All About Charlie

A young boy supported by Warwickshire County Council’s Integrated Disability Service (IDS) gives a child’s perspective on how the service has helped him and his family.

Charlie Kiefte is three years old and lives with his parents, two brothers, and his sister in Rugby. Charlie has CHARGE syndrome, a condition which means he has breathing and swallowing difficulties, a hearing loss and balance difficulties. He also has Omenn’s syndrome and was born with no immune system, a thymus transplant to treat this has been successful and he is still building up his immunity as a result.

For the first 21 months of his life Charlie was looked after in hospital but now – as his condition improves – he is supported to live at home by his family and Children’s Community Nurses.

The family do so much with Charlie to help with his development, a mammoth task for mum Rachel who also has three other young children to care for. She has learned from the nurses who help the family 6 nights per week when he uses oxygen and requires regular suctioning, as well as assisting with his feeding tube and helping him to walk independently.

Donna Clifton and Val Redhead from the IDS commend Rachel’s tremendous efforts and her untiring support which has been invaluable in helping Charlie so he can now attend nursery as his older siblings did. Donna and Val wrote about some of Charlie’s experiences from his perspective which Charlie’s family are keen to share with other families.

Imagining what Charlie would say, the two professionals put together Charlie’s story:

“I have lots of people come to my home to see me. These are nurses, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, social workers, community nurses and play therapists.

“A lady called Val from the IDS portage service comes to play with me. She brings lots of toys and my favourite toy is the ball tube but I also like singing five little monkeys and what’s in the bag is fun too!

“When my immune system started to get better Mummy talked to Val about the possibility of going to nursery. Mummy and Daddy wanted me to go to the Blue Strawberry just like my brothers and sisters did. A lady called Suzanne came to see me with Val and she talked to me and Mummy about the nursery but there were lots of things to be done before I could go.

“Val asked Mummy if I could go to Little Apples ‘Stay and Play’ group as a stepping stone for me to start at big nursery and we said yes. I have been going regularly ever since. I am sad when I have I miss sessions because sometimes I have to go into hospital.

“I usually go to play group with the nurses to give Mummy a little break. I enjoy all the activities but my favourites are painting, singing, looking at books and putting my apple on the tree. I have made lots of friends and I loved the Christmas party and meeting Santa.

“Mummy has worked hard to teach me Makaton sign language. I use it now to communicate and Val says that I have taught her lots of new signs. With my help Val can now sign all the colours of the rainbow. I am very excited about getting my new iPad as this will help people to communicate with me.

“In January I had my first experience of going to big nursery. At first I went with Mummy for just half an hour but now I am going for two whole sessions. After Easter, I will be doing another session just like the other children in my group.

“I am pleased now I am big but I will miss Little Apples, and Val who won’t be bringing me her toys to play with at home anymore because there are lots of toys and activities for me at nursery.

“I have really enjoyed meeting the people who have helped me achieve my goal to go to nursery just like my brothers and sister did. I can’t wait to meet new people, make new friends and learn lots of new and exciting things. Thank you for reading my story.”

The Integrated Disability Service provides lots of support for children and young people with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, complex learning difficulties and communication difficulties (which includes pupils with autism spectrum and specific language disorders).

The service promotes inclusion of disabled youngsters in mainstream settings, and offers practical help and advice to families at home, and about children at school, in childcare, and at play activities.

Integrated Disability Head, Lynne Barton added: “This story demonstrates how when professionals all work together with a family from the earliest possible moment we can make a long lasting difference for the future. Charlie is a delight and I look forward to hearing all about his next achievements.”

Notes to editors

Integrated Disability Service Teams
·    The Child Development Service providing a co-ordinated, multi-agency assessment and follow up services to pre-school children with complex needs.
·    The Birth to Three Portage Service providing home-based teaching service for babies and very young children up to the age of 3.
·    The Pre-School Service, including Area SENCos, who support children in mainstream Early Years’ Settings across Warwickshire.
·    The Short Break Service, who can look after children and young people in their own home environment or support them to access activities within their local community.
·    The SEN Childcare Service, who support the inclusion of children and young people with SEN and disabilities up to the age of 18 in a range of childcare settings.
·    The Family Key Worker Service, providing families with a single point of contact who then acts as a source of support for the family and a link by which other services are accessed.
·    Social Care Service, a team of dedicated Social Care Workers and Social Workers providing services to disabled children and young people aged birth to 18 and their families.
·    The Physical Disability Team, which includes Occupational Therapy and Specialist Teachers, who provide advice and support to ensure that children achieve the greatest possible independence both at home and school.
·    The Autism Team, including specialist teaching staff, Inclusion Assistants, Specialist Social Worker, Connexions Personal Adviser etc; Sensory & Complex Team, including Specialist Teachers, Teaching Assistants and an Educational Audiologist.
·    The Specific Language Disorder Team, which provides an outreach service to all mainstream schools and also has staff in 7 bases in mainstream primary schools.
·    The Sensory and Complex Team, which is made up of staff who work with children with Complex Needs in mainstream schools and children with a Visual Impairment and Hearing Loss.
·    The Connexions Specialist Careers’ Advisory Team, linked to Special Schools, they offer information and guidance to young people aged 13-19, supporting them into positive destinations when they leave schools.
·    The Volunteer Team, who work alongside other IDS teams, providing extra support to children, young people and families.

Take time to care

The events are all taking place during Foster Care Fortnight (14-27 May), a national campaign from the Fostering Network to raise the profile of fostering and encourage more people to consider this rewarding career.

Kelly Furness from the county council’s fostering service said: “Currently there are around 660 children looked after by Warwickshire County Council. This number has increased steadily over the past few years so demand for quality placements is high and we are always keen to recruit new carers to give these young people the benefit of a stable family life.

“With this in mind, staff from the fostering team and some of the county’s foster carers will be available at local events to give friendly, informal advice and information.”

Events are taking place at the following venues:

Friday 18 May – 9am-5pm Information Stall at Abbeygate Shopping Centre, Nuneaton

Monday 21 May – 9am – 5pm Information Stall at Clock Towers Shopping Centre Rugby (information to take away will be available all day with staff available between 11am – 2pm)

Friday 25 May – 10am – 2pm Information Stall at Tesco Store Warwick, Emscote Road, Warwick

Thursday 31 May – 10am – 12pm Information Stall at Kenilworth Library, Smalley Place, Kenilworth

Weekend 16 and 17 June – 11am – 4pm Information Stall at Leamington Peace Festival, Pump Room gardens Leamington Spa

Kelly is clear that almost anyone has the potential to be a foster carer, she added: “We are looking for foster carers who are single or couples; with or without children, retired, unemployed or working, so we can find the best match for every child or young person. What matters most is that you have time, space, commitment, patience, a caring nature and skills to work with children and their families. We are particularly interested in hearing from people who may be looking to foster teenagers.

We really hope people considering fostering will pop along to an event or get in touch during Foster Care Fortnight to find out more.”

There are different types of foster care, depending on the needs of children and young people.

They include short term foster care from a couple of months to a couple of years, to permanent foster care where a child who cannot live with their own family stays with a family throughout childhood and onto adulthood.

Whilst Warwickshire Fostering Service wants to hear from anyone interested in foster care, it is particularly important for them to find people willing to look after: teenagers; siblings; children older than eight who need permanent placements; or young people from other cultures. Parent and child placements are also required so the service would like to speak to anyone with space to house these families.

Full training and support is given to foster carers, who are matched to one or more of the different foster care schemes, depending on what suits their lifestyles and commitments. Carers are paid an allowance which reflects the real cost of looking after a child.

If you are interested in finding out more about Fostering for Warwickshire but cannot attend the above events please contact Central Fostering on freephone 0800 4081556 or register your interest online at

www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fostering.

Case study

Fostering good relationships – Jamie and Maxine

Jamie and Maxine Chapman are Warwickshire foster carers who live in Coventry with their seven year old daughter Ruby. The couple also have an older son, Matt, who is in his twenties and has moved out of home.

They have been approved long term and respite carers for almost two and a half years and in this time have looked after three teenage boys. They are also ‘Staying Put’ carers, which means they are able to continue to provide a home for young people after their eighteenth birthday. Currently they are looking after two boys, one of whom has been with them from the start.

Jamie and Maxine became carers as they enjoy parenting with all its day to day challenges and felt they had the time, space and desire to offer a home to children who through no fault of their own had missed out on a happy family life. Speaking with foster carer friends, they became more aware of the difficult lives some of the children coming into care have faced and they wanted to help make a difference.

At first the couple were unsure of what type of foster carers they would be but with support from Warwickshire Fostering Service they were matched to the teenage scheme which they have found very rewarding. Jamie said: “One of the advantages of fostering is that we can review the support we offer as circumstances change within the family, whilst this arrangement suits us at the moment thing may change as Ruby gets older so Warwickshire’s different schemes will allow us to adapt.”

As part of Foster Care Fortnight, Maxine and Jamie have spoken about their experiences to help make people more aware of what life is like for a foster family.

Maxine said: “You’ve got to be intuitive as parents to try to overcome things just as you would do with your own children so it is important to take time to get to know the young people in your care so you can offer them the right emotional support.

“We’re just like a big family and include the boys we’ve looked after in every aspect of family life to decision making to days out and holidays. Everyone has learnt so much from each other and we’ve tried lots of new things. All the children’s interests are different but when we’re together everyone has been happy to try out new things such as horse riding and football which Ruby really enjoys.

“We’ve come up against behaviour and education issues in the past with the boys who have been very disengaged and disillusioned. We’ve worked with them to get them back on track, raise their self-worth and help them to achieve and make them see that they have the same opportunities as their peers.

“Being a teenager is tough enough without the stigma of being in care and we have found that this has often presented in challenging behaviour such as lying and stealing. In these situations we have found sticking to our care plan and safeguarding ourselves through clear boundary setting and introducing trust to nurture respect has helped.

“Low confidence is also common so we do what we can to encourage the young people to make their own decisions but to also understand the consequences of their actions. We do a lot of looking back and forgiving which helps them move forward and become strong enough to tackle issues that they come up against.

“A lot of people have a bad perception of children in care and assume they must be naughty or hard to control. In most cases however it’s a case of bad parenting and the young people can’t be held at fault. They carry a great weight around with them and have different priorities to other children. We try to teach them that it is the experiences they have endured not them which seems to help them accept the situation.

Jamie continued: “Due to the lack of stability in their own lives we often feel a bit like a sticking plaster holding things together on a day to day basis but the positives of this job far outweigh any obstacles we face. At the start of a placement our boys have been shy and withdrawn with their heads down but once they realise they are safe and secure you see the head begin to lift and as their confidence grows.

“When you hear about the things they have achieved, or they may cook you a meal or invite you to a parents’ evening it’s a wonderful feeling – knowing that you’ve played a part makes us feel proud – of them and us.

“Fostering is a very fulfilling experience and almost anyone with an adaptable attitude and the right expectations of the role could do it – ‘if you think you can do it you probably can’. Having said that there are some attributes a carer needs to make the job easier. Patience and perseverance are necessary as things take time from approval as a carer, through the training and in every placement. Prospective carers can’t expect to see a difference immediately but should know that extending friendship and concern to the young people is a great first step.

“Tolerance and compassion are also essential qualities in order to understand what children have been through and offer the right support to them. Clear boundaries help give structure and routine but a carer needs to be flexible too and expect these to be stretched before they are pulled back. It’s also important not to hold grudges or take things personally, there will be arguments and things will get broken but work through it. We find it helps to make clear to the young people that whilst this is their home we expect them to put aside their issues, get involved with family life, and return the same respect and kindness we extend to them.

“I would urge anyone thinking about fostering to find out as much as they can. It is a job with huge responsibility but that shouldn’t put anyone off as excellent training and support is available at every step from the fostering service and foster carer support groups. Be open-minded and talk to the fostering social worker about the kind of care you could offer. We learned so much about ourselves through the approval process so expect some surprises too.

“It’s extremely important for us as carers to take time for all the relationships in our life so we don’t lose sight of your own family. We make sure we support and listen to one another so no one’s needs are missed and we keep reminding ourselves why we doing this.

Ruby

Jamie and Maxine’s daughter Ruby loves being a foster sister and her account of foster family life won a Fostering Network blog competition. This is included below.

“I really like being part of a foster family because I get to meet new people and learn lots of new things. The boys that we foster are all different and I never know what they are going to be like, sometimes they are quiet and shy sometimes they are fun and loud. I like singing and dancing and sometimes they pretend they don’t but I know they do really when they start singing along to my music. I did worry that I would get less time to spend with my family once we started fostering but I was wrong we still get lots of time together.

“I don’t like it when they tease me because it’s annoying, but we soon make friends again. I like it when we go to the park or on holiday and there are more people to play with and more people to help me find new friends on the beach. The boys like it when I find new friends who have older brothers (and sisters!!). We do different things now as a family so that we include the new person and make them feel at home, one of my foster brothers is German so sometimes we have bratwurst. I do activities now that I probably wouldn’t have done before we fostered.

“I think fostering is a kind thing to do and you get to meet new people. I get to play with the young people who stay with u, even though their much older than me and I get to know them. I’ve done new things that the boys like to do like watch the sky blues play football at the Ricoh Arena. It is fun when the boys come on holiday with us to Plymouth and Spain. My friends think that I’ve got lots of older brothers and I think that’s nice.”

Ruby’s top tips

If the boy’s tease me I ignore them or tell mum or dad, after we will make friends again.

If mum and dad are sorting out some fostering stuff just go and find a way to entertain yourself, because I will always have time with my family.

I always like to talk to my new foster brothers when I meet them and ask lots of questions, I think that they like this.

The national picture

A child comes into care and needs a foster family every 22 minutes across the UK. This 22 minutes figure will be the Fostering Network’s lead message across traditional and social media activity for Foster Care Fortnight 2012 (14-27 May). It highlights the urgent need for foster carers right across the country – the charity estimates that at least 8,750 new foster families are needed in 2012 alone.

www.thefostering.net

The Impact of Austerity Measures on Households with Children

A new Family and Parenting Institute report on The Impact of Austerity Measures on Households with Children has been published this month, exploring the prospects for incomes and poverty rates among households with children between 2010 and 2015 and attempts to isolate the impact of tax and benefit changes on household incomes, and on the incentives for parents to do paid work and to increase their earnings slightly.

Click here to view the report in full.

The 21st Century Social Club

Young people are now using social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, over phone conversations and texting, and almost as much as chatting in person to their friends, according to a new study.

A major consultation by Warwickshire County Council involving 303 young people from around the county, has discussed how they like to communicate with each other, and how they’d like to be communicated with.

Many of the questions were open to all ages, but some were restricted to those aged 14+ where discussing social media only permitted to this age group.

When asked ‘When you are catching up with your interests and want to know about new things how do you get the information?’ the survey found that face to face talking is the highest at 128 young people, but social media is a close second at 113, compared to just 38 reading magazines or 18 chatting on the phone.

Another question asked about communication with friends ‘When chatting what do you use?’ and found that again face to face was highest at 162, but closely followed by social media at 132, ahead of texting each other at 86, phone 93, and email just 22.

The Warwickshire County Council study also asked ‘When we’ve got urgent news how would you like us to contact you?’ and the vast majority opted for Facebook (107), followed by text (88), and email (56).

When questioned about access to the internet, the growth of smartphones, such as iPhones, HTC and Samsung, became apparent with only 30 of the respondents saying they did not have a smartphone, making it possible for young people to access social media and the internet from wherever they are.

The widespread use of social media has prompted Warwickshire County Council to remind young people and parents about keeping safe when updating Facebook or posting tweets.

Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: “Social media is the fastest growing phenomena on the internet. It provides a brilliant way to stay in touch with friends and share photographs, comments or even play online applications, but if used carelessly can expose you and your children to identity theft and online predators.

“I’m not intending to scaremonger, but parents and young people need to be aware of the risks, and there are a few simple things you can do to make the whole process safer.”

Simple social media rules:

• Pay attention to age restrictions – for example Facebook and Bebo are only for people aged 13 years and older.
• Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Bebo, have a range of privacy settings. These are often setup by default to ‘expose’ your details to anyone. When ‘open’ anyone could find you through a search of the networking site or even through a search engine, such as Google. So it is important to change your settings to ‘Friends only’ so that your details and profile content can only be seen by your invited and accepted friends and don’t forget to remove yourself from search engine results.
• Have a neutral picture of yourself as your profile image. Don’t post embarrassing material.
• You do not need to accept friendship requests. Reject or ignore unless you know the person or want to accept them. Be prepared that you may receive friendship requests or suggestions from people you do not know. It is not a competition to have as many friends as possible.
• Remember you can delete unwanted ‘friends’ from your social networking sites. On some you can also ‘Block’ them as well so they can’t request your friendship again.
• Exercise caution! For example in Facebook if you write on a friend’s wall all their friends can see your comment – even if they are not your friend.
• If you or a friend are ‘tagged’ in an online photo album the whole photo album may be visible to their friends, your friends and anyone else tagged in the same album.
• You do not have to be friends with someone to be tagged in their photo album. If you are tagged in a photo you can remove the tag, but not the photo.
• Your friends may take and post photos you are not happy about. You need to speak to them first, rather than contacting a web site. If you are over 18 the web site will only look into issues that contravene their terms and conditions.

Facebook Privacy information can be found here

The safest way for your Facebook profile to be set-up is for it to be as private as possible, for example only allowing your ‘Friends’ to have access to your information and pictures. It is therefore advisable that you only have ‘real’ friends as contacts on Facebook and other Social Networking sites.

See the image below of the ideal set-up for a Facebook profile. You can find this by following these steps:

1) Click on Account in the top right hand corner of your Facebook page.

2) Choose the Privacy Settings option.

3) You will then see the page below and you can edit the settings to ensure that Friends only have access to your profile and its information.

More information is also available here or here

The most important safety message of all about any contact through social media or the internet is to ‘Never go alone to meet someone you have met online’ and to ‘Never reveal any personal contact details’.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is a government backed agency dedicated to keeping children safe on the internet. To find out more, visit: www.ceop.gov.uk

CEOP’s Top Tips for Staying Safe Online are:

• Remember, everyone you meet online is a stranger, even though they might seem like a friend.
• Always use a nickname when you log on and never give out any details that would allow someone you meet online to contact you. That means your full name, home or school address, telephone number, personal e-mail or mobile number.
• If you publish a picture of yourself online, remember anyone can change it or share it, or use it to try and contact you.
• Never arrange to meet up alone with someone you make friends with online, but if you are going to anyway, take an adult you trust and meet in a public place.
• Accepting e-mails or opening files from people you don’t really know, can get you into trouble – they may contain viruses, nasty messages or annoying links to stuff you don’t want to see.
• Talk to an adult you know well and ask for help if you’re worried or upset about anything you’ve sent or been sent online

Young people and parents are advised to visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk to find out the latest information on sites to visit, mobiles and new technologies.

See the links below for full details and advice from Warwickshire County Council on using the internet and social media safely.

Child Safety

An e-safety information booklet for parents, children and young people

Warwickshire e-safety advice for parents and carers

The rise and rise of social media for young people

Young people are now using social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, over phone conversations and texting, and almost as much as chatting in person to their friends, according to a new study.

A major consultation by Warwickshire County Council involving 303 young people from around the county, has discussed how they like to communicate with each other, and how they’d like to be communicated with.

Many of the questions were open to all ages, but some were restricted to those aged 14+ where discussing social media only permitted to this age group.

When asked ‘When you are catching up with your interests and want to know about new things how do you get the information?’ the survey found that face to face talking is the highest at 128 young people, but social media is a close second at 113, compared to just 38 reading magazines or 18 chatting on the phone.

Another question asked about communication with friends ‘When chatting what do you use?’ and found that again face to face was highest at 162, but closely followed by social media at 132, ahead of texting each other at 86, phone 93, and email just 22.

The Warwickshire County Council study also asked ‘When we’ve got urgent news how would you like us to contact you?’ and the vast majority opted for Facebook (107), followed by text (88), and email (56).

When questioned about access to the internet, the growth of smartphones, such as iPhones, HTC and Samsung, became apparent with only 30 of the respondents saying they did not have a smartphone, making it possible for young people to access social media and the internet from wherever they are.

The widespread use of social media has prompted Warwickshire County Council to remind young people and parents about keeping safe when updating Facebook or posting tweets.

Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: “Social media is the fastest growing phenomena on the internet. It provides a brilliant way to stay in touch with friends and share photographs, comments or even play online applications, but if used carelessly can expose you and your children to identity theft and online predators.

“I’m not intending to scaremonger, but parents and young people need to be aware of the risks, and there are a few simple things you can do to make the whole process safer.”

Simple social media rules:

• Pay attention to age restrictions – for example Facebook and Bebo are only for people aged 13 years and older.
• Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Bebo, have a range of privacy settings. These are often setup by default to ‘expose’ your details to anyone. When ‘open’ anyone could find you through a search of the networking site or even through a search engine, such as Google. So it is important to change your settings to ‘Friends only’ so that your details and profile content can only be seen by your invited and accepted friends and don’t forget to remove yourself from search engine results.
• Have a neutral picture of yourself as your profile image. Don’t post embarrassing material.
• You do not need to accept friendship requests. Reject or ignore unless you know the person or want to accept them. Be prepared that you may receive friendship requests or suggestions from people you do not know. It is not a competition to have as many friends as possible.
• Remember you can delete unwanted ‘friends’ from your social networking sites. On some you can also ‘Block’ them as well so they can’t request your friendship again.
• Exercise caution! For example in Facebook if you write on a friend’s wall all their friends can see your comment – even if they are not your friend.
• If you or a friend are ‘tagged’ in an online photo album the whole photo album may be visible to their friends, your friends and anyone else tagged in the same album.
• You do not have to be friends with someone to be tagged in their photo album. If you are tagged in a photo you can remove the tag, but not the photo.
• Your friends may take and post photos you are not happy about. You need to speak to them first, rather than contacting a web site. If you are over 18 the web site will only look into issues that contravene their terms and conditions.

Facebook Privacy information can be found here

The safest way for your Facebook profile to be set-up is for it to be as private as possible, for example only allowing your ‘Friends’ to have access to your information and pictures. It is therefore advisable that you only have ‘real’ friends as contacts on Facebook and other Social Networking sites.

See the image below of the ideal set-up for a Facebook profile. You can find this by following these steps:

1) Click on Account in the top right hand corner of your Facebook page.

2) Choose the Privacy Settings option.

3) You will then see the page below and you can edit the settings to ensure that Friends only have access to your profile and its information.

More information is also available here or here

The most important safety message of all about any contact through social media or the internet is to ‘Never go alone to meet someone you have met online’ and to ‘Never reveal any personal contact details’.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is a government backed agency dedicated to keeping children safe on the internet. To find out more, visit: www.ceop.gov.uk

CEOP’s Top Tips for Staying Safe Online are:

• Remember, everyone you meet online is a stranger, even though they might seem like a friend.
• Always use a nickname when you log on and never give out any details that would allow someone you meet online to contact you. That means your full name, home or school address, telephone number, personal e-mail or mobile number.
• If you publish a picture of yourself online, remember anyone can change it or share it, or use it to try and contact you.
• Never arrange to meet up alone with someone you make friends with online, but if you are going to anyway, take an adult you trust and meet in a public place.
• Accepting e-mails or opening files from people you don’t really know, can get you into trouble – they may contain viruses, nasty messages or annoying links to stuff you don’t want to see.
• Talk to an adult you know well and ask for help if you’re worried or upset about anything you’ve sent or been sent online

Young people and parents are advised to visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk to find out the latest information on sites to visit, mobiles and new technologies.

See the links below for full details and advice from Warwickshire County Council on using the internet and social media safely.

http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/D45A0720FD40CFC580256EE4004C6C70/$file/english.pdf

http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/901FF2215B550FCF8025741900347028/$file/E-safety+advice+for+parents+and+carers+2010.pdf

National Adoption Week

National Adoption Week gets underway today and people living in Warwickshire are being encouraged to find out more about how they could change a child’s life.

Warwickshire County Council is looking for families who may be interested in adopting children. The county council would like to hear from anyone who has a question on adoption.

Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: “There are no blanket bans in adoption, so please don’t think we’ll turn you down because you’re over 40, single, or don’t own your own home. What we really need are people who can offer a child or sibling group a loving and supportive family for life. People who can help a child recover from the reasons why they came in to care and can help them go on to thrive in a new family.

“Initially, we are simply asking people to come forward and find out more about adoption. If you think you might have what it takes, please pick up the phone today.”

National Adoption Week is organised by the British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) and aims to raise awareness of adoption and encourage potential parents to come forward. There are an estimated 4,000 children across the UK needing adoption every year, many of whom will have suffered trauma in their short lives.

Anyone interested in finding out more about adoption can call the Adoption Team on 01926 746956 or visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/adoption For more general information about National Adoption Week visit www.nationaladoptionweek.org.uk