An appeal has gone out to Salford families to consider adopting a child.

The agency providing adoption services in the city wants more people to understand the process in the hope that more potential adopters will come forward.

Gail Spray, head of service for Adoption Counts, said: “It is always important to raise the profile of adoption, because, although sometimes challenging, adoption can be a really positive experience for everyone involved.”

Adoption Counts  is the regional adoption agency covering the adoption services of five local authorities within Greater Manchester and Cheshire East – including Salford City Council.

Adoption Counts Logo, Picture from the Agency

Gail continues: “Children need different things, so they will need different families,

“Our children, because of the experiences they have been through, might have complex and long-term needs sometimes,”

“So it is really important for us to have 
a range of adopters that can meet their needs,
 and be able to provide a stable and loving 
home to them.”
Gail Spray, Head of Services, Adoption Counts

Adoption can transform the life of a child. An adopter is the legal parent of a child who cannot – for different reasons – live their birth parents. An adopter takes on the same legal rights and responsibilities of a birth parent and will provide a permanent home for the child. 

Thousands of children are adopted each year, and there is a thorough process potential adopters need to get through before being approved.

Gail said: “We want adopters to be warm and empathetic, engaging, and open with the child, about identity. 

“We also want adopters to understand what the child has been through and what that means for their future. And be very child focused.”

In England, data shows 59,570 children in 2021 were placed in a home 20 miles or less from their birth family home, from this figure 950 of these children were placed for adoption in these homes.

Adoption Counts main and constant focus is to find the right adopters for children awaiting adoption, in order to create strong and nurturing families.

When asked about this, Gail says: “Some adopters don’t wait a really long time – some of them have a child living them within three months when they are approved – but we can’t say for certain how long it will take to find the perfect match,

“We currently have more adopters than we have children waiting for a forever family at the moment.”

Finding the right family for a child is essential for a child or young person to be happy for their future lives.

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