Foster children beat IVF attempts for couples

COUPLES who have exhausted overseas adoption and IVF attempts are turning to foster children to start their much-longed-for families.

COUPLES who have exhausted overseas adoption and IVF attempts are turning to foster children to start their much-longed-for families.

Few women offer their babies for adoption in Australia and adopting from overseas can be lengthy and expensive.

But more couples are now fostering children with the intent of adopting them.

Last year 56 children were adopted through the foster care program.

"Adoption offers stability and security, a sense of belonging, and opportunities for children to form attachments and help them reach their potential," Community Services Minister Pru Goward said.

Irene and David Barclay fostered Angus and Skye in 2008 when the twins were two years old and have now permanently adopted them.

"My husband and I were trying to have a baby for 10 years and we had started with IVF when I saw the Barnardos ad for foster parents," said Mrs Barclay, a 40-year-old nurse.

"I thought, why are we trying to have a baby through IVF when there are children out there who need our help?"

They spent several weekends visiting the twins before they came to live with them.

"We made them a little book of ourselves with photos and told them we were going to be their mum and dad.

"We were out for the day and when I returned them to their temporary foster carer, Skye said: 'Don't leave me Mummy' and I just cried," Mrs Barclay said.

Mr Barclay said the adoption had made them feel "complete". "We were the odd couple out with no children," he said. "But we have been able to help another family, offer the children a safe home and we love them to death.

"It's a wonderful option and we've found it easy to love children. To have someone say 'Happy Father's Day' just blew me away."

Barnardos' principal adoption officer Lynne Moggach said giving a child a permanent home was a wonderful gift.

"I've been at Barnardos for 26 years and what I see is that adoption gives children a sense of belonging, that the people looking after them are their parents, not their carers," she said.

"Children who are adopted know they are loved and part of a family."

Barnardos has 184 children in permanent placements who are eligible for adoption.

There are 11,813 children in out-of-home-care in NSW.

"We have from newborns up to 12 years old," Ms Moggach said.

"Their birth parents often have drug and alcohol problems, mental health issues, but they continue contact with the parents after placement because children still need a sense of identity, to know where they came from."