Dundee City Council’s job is about finding families for children, not children for families.

The city council is in the midst of a major recruitment campaign to find adoptive and foster parents in Dundee.

Lee Mackay speaks to one boy who is desperate to find a permanent loving home and to a couple who have opened theirs up to foster children.

Adoption is about looking after children who can’t live with their birth families for a variety of, often very complex, reasons.

Research and experience shows that most children, if unable to return to their own families, do best in another family setting.

Gone are the days of people adopting newly-born, healthy babies — there just aren’t enough of them being put up for adoption these days.

Now, the priority is to find permanent new homes for older children, groups of brothers and sisters and children and young people with special needs.

In Dundee, there are currently 23 boys and nine girls looking for adoptive or long-term family placements.

While the majority of the boys are aged between eight and 14, seven of the girls are pre-school age and two are in early primary school. Of the boys, some have behavioural and health needs.

There are also five sibling groups in need of adoptive or permanent homes in the city. They are aged three, eight and nine; two and three; five and three; four and eight; and seven and four.

The council’s adoption and fostering recruitment campaign was launched on February 13.

Since then, 177 people have phoned in to find out more information. By the same period last year, there were fewer with 120.

Of the 177, 118 were inquiring about fostering, 47 related to adoption and 12 were non-specific.

Fifty-seven out of the original 177 then took their interest to the next level, asking for someone from the social work department to visit them to find out more.

Nineteen then went on fill out an application form — seven for adoption and 12 for fostering.

Of the 19, nine have completed their training, three will begin in January, four have withdrawn and three have put their application on hold for a variety of reasons.

Since February, two families have been fully approved and are now awaiting a placement.

Brenda Kidd, senior social worker with Dundee City Council, said, “Families come forward all the time for pre-schoolers. It is the older boys who are crying out for families. The statistics since February show you how many interested people can be lost along the way. But for two families to be already through the process just shows you it can be done — and within six months.”

Some people are unable to have their own children, but wish to be parents and see adoption as a positive way of doing so.

Adoption gives children the clear message that they are part of their new family forever.

It is a legal process involving the court transfer of all rights and responsibilities of birth parents to adoptive parents.

A child usually takes the surname of his/her adoptive parents. All legal ties to the birth family are broken, although some children may stay in touch with some members.

Being a foster carer or adoptive parent requires patience, commitment and understanding to help a young person cope. This may be with the reasons why they can’t live with birth families, effects of disruptive experiences and the loss of trusted caregivers — perhaps more than once. Often, this sadness and insecurity can be expressed in difficult behaviour.

n Anyone interested in finding out more about adoption or fostering can call Dundee City Council on 01382 436060.