MORE people are being urged to think about adopting children at an event due to be held in York today.

The Being Family pop-up roadshow is being held at the York Designer Outlet from 10am to 8pm, where people will be abe to talk to experts and pick up information.

There is a drive to find more adoptive parents as there are currently more than 850 children from the Yorkshire and Humber region waiting to be matched with approved adopters, and the numbers are growing.

Nationally, it is a similar picture with the Department of Education (DfE) reporting there are approximately 6,600 children awaiting adoption and only 1,800 approved adopters waiting for a child.

Nic Haughton, manager at the Yorkshire & Humber Adoption Consortium, which is leading the campaign, said: “The aim of Being Family is to encourage more potential adopters across Yorkshire and Humber to come forward and think about adoption.

“We want to bust some of the myths about adoption, about age, marital status and income levels. We want people to think ‘maybe I could do that’ rather than rule themselves out.”

If you want to adopt, you must be over 21, have an open mind, flexibility and with space, time and love to give, and a wish to positively transform a child’s life.

But despite certain myths, you don’t have to be a homeowner or in full-time employment, you can be any age over 21 and you might be married, single, in a couple, gay or from any ethnic background. Disability is not necessarily an obstacle to adopting and while you don’t have to be a parent already, having children already is not an obstacle either, the Yorkshire & Humber Adoption Consortium said.

Among those to attend the event today will be Dawn Jones, 50, from York who adopted her daughter, now 15, when she was a 43-year-old single woman.

For more information, visit www.beingfamily.co.uk