Blog
Barber shop
Adopting a child of a different ethnicity raises the question of hair care. My son was adopted from Ethiopia and has jet black tight curly hair. My hair is that of a Caucasian person, straightish and dirty-blond in colour. My son’s dense, thickly wound curls, are a magnet for attracting things: sand on a beach, grass from the park, and…
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Adopting a child by Patricia Dopemu
At one time or another, many of us will have thought about adopting a child, especially as we know some children can wait longer for a new parent. For author Patricia Dopemu and her family, adoption was a lifelong calling. She had the desire but felt she wasn’t quite ready, or that she needed to be rich, until a friend…
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Inspirational Birth Mum Poem
One birth Mum talks openly about the many ways that Family Rights Group has helped her, and others like her by encouraging and supporting them to find ways to tell their stories, and to use their voices to raise awareness. Angela Frazer Wicks has a ten-year-old daughter who has no local authority involvement whatsoever and shortly before Christmas 2020…
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Starting Secondary School
Nothing prepared me for how big an adjustment secondary school would be for my son. I am the sole parent to a wonderful child I adopted from Ethiopia aged 20 months. My son has a bright, big beautiful smile and just wants to have fun and play. He’s very tall and looks closer to 15 years of age, than the…
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Early Permanence was the best decision we ever made
Family has always been important to my husband and I, so it was natural for us to want to start our own. Unfortunately, this was not a smooth journey and, after many years of failed IVF treatments, we decided to look into adoption. Towards the end of our adoption assessment, our social worker talked to us about the idea of…
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Adopt London Choir – That’s Christmas to me
The festive season is here and the Adopt London Choir is back with a Christmas song that not only gets you in the mood, but also demonstrates the friendship, support and sheer enjoyment of a group of adoptive families and staff. They have come together in what has been another year none of us expected. Choirmaster Megan Tanner and…
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Looking back on my journey to being a dad
Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a Dad and when I came out as a gay man that did not change. My husband and I initially looked at surrogacy, but it just didn’t feel right for us. Fast forward a few years and we began our adoption journey with our local authority at the time. When we…
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Tackling Fatherhood
I watch as all the other dads stand at the sidelines of mini-football cheering on their kids, shouting out advice – it’s all like some foreign Attenborough documentary. I know nothing about football, and nor does my male partner. But our 6-year-old son is obsessed; it’s all he talks about, giving us a play-by-play of the school lunchtime game with…
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Three Reasons To Garden With Your Children
Lotty is an adoptive mum, a birth mum, a horticulturist and a landscape gardener. She shares three reasons parents should get their kids outside and in the garden. #1 Putting a tiny seed into a pot, watering it and seeing it grow is a great project you can do with your little ones. Getting your hands into rich, warm soil is one…
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Adopt London say thank you to foster carers during #WhyWeCare campaign
As we approach the end of this year’s Fostering Network’s Fostering Fortnight – 10-24 May, we wanted to shine the spotlight on the many foster carers who work with Adopt London. When children come into care they are usually placed with a foster carer. It’s here children are given the opportunity to really feel safe, to…
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Fathers of boys
Eddie is 37, Jody is 39 they adopted siblings – two brothers Samuel is now aged 5, and Jermaine is 4. It was a tough slog and took almost three years. But they agree it has been amazing and the benefits far outweigh the negatives. How was parenting during the Covid lockdown? Our children always went to nursery or school…
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5 Tips to Prepare For Adoption Panel
The role of an Adoption Panel is to assess your suitability to be an adoptive parent and to make a recommendation, based on information prepared by your social worker. You will be invited to attend the first part of the panel meeting. We believe it is important that you meet the people who will be making this important recommendation…
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Yearning For His Dad
This blog is written by one of Adopt London’s single adopters and covers an important topic. How difficult adoption-related questions come up any time, sometimes much sooner than expected, and when you may often feel quite unprepared. It contains interesting content for anyone considering adoption. My Son Michael asked me where his dad was at the age of…
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Eddy Finds a Family
Sarah and her husband tried for a child for eight years. It was a difficult journey but they completed their family in 2016 and adopted their son. At the time Sarah felt there were not many books available to help children understand adoption in a better way and so, during lock down she decided to self-publish her first children’s book…
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Being Different
I’m a single adopter with one son, so one of the good things about the lock down was having quality time together. Having taken 9 months off work meant I could give my son a lot of one-to-one attention. We went for bike rides, played loads, I taught him to read & write, we cooked together, had regular film nights,…
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Reflection on being a gay adoptive dad
It was at a food shop. (It’s almost always at a food shop, get ready.) My partner and son were filling a basket with reduced-price Ben & Jerry’s. I wasn’t there. “Be sure to get some for mum too”, the smiley shop assistant said. And as much as we prepare the responses they never come out as planned, because we’re…
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Mother’s Day lock-down mayhem
Sitting in the midst of lockdown mayhem where rules and regs change daily, we’ve no idea from one moment to the next what’s coming our way and yet sat in front of me my four (and a half – very important half) year old is making me mimic her reindeer impression… She’s the utmost joker and every time I want…
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Which School Help – Easy as A B Let’s See!
Parenting comes with no guidebooks, often advice but who knows which bits work for who; in the end, the buck stops at your door and you make decisions on your own experiences and for your child’s personality and benefit. But with schools – where do you start? For many, it starts with toddlers at nursery age. There are a ton of…
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Children’s Anxiety at Christmas
Please stay safe and follow Government guidelines for Christmas 2021. What to do when the festive season is a challenging time for your children? The Christmas season is so exciting for many children. For some children, where trauma has affected their early life experiences, it can be a particularly challenging time, as so much is unexpected and unexplained. We’ve put…
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Merry Christmas Everyone
The Adopt London Choir are pleased to share our first ever Christmas song with you. The instantly recognisable classic, made famous by Shakin’ Stevens in 1985, has been revamped by our choirmaster Megan and is guaranteed to have you clapping, dancing and singing along with us. How it started The Adopt London Choir began in response…
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