Mike Higgins
e-mail [log in to unmask]
Dear all,
Theresa Redmond of Barnardos Yorkshire has approached DAN about her
organisation's innovative project to promote the adoption/fostering of
Disabled Children by Disabled Parents. She has asked DAN to circulate this
information and asks you to pass it on.
If you want to know more please contact Theresa directly at Barnardos
Yorkshire, 43 Briggate, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD17 7BP. Tel - 01274
532852 Fax - 01274 530998.
ADOPTION AND FOSTERING:
- AN EMPHASIS ON DISABILITY -
Barnardo's New Families is an adoption and fostering agency in Yorkshire.
We find families for older children, Black, Asian and dual-heritage
children and sibling groups in Local Authority care.
Running alongside this work, we have set up an Outreach Project that aims
to find families specifically for disabled children. This year alone
approximately 40% of the children referred to us had a disability of some
kind, ranging from a learning difficulty, to a physical or sensory
impairment, to a serious illness. The 'Be My Parent' adoption and fostering
magazine reports that around 30% of the children featured in it have a
disability. The sizes of these numbers speak for themselves.
Barnardo's works within the Social Model of Disability with over 8,000
disabled children and a central theme of the work is inclusion. One concern
of the outreach project is that disabled children grow up to be disabled
adults in a disabling world. We believe that finding children safe, loving
and permanent families is a way to ensure that these children, like all
children, have the best start in life possible, or at least a second
chance, which is often the case.
The aims of the outreach project are to raise awareness of the issues,
dispel negative myths and stereotypes that surround disability generally
and ultimately find stable and permanent families for children. We want
people, especially potential adopters and fosterers, to see disabled
children as children first and foremost, and to remember that caring for
any child who has been in the care system will present them with many
challenges and many rewards.
We encourage enquiries and applications from people from all walks of life,
backgrounds, abilities and cultures. We value diversity and experience. We
do not discriminate on grounds of gender, age, disability, ethnic origin or
sexual orientation. Applicants can be single, married or living with their
partner, employed or unemployed, own or rent their home, and they may or
may not have children. What is essential is commitment, energy, patience,
good support systems and they must be ready for a challenge!!
If anyone is interested in finding out more, our outreach worker, Theresa
Redmond, is happy to speak with any interested groups or individuals about
the issues involved in the adoption and fostering process. Please contact
her for an informal chat or meeting at:
Barnardo's New Families,
43 Briggate
Shipley
Bradford
BD17 7BP.
Tel: 01274 532 852.
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