About the children

Helen and Jack are brother and sister who are 3 and 4 years old and who needed to be adopted together. They were cared for by their foster carer for 2 years.

Helen is described as a fun loving and caring little girl, who loves playing with friends at nursery. She has an infectious laugh and is very chatty. Her open personality can sometimes lead her to have poor stranger danger awareness and her foster carer needed to give little reminders not to talk to unfamiliar people.

Jack is a very sociable and affectionate little boy who loves to chat with other children and adults. He is a typical toddler who likes to play with his older sister.  

Both children benefited from good routines and stability and have made huge progress when they were in foster care. The children share a room and sleep soundly through the night.

While at home with their parents, Helen was exposed to drugs, alcohol and scenes of domestic violence and suffered physical injuries as a result. Shortly after Jack was born, he was admitted to hospital for investigations of an unexplained injury and sometime later was diagnosed with a lung disorder. Both parents have a diagnosis of ADHD.

The children needed a two-parent adoptive family who werer able to nurture then and meet their different needs. In addition, Jack needed adoptive parents able to parent a child  affected by a diagnosed lung disorder and needing regular medication and physio.  Because of their age, it was in Helen and Jack's best interests to maintain a level of contact with their birth mother as they grow up. Their adoptive parents needed to be open to helping the children manage any contact if it remains a positive aspect of their lives.

*Helen and Jack's story* is loosely based on real life situations of children needing adopted.