In this 15th episode of the podcast, Carrie and David Grant are joined by parents of 3, Kathryn and Adrian, to talk about their experiences of adopting children that face the greatest delays in finding a home.

Today also marks the launch of ‘A Life Less Ordinary’, a new campaign from You Can Adopt, to encourage the public to think differently about adoption and these children waiting longest to find a permanent home. These children include those aged five and over, children with additional and/or complex needs, and brother and sister groups. Children from minority ethnic backgrounds also tend to wait longer, though reasons for this are complex. These groups who wait longest represent 65% (1,220) of the 1,890 children currently waiting to be adopted in England. Sadly, these groups can wait much longer than average to be adopted: children with a disability typically wait 11 months longer in care compared to children without additional needs, and children over 5 tend to wait 13 months longer.

Carrie and David are vocal coaches and television presenters who have four children, all of whom have additional needs. Kathryn and Adrian have adopted 3 children, with each child having some form of additional needs. Having always known they wanted to adopt rather than go through IVF or other methods of growing a family, they felt they had the right skills to take on children with additional needs: their eldest has cerebral palsy and has recently completed university, and their other children have other challenges including a learning disorder, foetal alcohol syndrome and a partial deletion of Chromosme 10. Kathryn and Adrian are also in the process of adopting their 4th child who also has additional needs.

If you’ve ever considered adopting and want to find out more about the children who wait the longest, find out more at youcanadopt.co.uk/alifelessordinary