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Cathy and Richard, both 34, are hoping to adopt a sibling for their daughter Rachel, who was conceived after fertility treatment. After five years of trying unsuccessfully for a second child, they've decided to adopt. They think they want a toddler, but have enrolled on a project designed to encourage them to consider adopting older children who - unlike the little cute toddlers - sometimes struggle to find homes.
David Akinsanya arranges for Cathy and Richard to spend some time with siblings to find out if they could cope as a family of five. They decide they could adopt more than one child after all, but their social worker has concerns about whether their daughter Rachel could cope with a new adopted child in the family. Eventually, the family are matched with a child with a possible disability. David sets out to help the couple decide whether or not they could cope with the needs of a disabled child.
Rachel, 35, doesn't have a partner but would like to become a mum - she has signed up with an adoption agency and thinks she wants to adopt a single boy or girl. She has also enrolled on a project designed to encourage adopters like her to choose the children other adopters tend to shy away from.
When David Akinsanya discovers Rachel would consider adopting children aged over four, he's keen to encourage her to choose one of the many older boys stuck in the care system who are often overlooked by other adopters. He arranges for Rachel to spend a weekend looking after a seven-year-old boy. Although the experience is challenging for Rachel, it gives her a helpful first taste of parenting. But, when the authorities come to decide whether she can adopt any child at all, fears about her self-confidence threaten to derail the whole process.
Same-sex couple, John, 56, and Anthony, 38, want to become parents, and have decided that adoption is the way for them. Like the majority of adopters, they would like to adopt a baby, but have enrolled on a project designed to get them to consider adopting other kinds of children.
When project leader David Akinsanya realises that they might consider children with disabilities, he challenges them to care for a child for a weekend - a child with similar needs to the many kids in care who struggle to find homes. John and Anthony say they are open to most of the challenges of adopting, but how will any child fit into their busy lives when they both work full-time and have 10 horses to look after?
