Carole
Arnold attended the Parish Communion service last Sunday 7th June and spoke as
a PACT Adopter Champion.
Carole
and her husband have 2 children; one birth child, one adopted child;
both of whom have Downs syndrome. Their son is 10 years old now but
was three and a half when they adopted Libby, who was then 12 months
old and is now six. Carole began work for PACT as an Adopter Champion
in November 2014. She is particularly keen to help more people
realise that they have the ability to parent a child with additional
needs. Carole says: “It is not about making everything rosy, but
about balancing the challenges with the wonderful rewards of everyday
life."
Carole
spoke in place of the sermon at the church service. The church had
advertised the service as having a focus on fostering and adoption
and had encouraged its church community to engage with the topic
in advance by viewing some online TV clips that Carole had sent.
(Example:
http://www.itv.com/lorraine/hot-topics/i-adopted-a-child-at-51
)
Carole's
talk, which was illustrated by photographs, was very well-received by
the congregation. It was informative, moving and inspiring. The talk
covered a range of things around her children, disability and
adoption as well as her journey to faith over the past few years.
It
was very interesting for church members to hear also from her
about the way her church at High Wycombe has responded and developed
its support for her and other families caring for children with
additional needs. In effect the talk was both about adopting and also
about parenting children with additional needs - so capturing the
interest of a wide range of people.
After
the service Carole stayed behind and over coffee in our adjoining
centre she had several useful conversations with individual church
members.
The Rector, Canon David Hodgson said: "We
were very pleased to host Carole and we are now thinking about what
the next steps are to sustain interest and develop our support as a
church for adoptive parents and for the work of PACT".
