How and when does your child/children wake you in the morning?
Both girls wake at 7am. On the dot. Without fail. Whichever one wakes first usually starts calling ‘daddy’ louder and louder until one of us goes in to them but sometimes they will amuse themselves by jumping up and down in their cots.
Why adoption?
Being a gay couple it was either adoption or surrogacy. There are so many children needing adoption we felt that surrogacy wasn’t for us.
From start of assessment to bringing your child home how long did the process take?
18 months from going to the open day to the girls arriving.
How could it be improved?
It could be better joined up around the country, with more consistency across agencies and more joint working to ensure that children do not wait in care unnecessarily.
What has been the biggest surprise?
How overcome with happiness (and tears) I can get when doing simple things like reading a story, or playing houses with the girls or watching them play with each other.
How was the assessment process?
Some of it felt necessarily long and there was a fair amount of duplication. The problem is that during the process one puts up with it as one wants to have a happy ending. Afterwards one is too busy with ones new family life to help change the system.
What’s your favourite thing to do together?
Singing songs together and cuddling.
What makes you and your family laugh?
Tickling each other and doing silly dances.
The best thing about being a parent?
Seeing a little personality develop.
The hardest thing about being a parent?
It’s relentlessness.
The piece of wisdom you would pass on to a child?
The world is your oyster.
What time do you go to bed?
I absolutely refuse to go to bed before 11pm, which generally means I am asleep on the sofa by about 10pm
