Gay and lesbian people invited to discover more about fostering and adopting

Leeds City Council has organised a special open day to help gay and lesbian people learn more about fostering and adoption.

The open day has been organised to coincide with the first ever national LGBT Adoption and Fostering Week, which runs from Monday 20 February to Sunday 26 February 2012, and will be held on Tuesday 21 February 2012 at 7pm at the South Leeds City Learning Centre, Gipsy Lane, Beeston.

The open day will allow people who are considering becoming a foster carer or adopter to meet experts from Leeds City Council’s fostering and adoption teams. They will be able to find out more about the assessment process, what types of children the council is currently looking for homes for, and what requirements are needed. There will also be the opportunity to meet a gay foster carer and a gay adopter who will talk about what being a foster carer or adopter is really like.

At a time when adoption figures are at a ten year low, a new study shows lesbian and gay people often have the right mix of skills and experience to raise children who have been in care, and give them a great new start in life.

In a survey commissioned by New Family Social - the LGBT network coordinating the week -
72% of social workers surveyed saw the “amount of energy and enthusiasm” LGBT adopters bring to the process as a significant strength. 76% saw “openness to difference, and supporting a child with a sense of difference” as equally important.

Councillor Judith Blake, executive member responsible for children’s services said:
"Over the years, our lesbian and gay foster carers and adopters have made a tremendous contribution towards helping the city provide supportive homes for children and young people. We welcome more applications from all potential foster carers and adopters regardless of their sexuality, religion or marital status. The main thing is that you are able to give children and young people the care and support they need to be happy and fulfilled.”

Leeds City Council sees lesbian and gay people as having a key role to play in meeting the urgent need for more new homes for children in care.

There is no such thing as a typical foster carer or adopter – they can be single, married, divorced, employed, unemployed, with or without children of their own. People from diverse backgrounds and all ethnic origins are needed to help children benefit from living with families who share their own culture, language and religion.

The council’s fostering service provides a comprehensive range of training and support for it’s foster carers , including weekly fees and allowances.

Andy Leary-May, Director of New Family Social, organisers of the national event, said:
“More and more LGBT people are choosing adoption and fostering as a way to form a family, and we want prospective parents to see just how rewarding it can be, and how much advice and support is on offer from our huge community of families around the UK”.

“The fact that so many agencies want to recruit from the LGBT community show just how far things have come in the past 5 or 6 years. Social workers are becoming more aware of our strengths, and we are being treated more fairly, and are being matched with children more quickly”.

Stuart (28) and Lee (25) are a same sex couple, who have just been approved as foster carers for Leeds City Council, explain how they found the assessment process:
“We wanted to help a variety of children and give them a sense of home even if it was for a brief period of time. We are now settled personally and are ready to give something back, we have been lucky in life and want to share this with foster children. Fostering feels like the next stage of our lives together, we have a lot to offer so why not.

“Our assessing fostering officer from the council has been very good and always very honest with us. We know that some children and young people or their families might not want to, or want their children to live with us because we are a same sex couple but we can’t change that and it hasn’t put us off. The council has assured us they want more same sex couples to come forward and foster and have children ready to place with us”.

To find out more about fostering for Leeds City Council visit: www.foster4leeds.co.uk or ring us on 0113 24 77 44 3

To find out more about adopting with Leeds City Council visit: www.adopt4leeds.gov.uk

To find out more about New Family Social visit: www.newfamilysocial.co.uk

ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact:
Emma Whittell, Leeds City Council press office, on (0113) 2474713
Email: emma.whittell@leeds.gov.uk