“Evan came to us when he was just a few days old. His parents’ mental health problems meant that they couldn’t look after him.
“Concurrent planning seemed like a lovely thing to do for a baby who’d had a difficult start in life. We took it one step at a time and thought, ‘we are taking care of Evan while his parents get help, if he doesn’t stay with us, we’ve given him a good start’.
“When we were told we were going to be able to adopt Evan, Coram supported us through the court process and told us all the way what was happening.
“There was one moment when Evan wasn’t sleeping and I was lying on the bed pretending to sleep to help him drift off. He reached out and touched my face and I thought, ‘I love this baby so much’.
“It was when we had the adoption order we started calling ourselves Mummy and Daddy, instead of our first names. From that moment all the walls came down really.
“Today, Evan has a very happy life. He has a music class, little gym and playgroups, and he is outgoing and friendly.
“There are risks, but for us they were worth it.”
Case studies are real but names are changed and models used to protect confidentiality