ARC Adoption North East is working with Adopt Coast to Coast to find a loving home for a four year old little girl and her six year old sister who has complex health and care needs.  The sisters share a special relationship and are currently living in foster care.

We are searching for a family who can offer the children a nurturing, permanent home together - with the love, care, patience and determination they will need to thrive. 

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Meet the sisters

The older of the sisters is a happy 6-year-old girl with brown hair and eyes. Her foster carers say that she has a smile that can light up a room. She has complex needs that means she is unable to speak or walk, but that doesn’t stop her showing enjoyment and affection with those around her. She makes her mood and choices known through facial expressions, eye gaze and vocalisations. Described as a very sociable little girl, she loves interaction and attention from her sister and foster carers, as well as friends at the special school she attends.

The younger sibling is four years old and is a friendly and chatty little girl with strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. Her foster carers describe her as very caring and affectionate too. She doesn’t like it when her sister is upset and has received stickers from nursery acknowledging her giving cuddles to friends when upset. She is quite a confident and inquisitive little girl who will talk freely about all sorts of things and her favourite word appears to be ‘why?’

Together the sisters love to lie on a big cushion together on the floor, listening to stories on their Tonies box. The older little girl thrives through sensory and messy play and enjoys music and watching TV. For a day out she enjoys a trip to the park or lying in her nest swing in the foster carers garden while her younger sibling plays nearby. She is known to cheekily wriggle to the edge of her swing so it tips, much to her foster family’s amusement. The younger sister also likes to be outside, playing and riding on her balance bike. When the weather is not very good, she likes to play with her dolls, read books and watch TV programmes such as Pepper Pig, Cocomelon and Hey Duggee.

Hear about life with the sisters from foster carers, Vera and Derek

Foster carers, Vera and Derek have been caring for the sisters for approximately 18 months now. In this video, they help us get to know the girls a lot better, and share lots of useful information relating to what life is like caring for them, and advice for potential adoptive families.

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Health and development

The eldest sister has a type of Cerebral Palsy which causes both stiffness and floppiness of her muscles, and she also has epilepsy which is managed through medication. She needs help with all of her care including being fed through a special tube into her tummy. 

The youngest sister is a sociable, happy and healthy little girl. On coming into foster care, she initially struggled to understand why she needed to be cared for by strangers, but she has since settled really well. Developmentally she is doing well too, after starting school last year, and has lots of friends.       

Do you have the qualities we are looking for in a family for the sisters?

Both sisters have experienced early life trauma and loss, and therefore are in need of a family that can give them a loving and nurturing home together.

A two-parent household is realistically needed to meet the care needs of both children, with space within the home to accommodate the girls, their belongings and the eldest siblings specialist equipment.

Parents for the girls will need to be fit and healthy, have a caring and understanding nature, as well as a resilient and determined character to advocate on the children's behalf. 

For more details of the health, development, and care needs relating to the girls , download their profile:

Foster carer, Vera, wants people to know that although there will be challenges, they can do it!

“We understand people may be nervous of supporting the health and care needs of a child with a disability, especially when she has a full-on younger sibling too, but we want people to know that if we can do it, they can do it. We had a wealth of knowledge of looking after able-bodied children but no experience of special needs. It’s been a learning curve, we’ve learnt a lot as we’ve gone along, and there’s been people along the way we’ve been able to ask for help and advice.”

Support available:

We'd like people to know that there is a wide range of support available to help support an adoptive placement for the girls, and our team will be able to talk you through this and answer questions.  A specialist support plan will be developed and led by Adopt Coast to Coast for this placement, as the agency with statutory responsibility adoption support. ARC Adoption has a dedicated in-house Therapeutic Adoption Support Service which supports all of our adoptive families with easy and quick access to in-house and external therapies, training, support groups and events. This support is available for life. Read more about ARC Adoption’s support service here.

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Find out more

If you think you could provide the sisters with the loving home and and care that they deserve, please complete our enquiry form and our team will be in touch to talk to you.