A NEW initiative to encourage families to look into fostering or adoption is taking place in North Yorkshire.

The Hope for 800 event has been organised by a group of six adopters and fosterers and is named after the 800 children in Yorkshire and Humberside currently needing adoptive families.

It is also aimed at people who feel they can support a family offering adoption, usually through a church community, even if they don’t wish to offer adoption directly themselves.

It will take place in York on Monday, June 23 at 7.30pm at the De Grey Court Lecture Theatre, York St John University, in York and will be opened at 7.30pm by Fr Terence Richardson, Prior of Ampleforth Abbey.

The main speaker will be Krish Kandiah, director, founder and author of ‘Home for Good’. At the end of the evening the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will initiate a horizontal balloon release in front of York Minster, giving out balloons to the waiting crowd to take home and use to pray for the waiting children.

Hope for 800 is strongly supported by ‘Being Family’, the Adopter Recruitment Campaign for the Yorkshire and Humber region, and ‘One Voice’, who will be present.