Adoption as an option?

Neither my husband or I had ever considered adoption. I think I had vaguely heard that if you were fat (me) or old (my husband was 43) then you couldn’t possibly be considered as suitable adoptive parents. So the idea was squashed before it had even properly ignited.

Then one day I read a short article in a magazine which refuted these myths. I can’t really remember the details of the article now, but I remember how I felt as I read it! It was like seeing a pinprick of light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel! I couldn’t understand why I had never though of adoption before as a possibility for us.

I kept this new idea to myself for a while. I wanted to turn it around in my head until I was quite sure it was what I wanted. I was also scared of proposing it to my husband, I felt that if he rejected the idea I would, once again, be devastated.

When I finally did talk to him, he was interested. He didn’t leap at the idea eagerly as I had, but he was definitely interested in finding out more. I could have cried with relief - in fact I think I did! I don’t know, is it a man thing, to be more against having a child who is not your own? Anyway, I thought that he wouldn’t be keen, so I was amazed and delighted that he agreed to pursue the idea.

I don’t tend to hang about when I want something, so the very next day I was phoning our local Social Services Adoption Unit to start things off...