We adopted our boys through the Adoption Register and Be My Parent.
We found them on Be My Parent and at the same time we were linked
through Adoption Register. The boys are white, British.
The whole cultural thing hasn't been a huge issue for us. The boys have
really learned how to deal with their lives as being half
Singaporean and half English.
I became the stay at home dad.
We were told that one of us would have to stay at home for a year.
That turned into three years ago.
Since then I have started writing a blog, which has been great.
I've written a book, which has been great. I've been working with a guy called monkey.
This is monkey and monkey now talks to primary school children about
being adopted by a human family and also about having a sister who is
a zebra, or she will be.
It's about getting out there and about letting primary school children
know that families come in all shapes and sizes.
There are so many children sitting there waiting for families and
it's not about whether or not you want a family,
it's about whether or not you can create a loving home and a loving
bond between yourself and these two children. In our case two children.
I wouldn't change it. We have had a lot of difficulties.
We have had a lot of ups and we have had a lot of downs.
It sounds really cliché but we have had a roller coaster of a ride but
I wouldn't change anything. It's been amazing and
our two boys are incredible.
This whole award today is not about me, it's about family.
If you're looking to adopt, I would say to you "Go and see, go and find out."
It's not for everybody. It is difficult and people who choose to do it I think
are very brave. I would not have called myself brave. Now I do.
It's a lot of sacrifice but at the same time it is the most rewarding thing
you will ever do.
I'm Clare Grogan and I am an adoptive mum.
I adopted my little girl many many years ago,
almost nine years ago now and I am also now a patron
of BAAF which is an enormous privilege and an honour to be part
of such a great organisation.
After I adopted my daughter Ellie with my husband Stephen, BAAF got in touch
and said we think you would be a great person to speak about adoption and
I shied away for a very long time and then I became part of this
family and I realised I just would not have this family without adoption.
As corny as it sounds, I really wanted to show my support for it and actually
to share with other people what adoption meant and how your
dreams can be fulfilled. When I talk about adoption
I just always sound so ridiculous on many levels because
I'm not a soppy person. I wanted to be a mum more than
anything else in life and then it became the hardest thing
possible for me to do. Also my husband Stephen wanted to be a dad.
Then we managed to adopt this beautiful child and become a family.
It's really worth putting yourself out there for.
We have adopted for just over eight years. We have got a boy and a girl who
are now teenagers.
In terms of the experience. The experience has been
like everybody. I will use the phrase up and down.
It has been positive and very rewarding but at the same time very challenging.
It is considering what you are creating and what you are giving.
A lot of people might look for things like legacies and
that sort of thing something and what they can give to the
next-generation. What you are doing is you're giving somebody a chance,
help to develop and also the benefits that that brings back to you as well.
We started the adoption process in 1996 for our eldest child
who is now eight and then we decided we wanted to adopt a sibling
for her so we went through the process a couple of years ago
for her youngest sibling, not birth sibling but now obviously
she has got a sister.
We have two girls who we have adopted and they are our world basically.
I would like to put across the positive side of adoption and to let people
know that you can be a normal family and that adoption is an option.