It’s World Adoption Day, and, as with many of these occasions, its immediate effect on my day-to-day life has been pretty low. I saw a couple of extra adoption related posts on social media, and that was about it.

And yet… Adoption, of course, affects every minute of my day-to-day life, every day. Adoption is a massive deal, both for my husband and I, and, of course, for our children.

Our two children came home to us three years ago, now: two beautiful little people, full of life, complexity, love and pain stepped through our door and changed our world for good.

Our day-to-day life as an adoptive family can be intense. Everything we do requires a level of thought and care as we seek to nurture our children and to help them with the challenges they experience as a result of their early trauma. “Normal” things like school or family trips out can hold extra levels of challenge for us as we negotiate anxiety, dysregulation and insecurity.

And yet… Adoption is so much more than its challenges. Adoption, to us, is a fierce sense of family, an all-encompassing love, a fighting spirit. Adoption is hope, in all its guises: desperate, determined, deep.

Adoption has pushed us to the furthest reaches of ourselves: we have been more tired, more stretched, more worried than ever before. But we have loved more, too, sacrificed more, and experienced greater joy.

In our family, we have experienced first hand the wisdom of the old adage “it takes a village to raise a child”. Through the whole adoption journey, the support of our friends and family has made all the difference and it means so much to know that the collective strength and love of a whole community is behind our children as they grow.

If you are thinking about adoption, I recommend getting in touch with Families for Children, who have been a fantastic, supportive agency for us.