Skills and Qualities You Need To Adopt

If you ask most parents what it takes to be a mum or a dad, it's likely the top responses will be “sense of humour” and “patience”. It’s a good place to start, but the parenting task comes with other challenges and rewards. It is important to be prepared, and be able to offer the right things to a child, including:

Security and stability in your own life, to be able to offer the same to a child
Willingness to learn and adapt and learn about parenting a child who has had difficult early life experiences
Time to offer a child and their needs/development
Able to accept a child as they are and not judge them for what has happened in their life
Flexibility, tenacity and courage
Energy - emotional and physical energy to participate in a child’s busy life
Show resilience and have “stick-ability”
A good network of family and friends who can support you emotionally and practically
The willingness and ability to ask for help when you need it.

There are no specific qualifications that you need to be an adopter - obviously you need to like children and want the best for them. It is helpful if you have some experience of looking after children, it could be from looking after any birth children you already have, taking care of nieces, nephews and neighbours children or even from a professional role.

Finding the right homes for Hampshire children is our only priority. We regularly review the list of Hampshire children who are waiting for adoptive families, and make sure first and foremost that applicants will be able to meet their needs and support the children waiting. This can mean that sometimes applicants who do not have particular skills or experience may need to wait a little longer than other applicants who are able to support those needs.

Priority will always be given to adopters who are able to care for sibling groups, children with disabilities or special medical needs.