Annual Artistic Competition

Annual Artistic competition winner

Children and young people under the regional agency Together for Adoption have been expressing their views in creative ways as part of this year’s annual artistic competition, led by the adoption support team.

The children’s impressive entries, which can be viewed here below, could now offer a source of inspiration for anyone who might be considering adoption.

This year, the theme for the creative competition was, ‘My Family’.

Children and young people were invited to submit a drawing, painting, collage, poem, or short story, that they felt encapsulated their individual families.

Adoption support worker and competition judge, Liz Sherrif, said;
“We chose the theme because this is what we are about; creating forever families for children, and we wanted to see children’s perceptions of their own families.”

Although the competition was organised as a fun alternative to social gatherings during the pandemic, the entries also gave the adoption support team a unique insight into the thoughts and feelings of the children and young people who entered.

Lisa Dempsey is principal manager for the adoption support team in Together for Adoption and also had the difficult job of judging the competition.

She said; “The entries were all valuable for the team to read, and we do believe they could offer some very powerful messages for adults who are considering adoption, or for those who sometimes get lost in the day to day challenges of parenting.  

Sometimes adults forget to see things through the eyes of the child, and, when they do, there is often a positive household climate change.”

With over 15 entries, each of a high standard, choosing the winners was a challenging task.

Lisa said: “Every entry had a unique response to the theme, which made selecting winning entries very difficult for the panel.” 

Liz added; “It was so hard to choose the winners as all the entries were fabulous.

“I think the ones that won just had a slight edge over the other entries and touched us and wowed us with their creativity and their expression of what their families mean to them.”

The eventual winners in the different age categories have been announced and are Eden, 6, Nevaeh, 7, Bethany, 14, and Naomi, 15.

You can find out more about the support we have in place during the adoption process, post adoption, for birth parents and adopted adults by visiting our support pages.