Adoption roadshows highlight children’s age is ‘just a number’!

People in the North-West have been asked to ‘guess the ages’ of children in a bid to challenge perceptions and misconceptions of those waiting for adoption.

The team at Adoption Now held shopping centre roadshows in Bolton, Blackburn and Bury in which five life-sized, cardboard cut-outs, based on real children, were displayed and passers-by were asked how old they thought they were based on their height. The children ranged from ten months old to seven years old.

100% of the people asked were unable to guess all the children’s ages correctly with 23% guessing only one child’s age right. On average the children were thought to be between one and four years older than they actually were.

The aim of the campaign was to highlight that children come in all shapes and sizes and those waiting for adoption, that are aged 3 years plus and deemed ‘older children’ can in fact be smaller or taller than expected, but they still have lots of growing, learning and milestones to achieve and share with their adoptive families; from their first days at schools, to their first time riding a bike or having a visit from the tooth fairy.

One member of the public, who took part in the activity, was shocked to find out the real ages of the children, she said: “Wow, really?! They must have had their ReadyBrek or maybe it’s just because my family and I are short, but it really does make you think and I can’t believe I got it so wrong.”

Children waiting for adoption range from babies to eight years old and come from all walks of life and backgrounds but unfortunately, some can wait longer than others. Those aged 5 years and over have the longest average journey from entry into care to adoption, an average of 41 months, 13 months longer than the average for all children. Even children ages 3 and over are sadly often labelled as ‘Older Children’.

Around 40% of the children waiting with Adoption Now are aged 3 and above, so people are being encouraged to come forward to adopt these children.

Karen Barrick, Head of Service for Adoption Now, said: “We are looking for families for a variety of children and we want to highlight that you can’t always know everything about a child based off just looking at them or comparing them to other children. They are all different and special in their own individual ways.

‘What we do know is that children waiting for adoption can often be smaller or need that caring and nurturing that you’d expect of a younger child because of their early life experiences, so it worth being open-minded if you are thinking about adopting and really consider children from a wider age range.”

Adoption Now is the regional adoption agency for Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside. People considering adoption, particularly for children aged 3 and above, can contact the team on 01204 336096 or visit www.adoptionnow.org.uk.