Dad of adopted children who became a mentor for would-be-adopters nominated for prestigious national award

A father and husband from our region has said he feels “humbled” to have been nominated for a prestigious national award.

Local man Andi has been nominated for two National Diversity Awards in the Positive Role Model categories of Disability and LGBTQ+.

The annual awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding efforts that charities, role models and community heroes make to enhance equality, diversity and inclusion.

Andi, who has been married to husband Darren for ten years, told the Peterborough Telegraph he was “very humbled to have been nominated.”

“I know that people I’ve helped on their journey to getting support for their SEN children, or [helped by] creating their families via adoption, have said ‘we’ve nominated you for this’ - and it just means the world to me.”

Andi and Darren are proud fathers to two adopted children: a three year-old son, and a six-year-old daughter who has an autism diagnosis.

The couple were, on the whole, impressed with the professionalism and swiftness of the nine-month adoption process during their first adoption, despite finding it a little “intrusive” and challenging” at times.

“The social workers and the professionals were great,” Andi said.

However, it was the feedback and insight given by couples who were further along the process which resonated most with Andi and Darren.

“Getting that real-life experience from other adopters was just so invaluable and inspirational,” Andi shared, “And that’s inspired me to want to do that to inspire other people.”

This drive to help others, especially same sex couples, saw Andi set up a popular Instagram account, Dadda and Daddy, and produce (and co-host) a podcast called My Two Dads The Adoption Podcast, along with another set of adopters whom Andi mentored.

Both of the ventures have been warmly received by would-be-adopters, developing a loyal and ever-increasing fan base.

‘A lot of our systems need reviewing’

As a gay man and father to a child with Special Educational Needs (SEN), Andi is understandably passionate about Disability and LGBTQ+ advocacy.

Indeed, the dedicated dad resigned from full-time work in 2020 in order to accommodate an ever-increasing workload of advocacy initiatives around his parenting and adoption mentoring roles.

One of his most pressing concerns is the challenges that parents – same sex and mixed – typically encounter when trying to access suitable support for their SEN child.

This is something he and Darren have intimate experience of.

“There’s been a massive waiting list,” Andi notes, “And even to get onto the waiting list has been a battle.”

“Every step of the way we’ve had to fight.”

Andi speculates that a lack of funding, coupled with a general ignorance of contemporary needs, seem to be to blame.

“A lot of our systems need reviewing,” he observed, adding; “they’re just not fit for purpose for the generation we have now.”

Andi’s frustration is visceral

“I feel that so much time is wasted for these children - they haven’t got time to sit on a waiting list,” he notes.

“They need these support services now because time is precious in these little lives.”

The impassioned father’s desire to help improve access to SEN support has seen him join a cross-party political research project run by Northants MP, Andrea Leadsom.

In addition, Andi has also recently become a Charity Champion for the Anna Kennedy Online charity, and is part of the core team for a pilot project called Autism Allotments.

And if that doesn’t keep him busy enough, the industrious papa is also a regular on the BBC’s Tiny Happy People channel.

And there is, of course, the small matter of parenting.

While fully acknowledging that “a bit more sleep would be nice,” Andi is a supremely happy to say he’s a fully-paid up member of the ultra-proud father’s club:

“It is the most rewarding thing we have ever done as a couple,” he shares, gleefully.

“Love really does make a family.”