Families For Children: New Glasgow podcast highlights joy of adoption

A new podcast series has launched, aimed at anyone considering adoption in Glasgow.

The Families for Children podcast gives people information about the adoption process and how it can transform lives, and features interviews with families who have adopted.

Run by Glasgow City Council, the initiative has been set up to help inform people who think they could provide a child with a stable and secure home.

Anna from Glasgow is one of the featured mums in the series. She describes the “fierce, amazing love” she feels for her adopted son and daughter.

“Adoption has worked very well for us. It has been a positive experience and we have two absolutely brilliant kids, who have really bonded as siblings,” she said.

“You get such lovely moments, for example if we’re driving along in the car and I look in the mirror and see my children holding hands in the back.

“When we met both our daughter and son, it was about gradually falling in love. At first, you feel a bit like a babysitter, you think someone is going to grab you and say ‘this isn’t your child’, then your confidence grows and you gradually start to feel like more of their parent.

“You notice all their amazing features and you become their biggest fan and, before you know it, it’s this fierce, amazing love.”

In a separate podcast, adoptive dad, James, describes his joy at adopting two boys, aged 18 months and 3 years, with his husband.

He said: “Adoption has been everything we hoped for. We have been very lucky, the boys settled in really, really well and we love them to bits. We’ve had them in nursery and the eldest started school last week.

“At first it was challenging, but any new parent will tell you that. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of time. You don’t get a minute, but that is family life. There’s always new things happening – we took the boys on their first holiday in May this year.”

Claire, a Glasgow social worker, talks about her job and explains how children are matched with approved adoptive parents. She reassured anyone interested in applying that they don’t need to be “perfect” to adopt.

Claire said: “We are not looking for perfection. I do not know if the perfect parent exists. We are looking for people to go through a journey, from phoning us and learning about the process and learning about children and their backgrounds to understanding what a child actually needs.”

Anyone interested in adoption is invited to attend an information event at Glasgow’s City Chambers on November 27, 6pm – 8.30pm.

Listen to the podcasts here.