy and fulfilled.”
Andy Leary-May, Director of New Family Social, said: “More and more
LGBT people are choosing adoption and fostering as a way to form a
family. We want prospective parents to see just how rewarding it
can be and how much advice and support is on offer from our huge
community of families around the UK.
“The fact that so many agencies want to recruit from the LGBT
community shows just how far things have come in the past five or
six years. Social workers are becoming more aware of our strengths.
We are being treated more fairly and are being matched with
children more quickly.”
Bristol City Council's Cabinet Member for Children and Young
People, Cllr Clare Campion-Smith, said: "Fostering or adopting a
child offers them a new start in life in a caring and stable
environment. We urgently need more people to consider fostering or
adoption and are keen to encourage people from a range of
backgrounds to take this step. I hope this event is successful in
recruiting new carers from the LGBT community."
Jenny Slee, adoption manager for North Somerset Council, said:
"We echo the sentiments of Bristol and appreciate that it may be
daunting for members of the LGBT community to talk to someone about
adoption or fostering, but we know that they can give children a
fantastic home. We hope this event will break down some of the
perceived barriers that may potentially stop gay adopters or foster
carers requesting more information."
For more information about adoption or fostering,
contact us on 01275 888 999 or Bristol City Council on 0117
353 4200. Alternatively visit
www.n-somerset.gov.uk/fostering,
www.n-somerset.gov.uk/adoption
or
www.bristol.gov.uk/page/fostering,
www.bristol.gov.uk/adoption.
