Wanting to Adopt
I have a brother and sister myself so when I imagined becoming a parent I had always imagined having more than one child. When I had my first baby, I felt very blessed and despite it being a shock to my system (especially the sleepless nights!) I was soon keen to think about having a second child.
In my case, I had always been interested in adopting a child. For as long as I can remember it was something that I really wanted to do. By chance, my husband had always felt the same and because we were both social workers we knew there were lots of children waiting for an adoptive family. So, one day we contacted an adoption agency and applied to adopt.
Life Today
Today, our children are all grown up. We have two birth sons, one older and one younger than our adopted daughter. Adopting our daughter is one of the most fantastic things we’ve ever done and I just can’t imagine life without my children. People often ask if I feel the same about each of them and I can honestly answer ‘no’ because I feel differently about each of them; they are each uniquely different BUT without a doubt I can say that I love them all the same.
Raising a sibling group has it’s challenges, of course there is the usual sibling rivalry and comradery that still continues to this day such as the humorous chant of: ‘why is he/she having the last cake, it should be me I’m the oldest’ contested by, ‘no, it should be me, I’m the youngest’ followed by my daughter’s proud shout of, ‘it should be me because I am the chosen one!’
My Advice
My advice to anyone that already has a birth child or children and is thinking about adopting a child would be to go for it! Adoption will be different, it brings extra challenges, not least because adopted children have a past that you have not shared together; some have already experienced many moves and they will have experienced loss. No matter how old they are when they join your family, they have a history, a birth family, meaning they may have experienced things that you would not want to imagine BUT you could all have a fantastic future together.
So, whether you already have birth child or children and are thinking of growing your family or if you have just always imagined having more than one child there are plenty of sibling groups out there just waiting for a family like yours.
I know that most of us think about having one child at a time, and it might be a big leap, but if you do want to adopt more than one child there is a lot to be said for adopting a sibling group. For one thing, you only have to go through the process once! Plus, they will all have a shared history and are likely to already have a bond with each other. Personally I like a busy home, maybe I just like a challenge! But for me having siblings in your life is just amazing.
Find out more about the adoption process with Adopters for Adoption today.
