“On our first date, she just looked at me and my husband with such intensity and then broke into a smile and that was it… we all looked at each other and said ‘yeah this is our family,’” Rachel recalls beaming. .

We sit in her living room, surrounded by books and toys, while two-year-old Winnie plays happily with a social worker in the next room.

Rachel, who is 41, and her husband Lewis, who is a year older, married in 2019 and, like many couples, were hoping to start a family.

But when they encountered fertility problems, instead of opting for IVF, the couple decided to consider adoption.

“It’s always been on my radar, my mom was an adoption and adoption social worker,” Rachel explains.

“We thought there are kids who need a loving and stable family, so that’s what we can give them, so why not go down that path,” she says.

But the number of adopters in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Swindon has fallen by 28% in the past three years.

The shortage means some children, including those with additional needs, with siblings and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, are waiting longer to be adopted.

Adopt Thames Valley hopes more people will consider giving a child a loving home.

Rachel says the adoption process required about four months of background checks before they were assigned a social worker who met with them once a week for several months to talk about a range of things from education and family history, to parenting styles.

Rachel is of dual heritage – her mother is West African and her father is white British – and her husband, Lewis, is white.

“We were very keen to adopt a black or mixed-heritage child to fit our identities, but we also know from all the reading and research that these children wait longer in the system, so we were really willing to embrace that,” she. say.

Rachel, who is a health worker, and Lewis, who works in insurance, were initially given details of the children in foster care by their social worker to see if they wanted to continue.

But another way to be matched with a child is through a website called Link Maker, which displays profiles of children seeking adoption in the UK.

That’s how they found Winnie.

“I think she was the first kid I looked at and had an instant connection with her profile.

“There wasn’t much to it, just a little line that said ‘she’s a fighter’ and it just grabbed me,” says Rachel.

She says the process of adopting Winnie went smoothly and she had a lot of support from social workers and Winnie’s adoptive family.

It took about 18 months from signing up to be adopters to bringing Winnie home last July.

She describes her daughter, who turns three in December, as “a ball of energy” who loves singing, dancing and gymnastics.

“It’s been exciting, scary, frustrating at times, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, she’s my world and my heart.”

The cost of living crisis may be part of the reason for the decline in adopters nationally.

Teresa Rogers, who is head of adoption services at Oxfordshire County Council, says she sees the impact of this as it takes longer to place some children.

And across the border in Berkshire, Archie is one of 30 children waiting to be adopted.

He turns three in January and was placed with foster carers Nancy and Martin when he was two months old.

Nancy says he is a regular little boy who likes to run and climb and describes him as bright and determined.

Archie is developmentally delayed, which means it takes him a little longer to reach milestones like walking and talking.

And Nancy says she would love to see Archie settled into his forever home: “I think he’s someone who has time and patience because everything takes a little longer to learn and do.”

She added: “He’s a pleasure to have, he’s very happy, very content, very loving.”

Oxfordshire County Council and its regional adoption agency, Adopt Thames Valley, try to find homes for around 50-60 children a year – which will include babies as well as older children.

Ms Rogers says the aim is to place children within six months, but admits it could take up to a year and a half.

She tells me that anyone from any background can ask about adoption and that specialist training is available.

“Adopted children, like all children, need a loving family and a family in which to grow, develop and flourish.

“But they also have a different experience before they are adopted … they have different life experiences and it takes time for them to form attachments to a new family, so they need careful parenting.

“They need a lot of patience and time to settle into a new family and develop those new relationships,” she adds.