Sophia and Peter

We're Peter and Sophia. We got married in 1992 and decided to start trying for a baby. After two years of failing to conceive we went to see our GP and tests indicated that it was unlikely that we would conceive naturally. We discussed IVF but decided not to pursue it; I didn't feel the need to be pregnant or have my own children at the time.

At the end of 2003 we took an 8 week sabbatical from work. For the first time ever we spent a substantial amount of time on our own which gave us the opportunity to talk about our hopes and plans for the future. It was at this time we recognised that something was missing from our lives and we started to talk about how much we both wanted to be parents. By Christmas 2005 we had decided that adoption was for us.

We both felt that we didn't need to parent a baby, but wanted relatively young children and to have the responsibility for a child's development and care. After much discussion, we eventually decided that we wanted to adopt a sibling group of two or three children aged from 4 - 8 years.

We were really enthusiastic about attending preparation groups and felt that we learned a lot from them. We found the home study really positive too and after our assessing worker left, we found ourselves talking about the issues she raised long into the night. We were eventually approved as adopters for Salford in May 2007.

As we lived in Salford, the family placement team looked for children from outside Salford with their partner agencies in Adoption 22. We were matched with Maria (5) and Danny (4) in February 2008. The children moved to live with us in April 2008 and were formally adopted in October 2008.

We both feel that our experience of adopting with Salford has been very positive. We have established excellent relationships with all members of the adoption team and have become regular contributors to the ongoing training of prospective adopters.

The children are our rays of sunshine and they are a joy to have. Adopting them has completed our lives.

This page was last updated on 7 March 2011