A word of encouragement

[Italiangreyhound]

Our son has been with us for over 9 years. It has not always been easy but he is adorable, smart, handsome and wise, and we love him.

Adoption is not easy but it is so worth it. For him and for us.

thanks so much for this
and how wonderful to hear about your lovely son

Similar here. Our girls have been with us for 11 years and we have had very easy times and really tough ones. We are not out of the woods yet, but my children are amazing! They are thoughtful, warm, beautiful, intelligent, hard-working and so much more. They are wonderful!

I’ve got an amazing adopted 5 year old who a year ago couldn’t wonder far from my side but today had a wonderful party with his school friends and checked in with me regularly but had an amazing time! So proud of him and these moments make all the tough times to get here so worth it!

thank you for sharing these lovely things

We are in the family finding stage - can I ask anyone who feels it’s ok to share what about you child’s profile called to them? Was it easier or harder to get a feel for if you were a good match according to the age of the child?

*what about your child’s profile called to you

I look at my son and think “you are amazing”. I am so proud of him.

We approached it logically, can we meet the child’s needs now? In 5 years time? In 10 years time? As an adult? Profiles feel quite vague yet similar so nothing in my child’s profile stood out as being something I couldn’t handle rather than something that I was drawn to. I hope that makes sense (and doesn’t sound too callous!)

So nice to hear you are getting on well @Italiangreyhound
We are now 16 years in.
It's been quite difficult for us in recent years, but I think we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Hope it's not another train incoming

Thanks @UnderTheNameOfSanders @Welcomingoptimism and @onlytherain for sharing your updates.

@GSM545 good luck on the journey. I 100 percent agree with @121Sarah121 I read my son's profile from out local county adoption agency, and I felt that he was the kind of child we could care for. Nothing held me back as negative. There was no photo. We went to an event where you find out info about children from all over a wider area and while there I just felt I wanted to phone my social worker and say yes to the boy (who was 3 at the time,). I called from the loos because it was so noisy at the event.

About a week later I saw his photo at another event. He was GORGEOUS! I kind of felt glad I had not had the photo to cloud my judgement!!! He remains one of the most beautiful children in the world (along withy birth child who is older), and my nephews? But looks do change and it's best not to go on low kids look, although easy to be swayed? But to think whether you can meet their needs as Sarah says.

how kids look

Fully agree with what the others have said, for us it was more about feeling an infinity with his story and feeling we could help him understand it as he grew rather than anything specifically about him as he was quite young, we didn’t see a photo until after it was agreed he’d be placed with us! With the other profiles we’d seen it was more a matter of there being something on each of them that didn’t resonate . It surprised me how easy it was to say no they’re not for us even with their cute pics.

Easy to start thinking will we never find the right one/ones! But we did! 🥰 I’m sure you will too! @Italiangreyhound

Sorry I tagged the wrong person!! @GSM545 that was meant for you!! @Italiangreyhound sounds like you already did! 🥰

@Welcomingoptimism yes I totally agree.

thanks all. this is so helpful and uplifting to read. thanks for the support and stories !

There were striking similarities in the background of our children and our's. It was clear that we were an excellent match. There was nothing in the PAR that struck us as unmanageable for us. We saw pictures pretty much straight away and could see ourselves with them as a family. So our's was a head + heart decision.