Adopting siblings

Matthew and Natalie* adopted siblings, a boy aged four and girl aged one. Read their story below

Natalie says “We had always wanted to have children but when it didn't happen naturally for us we started to look at adoption. We decided against IVF as an option for us and we instead focused on children in need of a forever family rather than go through the emotional anguish associated with IVF when there is such a low chance of success. I worked in education and had seen that there were so many children in need and so we began our journey to starting our family.”

Matthew adds “Initially I had only thought about adopting one child, I did think adopting siblings might be a bit much for us but Natalie had always wanted more than one. It was during stage 2 that we thought about this more and we agreed we would go for siblings. I felt that by adopting biological siblings they would share a bond and have a shared story to help them as they grew up.”

Matthew and Natalie went through the assessment and approval process and were shown the details of a sibling group of a boy and girl.

Matthew recalls “We were shown a video of our son experiencing rain for the first time, he had never played out in the rain before. He was scared at first, then his worry turned to pure joy, he was jumping and playing, catching the raindrops on his tongue, it was just amazing to watch and we registered our interest soon after”

Natalie remembers the first time they met their children “It was our daughter’s first birthday party, it was so strange but so exciting meeting them for the first time, we can’t really describe it but it’s probably the closest thing to birth we’ll experience, it was the birth of our family

“The bond our children share has been evident from day one. The first thing our little girl wants in the morning is a cuddle from her big brother. If she is ever unsettled, it’s her brother who she goes to for comfort. He’ll hold her hand in the car and she’ll immediately calm down and now she’s a bit older she’s started to try and offer her brother comfort when he’s upset, she’ll bring him random objects to try and pacify him as he has done for her with toys, it’s very sweet”

Natalie tells us how strongly she now feels about trying to keep siblings together where possible

Natalie says “I’m part of a sibling group and if I was split up from my birth parents and my sister was taken away from me, I’d feel as though I was being punished twice. We really would encourage anyone thinking about adopting to consider adopting siblings. Our advice to those thinking of adopting is to just pick up the phone, it sound simple and I know it’s not but you’ll find its life changing for all the right reasons”

*Names have been changed but the account is real.