Adopted children help create agency’s first TV advert

North-west based adoption agency, Adoption Now, is set to run their very first television advert with the help of adopted children and families.

The advert, which will be aired in September on ITVx, aims to encourage more people to apply to adopt by highlighting family life, and the fun chaos and warmth that comes with the day-to-day caring of children. 

A group of children along with their adoptive parents took part in the special poem workshop, where they were asked what family means to them.  

They then wrote their ideas on luggage tags, which ranged from being nagged to tidy their bedrooms to having chippy teas and movie nights and decorated the ‘family tree’ with them. 

Colin Anderson, poet and adoptive parent ran the workshop with the children and pulled together their ideas to create a heart-felt poem.  

He said: "Adults can be creative but kids harness so much more power. They made it easy to put the poem together. It was an honour to work alongside them. As an adoptive parent myself, I hope the campaign is a roaring success!" 

The poem accompanies videography to depict the concept that a house becomes a home with family and that the home can be not only a hub for noise, mess and creativity but also laughter, safety and love. 

Around 100 children are currently waiting with Adoption Now for safe and loving homes. The children range from 0 – 8 years old and come from a variety of backgrounds, some have additional care needs and some need to be adopted with their brothers and sisters. 

Adoption Now is looking for parents from all walks of life to meet the needs of their children; whether that be single adopters or couples, people from a variety of backgrounds and heritages, first-time parents or those who already have children in the family and people that live locally as well as those that live a little further afield they want to hear from you. 

Katrina Williams, Head of Service at Adoption Now, said: “We are in an unprecedented time where the gap between the number of adopters and the number of children waiting for adoptive families is widening, which means our children are often waiting longer for their families.

"We want anyone with the space in their hearts and homes for a child to talk to us and find out more about adoption; don’t rule yourself out without a conversation as you may well be just the parent one of our children needs.

"We really hope that by trying new and creative ways of advertising we’ll reach more people who can consider adopting our amazing children and we’re so excited to see how our new TV advert does.” 

Anyone considering adopting can find out more about Adoption Now and the adoption process by visiting adoptionnow.org.uk or calling 01204 336096.