A Liverpool couple who got engaged at the city's Pride event adopted their first child together.
Emma and Ann Miller-McCaffrey are the proud parents of three-year-old daughter D.
The couple, who got engaged in front of a packed crowd at Liverpool Pride, adopted D when she was 18-months-old, just five days after initially meeting her.
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Ann, 53, who is originally from Speke, fell in love instantly with D - but Emma’s bond didn’t blossom at the same pace.
The 53-year-old warrant officer for the Royal Navy Reserves, said: “I am not one for showing or talking about my feelings, but when we first met her, I walked in and within 10 minutes I was bowled over and totally in love. She was so small and so attentive, I fell for her straight away.”
Emma, who has always envisaged herself being a parent and a mum, didn’t have an instant connection.
The 38-year-old community engagement manager said: “I knew I had to care and fulfil the needs for this small person who was in my home, but I fell in love with D in the same way that I fell in love with Ann, we needed to form a relationship and a bond and get to know each other. Now, she is my number one.”
Adjusting to parenthood can be hard at the best of times, but Emma and Ann were thrown in the deep end during the pandemic, a time when they couldn’t reach out for “face to face help or create bonds with other parents.”
Emma, a volunteer for AUK, an adoption charity, added: “In some ways it was something we really wanted as quickly as possible but then when it did happen and the day we were left in our own house with our daughter for the first time we both looked at each other and went ‘oh my god we actually have to care for this little one.' The responsibility hit us overnight, it was a whirlwind.”
The couple knew they wanted to become parents for some time but were unsure of the route to take. After three rounds of unsuccessful IVF and a miscarriage, they decided to research alternative routes.
Eventually, they settled on adopting through SSAFA, a service tailor-made for members of the armed forces, as the company would understand the military lifestyle Ann lived.
Emma said: "I can say 1000% [adoption] has changed our lives and 10,000% our lives are now better. I have vague memories of what our lives used to be like without her, with lie-ins on a Sunday morning and doing chilled stuff.
"But now, I wouldn’t change it for the world. She is the most incredible little warrior girl I have ever met and I am super proud that it is me she calls mummy.”
This week acts as LGBT+ Adoption and Fostering week and Adoption in Merseyside (AiM) are encouraging people from all walks of life to think about starting their adoption journey.
One in six adoptions in England were to a same sex couple like Emma and Ann.
AiM, the regional adoption agency for Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton and Wirral, are keen to welcome people to apply regardless if they are single, renting accommodation or already have children.
They said: "If you can offer the space in your heart and your home, the chances are you could adopt."
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