Over this weekend many families will express how important their human relationships are, as they celebrate Mothering Sunday.

Many will arrange to meet up, or send cards and flowers, to say thank you to their mothers. Knowing where we have come from helps us to feel we belong and in what can be a very lonely world most of us need that reassurance.

But it is not an easy day for those whose much loved mothers have died recently, or for those who do not know their mothers, because they have been orphaned or adopted at an early age.

To foster or adopt is a wonderful gift, for which many give thanks, but there is usually that lingering thought about the mother who gave us birth, about the relationship that brought us into being. Many feel the need to find their real parents.

Just recently I met with an organisation that is committed to finding homes and families for children and young people, who for all sorts of reasons are in care and need to be adopted into a strong and stable and loving family unit.

The sadness is that there is a very real shortage today of people willing to adopt and provide that security, especially in the North West.

While it would not be right for many, maybe there will be some this weekend who might consider the challenge and opportunity of offering their home and love to someone without those privileges.

Adoption is not a simple or easy process, but when done thoroughly and carefully can be the means of much joy and happiness.

Bishop Julian