St Andrew’s Children’s Society has become a proud signatory to the Scottish LGBTI+ Rainbow Mark. It's the first adoption and fostering agency in Scotland to make the commitment to the LGBTI+ community.

The Scottish LGBTI+ Rainbow Mark is an initiative to promote visibility and inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) people across Scotland.

Five organisations collaborated on the initiative: Dumfries & Galloway LGBT Plus; Equality Network; Four Pillars; Highland Pride and Somewhere.

The Rainbow Mark is built on 5 principles, created in consultation with LGBTI+ people in Scotland:

1. Increase positive LGBTI+ visibility
2. Provide information and tools to enable better LGBTI inclusion
3. Reduce isolation and minority stress for LGBTI+ people
4. Create more welcoming places in Scotland
5. Reflect a genuine desire to recognise and respect LGBTI+ diversity and inclusion across Scotland

St Andrew’s Children’s Society, which has offices in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, is delighted to display its Rainbow Mark in the entrance to both of its offices to let LBGTI+ people know that it is welcome and they're entering an inclusive space.

Stephen Small, CEO of St Andrew’s Children’s Society, said:

'Our experiences have shown us that there are many LGBTI+ people who can offer a loving home to a vulnerable child by becoming parents through adoption. Therefore, I would encourage anyone who thinks they could offer a child an adoptive home to contact us to have a chat.'

The adoption and fostering agency has worked hard in the past to make the LGBTI+ community feel welcome. It's a longstanding member of New Family Social as well as Somewhere, one of the organisations that collaborated on the Rainbow Mark. Moreover, during New Family Social’s LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week in 2019, it held its adoption and fostering information events in LGBTQ+ venues in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, which led to it being on the front cover of The Scotsman newspaper and appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour thus raising the profile of LGBTQ+ adoption and fostering across the UK.

The first family to be approved as adopters through its Aberdeen office after it opened in 2013 were a same-sex male couple.

Thomas Anderson, who adopted as a single gay man through the Edinburgh office in 2018 said:

'St Andrew’s Children’s Society are the reason I am a dad today. Without them I would not have my son and the life we have had together. They held my hand through the entire process and beyond. I knew I made the right choice with them as soon as I walked through their doors and will continue to advocate for them as the hard work and dedication they provide to creating forever families should be recognised.'

St Andrew’s Children’s Society is the oldest adoption agency still operating in Scotland. The adoption and fostering charity helps children, who have often had an extremely difficult start in life, to find safe and loving homes with adopters and foster carers. It is committed to offering the children lifelong support to help them deal with their trauma.

For more information on adopting or fostering as a member of the LGBTI+ community, please visit:

LGBTQ adoption stories - St Andrew's Children's Society

Submitted by St Andrew's Children's Society, which subscribes to New Family Social's services.