Archived Forums

Fab Bop - I was hoping there might be someone else from North of the Border - would be great to work with you. Hopefully we'll hear soon.

It is sad to hear of churches not supporting new adoptive parents well, clearly some guidance is needed for some. Our small church have really made our kids feel a part of the family. (They were used to much louder kids) It's one of the reasons I will be sad to leave our church.

Hi Bop,This sounds a great project!I went to the meeting locally and have signed up to be a champion (though not quite sure what I will have the time to do!)Sounds very exciting...OSx

Thanks for mentioning this Bop. I am north of the border, I will check it out. Support in our church is fantastic, even though most know little about adoption issues.

Peer support for adopters = great.Seeing a deeply homophobic evangelical organisation promoted here = not so good.

I am organising an Adoption Sunday at our church and we have a champions evening happening soon on the 18th November, as I couldn't get to any last time Home for Good were on tour we thought we'd organise another one for people in our area. I am a champion too - I think that they are setting up a facebook page for Champions to connect with eachother. It means I'm going to have to succumb to getting a facebook account (resisted it so far.....I know I'm behind....)

I've had a look at the homeforgood.org.uk website and didn't spot one single reference to homophobic things.Hope that there's space here for people of faith, moral code, beliefs and those with none to feel welcome and supported here?The homeforgood thing seems to be addressing an untapped resource in families who attend church related things/ have a faith and perhaps have got the feeling that they will be unwelcome and misunderstood by local authorities in the process of adoptionFor us, our parish likes to support families- whoever lives there, who they are etc. we stand up for marginalised minority groups and against mistreatment. We stand for family and giving children a chance to lead a varied and happy life. If I've missed something in the home for good stuff- let me know.I've just pointed a couple who come to our congregation to this organisation- they'd like to knowLike the sense that really adoption is at the top of the agenda and that there's a group of keenies willing to do something about it.

It looks like they are keen to help but I have huge reservations about enticing anyone into adoption, from a religious background or not.I believe that they are hugely underestimating the demands of parenting a traumatised child.I wonder if some people will feel that they are being called to adopt, or something like that, almost encouraged into it by a charasmatic leader.It's kind of dubious, I think. Not just saying that because it's a religious group - I think that deciding to adopt should be a decision made very carefully from a personal perspective and not part of an evangelical campaign, where people may be exploited.

I felt the same as you flosskirk, concerned that we'll meaning but naive Christians would get talked into adoption. But.. I went along to an info session held by this group and the guy whose brainchild it is is a fostered and adopter and was very clear that adoption is not for everyone And he talked about trauma and that this will impact a child and how difficult adoption could be. The thing is that I agree many churches can offer fantastic support networks for adoptive families and give a child opportunity for a faith and significant adults other than parents who take an interest in them. Two factors highly linked with building resilience which our kids need if not now at some point. Don,t knock it till you've heard or read what they have to say

I have read the book (not really looked at the website) but the thing I like is that most chapters have a review at the end, and they say1. Do you now feel you can adopt.2. If you can't adopt, how can you support people who do.That support could be a simple prayer, or it could be babysitting further down the line, cooking a meal for a large family who have adopted a sibling group of three !!!There are many ways to help, possibly even raising the awareness of adoption so other people would consider it. A sort of adoption evangalism !

For me the trouble would be if a particular church decided it wanted an adoptive family and so 'leant' on people to get involved. This is often what happened in the old days in large Catholic families, where one of the boys was designated to be a priest. Sure, the authorities would ask if the boy wanted to be a priest - and the boy, who had often been kind of talked into it by loving parents, agreed (I personally knew two boys who this had happened to - we lived near one of the seminaries in Scotland - and it was very difficult for them to extricate themselves after they had agreed to it).This is why I am concerned. You have a combination of influential powerful figures in the community and people wanting to please. Surely these people could come to adoption on their own? I am just worried it is going to be a nice project for a church community to get involved in - and that vulnerable people could be carried away by it.