Former popstar Sinitta tells us how adoption has given her the perfect family.

Monday 9th November marks the start of the British Adoption and Fostering Agency’s National Adoption Week.

Mo O’Reilly, the BAAFA’s Director of Child Placement, is keen to encourage more potential parents to adopt children, particularly those children who wait the longest and are often overlooked.

The BAAF's Adoption Week campaign aims to promote adoption as a way of turning around the lives of even the most disadvantaged child.

There are approximately 4,000 children waiting for adoption in the UK, and about 25% of those never find a family to adopt them.

People interested in adopting should be aware that there is ongoing help for adoptive parents in the form of independent advice, counselling and support.

One of the purposes of National Adoption Week is to highlight the 'adoption gap' - that is the gap between the types of children people want to adopt and the types of children waiting.

Often people want to adopt a baby, but adoption agencies need people who are willing to consider adopting older children, sibling groups and disabled children.

Sinitta adopted two young children, Zac, now 2, and Magdalena, now 3, in March 2007 after she was unable to conceive naturallySinitta started the adoption process after a surrogate mother miscarried for the second time in June 2006.

Today, Sinitta says she can’t imagine a life without her children. She says: "I laugh properly - big-bellied laughs every single day because they're hilarious. They're gorgeous. I love to hear them calling out for me, even if it is just to sort out a squabble … it feels as if I have finally got the family I have dreamt of for so many years."

Adoption facts

• You must be over 21.
• When you adopt, you take on all legal rights and responsibilities for the child. It is a lifelong commitment and, like all parenting, means sticking with it through both good and hard times.
• Children are matched to the right family, taking into account the child's emotional, health and development needs. Adoption agencies also find children do best in a family that reflects their ethnic identity as closely as possible, they therefore welcome a wide range of people with different backgrounds and experiences.
• If you have a record for an offence or a caution, you must be honest with your adoption agency, even if this happened many years ago.
• People with certain types of criminal records cannot adopt (convictions against children or certain sexual offences against adults)

Adoption myths

The myths surrounding adoption deter many potential adopters. Here are some of them:

• Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to own your home, have a job or be under 40.
• You don't have to be married either, or in a relationship, or heterosexual.
• You don't have to be a parent already or qualified in any specific way.
• A disability is not necessarily an obstacle to adopting.