Drug addicted mothers are fuelling an increase in the number of adoptions in Bermuda, The Royal Gazette has learned.

While local adoption had long been thought uncommon, the numbers have been growing steadily in recent years as more and more children must be taken from mothers unfit or unwilling to give up the drug lifestyle.

According to Child and Family Services records, 22 children were placed for adoption last year.

While many of these adoptions took place within families - with stepfathers adopting, for example - almost half saw children adopted outside their immediate families.

Child and Family Services director Glenda Edwards said most of those children were taken from drug addicted mothers and often the same women are losing multiple children. “Sometimes we are seeing several children come into our care, in that way, from the same mother,” Ms Edwards said. “We have had to go in and take every child.”

But even in cases where the biological parents are disinterested or negligent, the process by which the children are legally released from their parents' custody is a long and complicated one.

It can take several court appearances, over a period of years, before the child can be freed for adoption - particularly if any family members fight the process, The Royal Gazette was told.

Sadly, at the end, some children have aged past the preferential infancy period which most adopting parents are seeking in children. Ms Edwards said CFS currently has a number of boys between five and six years of age that they are unable to place to date because the bulk of adoptive parents are hoping to take the children into their homes from birth.

“Once the child goes beyond two or three years old, it becomes very difficult because they don't seem baby-like,” said Carolyne Webbe, a social worker who oversees local adoptions. “Adoptive parents want to see things like baby's first steps.”

And sadly, some children get trapped in the foster care system endlessly as relatives seem happier to leave them to linger in temporary homes or care rather than release them for adoption.

“It's a big problem because most people want a younger child,” Ms Edwards said. Yet relatives tend to hold on to the hope that biological parents will pull their lives together in order to provide for the child.

The Royal Gazette was told that relatives will turn up for court appearances in their “Sunday best” clothing to avoid relinquishing control of children but then walk away for years as the child languishes without a stable, loving home. Social workers are still hopeful, however, that families will step forward to offer homes to these five young boys in need of love and stability.

After long court battles to free the children for adoption, they believe the best future for the boys lies within a solid family unit.

Adoption is a challenge, social workers said, but the rewards can be greater than imaginable and they last a lifetime.

Tomorrow: A Bermudian couple adopts a child.