Perfectly imperfect: Adoption Matters supports new National Adoption Week campaign

• Latest figures show a worrying drop in adoption interest – with 12% fewer families stepping forward to register to adopt compared to last year, leaving 2,940 children in need of adoption, and specifically 460 children in the West Midlands.

• The cost of living and pressure to feel ‘ready’ can be major barriers to taking the first step and finding out more, with many feeling they don’t have the ‘ideal’ circumstances

• New research reveals that 86%* of adopters surveyed were worried they needed a ‘perfect home’ prior to adoption - however data shows many adopt while renting, without a garden and in small homes 

• TV stars with links to adoption, including Prue Leith, Dilly Carter and Sanam Harrinanan, are supporting National Adoption Week this year – with Prue describing adoption as ‘messy, joyful, real, and rewarding beyond measure’

• To coincide with the start of National Adoption Week, a new installation ‘A Welcome Home’ opens in London and Leeds - shaped by the stories of real adoptive families from across the country - celebrating ‘perfectly imperfect’ adoptive family homes.

A new survey by You Can Adopt reveals that nearly nine in ten adoptive parents surveyed (86 per cent) were worried they needed a 'perfect home' to pass the adoption assessment process. 

However, the reality is far more modest – with just over two fifths (41 per cent) of adoptive parents surveyed living in a house with two bedrooms or less, two thirds (65 per cent) not having a garden and a quarter living in rented accommodation (25 per cent). 

This National Adoption Week (October 20-26), You Can Adopt is tackling the misconceptions around needing a ‘perfect’ home head-on, showing that children who need to be adopted don’t need perfection – they need a ‘welcome home’.

To launch the campaign, an immersive pop-up kitchen installation – A Welcome Home – is unveiled this week in London and Leeds, co-created by real adoptive families from across the country. The installation, and campaign, is supported by The Great British Bake Off’s Prue Leith (adopter), Sort Your Life Out’s Dilly Carter (who was adopted), Love Island’s Sanam Harrinanan (a Post Adoption Social Worker) - as well as Oscar-winning author Charlie Mackesy.

From the imaginations and memories of real adopted children, the heartwarming hand-drawn family kitchen celebrates the ‘perfectly imperfect’ family homes made possible by adoption. The pop-up kitchen is cosy, cramped and full of the clutter and chaos of everyday family life, and each item in the house tells a story of what made a house feel like a forever home to a real adopted child.

Prue Leith, adoptive mother and grandmother to adopted children, helped to curate the installation and said: "When I adopted my daughter, it was in the kitchen that we bonded most, over meals, mess and everyday life. Now she's adopted children of her own – so I’m really pleased to have been a part of bringing ‘A Welcome Home’ to life. It’s about showing that - just like any kind of parenting - adoption is messy, joyful, challenging, real, and rewarding beyond measure. Adoption gives a child a place at the table, and that’s where love truly grows." 

Insights from adoption agencies across the country show that the cost-of-living crisis has contributed to a decline in the number of people coming forward to adopt – with new data showing a 12% decline in prospective adopter registrations compared to last year. This means that more children are now facing delays of over 18 months before being matched with a family - an increase compared to the previous year**.

On average, it now takes 292 days from the moment a child is approved for adoption, to when they’re placed with a family - 11 days longer than last year. Currently in the West Midlands there are 300 more children waiting than there are adopters available. These delays highlight the urgent need for more people to consider adoption. 

Susy White, Chief Executive Adoption Matters commented: “It is so important for us to be part of this campaign and highlight that adopters come from all walks of lives, background and different cultures just like the children in care. We are so delighted that so many of our families are helping raise awareness of their own stories too, like our adopter April, we are so grateful to her and our other families who shine a light on adoption and help raise awareness”.

Before adopting, many adopters had concerns about what they could offer a child. This includes concerns about the size of their home (23 per cent) or having too low an income (21 per cent). This National Adoption Week campaign aims to dispel myths and reduce barriers to people considering adoption by highlighting real stories from adopted families.

Among the families who helped co-create the installation, with items based on their personal anecdotes and bonding moments from their own homes, are:

• Emma and Mike – a cookie jar (representing the Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar? song they sing together each mealtime) and home-made handprint tablemats

• Amanda – a family recipe passed down from her grandmother, featured alongside a disco ball – a reminder of the many karaoke disco nights that have taken place in the kitchen

• Julia and Winston – a pancake pan with accompanying sauce bottle and a trunki case

• Tracy and Giulio – a blender and jar representing making pesto from scratch, a fun activity that brings the family together in the kitchen

The kitchen was chosen as the heart of the campaign because it’s where many adoptive families say they connect with their children most deeply. It’s a space filled with meaningful moments – with nearly a third of parents (29 per cent) saying their best memories of bonding with their child happened there, and 22 per cent sharing that cooking and sharing meals helped them build connection. 

Also supporting the campaign through his work is British artist, illustrator and author Charlie Mackesy, known for his beloved book ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse’. Charlie’s new book ‘Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm’ revisits the world of the four unlikely friends and explores themes of vulnerability, love and belonging. A copy of the new book and print features within the kitchen installation, and 248 copies have been donated by Ebury via You Can Adopt to adoptive families during National Adoption Week – one representing each of the children who are matched with an adoptive family in England on average each month.

View the campaign video here: youtube.com/watch?v=4MLx_ySeci8

Adoption Matters is a children’s charity and voluntary adoption agency covering the whole of the Shropshire and Stoke. To find out more about adopting, please visit: adoptionmatters.org