TWO adoption agencies have joined forces in a new campaign to encourage people in the North East and Cumbria to consider adopting brothers and sisters.

The ‘Better off together’ campaign has been launched in a bid to combat the shortage in people coming forward to enquire about sibling adoption.

In the new campaign, Adopt Coast to Coast and ARC Adoption North East are encouraging people to consider the benefits of adopting more than one child, while raising awareness of the ongoing support available to families. 

Paula Gibbons, Head of Service for Adopt Coast to Coast said: “We know that for anyone adopting, there’s often a lot of questions and many different things to think about, and it can seem overwhelming to add adopting more than one child into the equation. 

"There are many understandable practical concerns with adopting siblings such as available space, time and finance, but there are also so many more benefits in keeping children together. The relationship between siblings is a unique one and often for the children in our care, their relationships with their brothers and sisters is the most stable one they have had in their lives, and it is one that grows over time to really help them understand themselves. 

"As well as having huge benefits to the children, for adopters it means they only have to do the application process once and they often can complete their family in one go.”

Recent national statistics show that 43% of the children currently waiting to be adopted in England are part of brother and sister groups and they wait on average 11 months longer than single children to be placed with a new family. 

In comparison, only a third of adopters who are currently in stage two of the adoption process or approved by Adopt Coast to Coast or ARC Adoption are looking to adopt one or two children. Of this number, only 7% are certain they want to adopt two children, and none of the prospective adopters are currently looking to adopt three children or more.

For more information about the ‘Better off together’ campaign go to www.familiesforsiblings.org