20th October 2025

🔸It’s NI Adoption Week! 🔸

Today marks the start of Adoption Week, part of an annual nationwide adoption campaign where we celebrate our adoption community across Northern Ireland, in partnership with Adoption UK.

We want to show our appreciation to our adoptive families, celebrate the lifelong impact of adoption, and raise awareness about the children who wait longest for adoption in Northern Ireland.

Did you know…? 

During the year ending 31 March 2025*:

• 96 children were adopted from care in Northern Ireland
• The average age of children at the time of adoption was 4 years 6 months
• 39 children (41%) were adopted as part of a sibling group
• 21 children adopted (22%) had special needs or a disability
• The age of adopters ranged from early 30s to mid-60s, with 59% being in their 40s at the time of the adoption

*Department of Health: Children Adopted from Care in Northern Ireland Report, 2024/2025

Sibling groups who need to remain together, children aged 4 years and over and children with specific needs continue to wait longest for adoptive families in Northern Ireland. Watch our adoption animation here

“When we began our adoption journey, we envisaged adopting a baby or toddler. In the end we adopted a five year old girl, who quite honestly, could not be a more perfect fit for our family. The benefits of knowing more about an older child truly helped us find the perfect match. Previous concerns we may have had about bonding seem so distant now and within a very short time, we all formed a very special family relationship. Being older also meant we have been able to have open conversations about her past and what exactly adoption means, which avoids future dreaded conversations. The support we have received from adoption services has been invaluable. There is always someone at the end of the telephone and there are so many courses to guide you on your journey. We especially found the Nurturing Attachment course to be extremely helpful and the benefit of meeting other adoptive parents was so reassuring. For us, it was about finding the perfect match and our daughter’s age hasn’t impacted that at all. We doubted ourselves again and again, but my advice would be to just do it as the benefits strongly outweigh any drawbacks!!” – adoptive parent

Virtual Adoption Information Session

Come along to and hear more about becoming an adoptive parent from our friendly adoption team

Date:	Tuesday 21 October
Time:	3.00pm – 5.00pm
To register:	Call 0800 0720 137 or email your contact details to: hello@adoptionandfostercare.hscni.net

This information session is open to anyone interested in adopting a child in Northern Ireland

Find out about more upcoming adoption information events

Adoption Process

There are a number of steps from when you first make contact with us, including your initial meeting with a social worker, background and medical checks, adoption training to prepare you for all aspects of becoming an adoptive parent, interviews, and lastly, adoption panel.

If you think you could offer a child a loving forever home through adoption, why not get in touch with us to find out more.

Call 0800 0720 137 or complete an online enquiry form