About the Children Who Need Adopting

Hampshire needs to find permanent one or two parent family homes for a real mix of children.

Most children who need adoptive families are between the ages of 0 and 6 years old. Some are older. Of the children waiting to be adopted, some may be part of a group of brothers and sisters who need to be kept together. Some may have disabilities, learning difficulties or other special needs or a medical condition. Some may have developmental delays as a result of their difficult early life, and some may have health related problems which are not apparent at the time of making a placement.

Some children also need to stay in contact with their birth parents, brothers or sisters, or another significant member of their birth family. This could be either by an exchange of information or face to face contact.

The secret to making adoptive families work is in taking the time to find the right match between child and parent. Read more about the matching process

As an adopter, your family life will begin with a child who has already had time to start to develop - a child who will already have started to show some of their personality and preferences - from how to spend play time, to having a favourite teddy. Inevitably, some children will hate eating their vegetables, much preferring biscuits and sweets. Some may need more encouragement than others to get stuck into art projects and learning the alphabet.

Knowing some of these things about a child can help the team who are trying to find the right family for a child - a family who can offer the right support, care and nurturing, security, and where appropriate the right boundaries. As an adoptive parent, you will need to take the preferences and early life experiences of your child into account as you learn to live together as a family unit. It will be fun, but it will also present some challenges.

Most of the children waiting to be adopted in Hampshire are of white British heritage, but Hampshire welcomes enquiries from those of any racial group, ethnicity or faith who feel they are able to offer a child the care and support they need.