Tameside councillor on his adoptive parents

Tameside Council’s Deputy Executive Leader was given a fantastic start in life thanks to the love, support and stability provided by his adoptive parents.

Cllr Bill Fairfoull was placed with his adoptive parents at just ten weeks old, as his birth mother had come over from Ireland after falling pregnant.

Bill, who is supporting the Tameside Council-backed National Adoption Week, said: "Due to the attitudes towards single parents in the 60's, she felt she had no alternative but to offer me up for adoption. It was a very brave decision." 

Being adopted gave Bill stability throughout his childhood. It gave him a home where he received love and care which in turn created opportunities for him later on in life.

He said: “I have had an amazing childhood which was very happy. I couldn’t have asked for more from my adoptive parents.”

Despite being adopted from an early age, his adoptive parents always told him where he came from. In later years, he was given contact numbers to find his real family but decided against doing this, not knowing what he would discover.

However, he did find out more about his birth family more recently: "Almost five years ago I received a letter informing me that someone who possibly could be related wanted to get in touch.

"Following some brief counselling to establish whether this is the right thing for me to do, I found out that I had three half-sisters and a half-brother. Sadly I learned that my mother had died at 46 years old, when I was 25." 

Bill has spent his whole professional career as a civil servant working for the Ministry of Defence, where he now leads an audit team in Manchester city centre. Always interested in politics, he was elected to Tameside Council in 2010 and is now the Deputy Executive Leader with the responsibility for Children’s Services and Families.

In Tameside, there are currently over 700 looked after children and many of these can go from placement to placement.

Some of these young people can live in a variety of placements and would thrive in consistent and stable homes.

Bill said: “If you are thinking of adopting - you would be giving a child stability to regularise childhood, give them support as they make friends, advice as they form careers and finally enable them to make their own decisions at a time of their choosing so they in turn can go into adulthood and make a difference themselves.”

For more information about adoption in Tameside, contact Adoption Now on 01204 336096 or visit www.adoptionnow.org.uk.

Main image:

Cllr Bill Fairfoull and his sister, Sarah Fairfoull, at an Adoption Now stall in Ashton Library.