To celebrate the launch of our brand new Daddy and Dad website, our youngest son Richard (age 7½) has written a beautiful abridged account of our family's introductions and produced a fantastic illustration. Please leave lovely comments of encouragement - We'll share your comments with him! Enjoy x The day I met my family Once upon a time me and my brother were waiting with our foster parents then one glorious day I was sitting in the toy room playing with my toys and then su

Arriving half an hour early, we parked the car in a lay-by just around the corner from Lyall and Richard’s foster home. It was a sunny Spring morning and a charming suburb of the city; large bay-fronted houses with pretty front gardens and long driveways lined with daffodils. We’d been to the foster home many times before so we knew their house and foster parents well; a warm, affectionate couple – they’d provided the boys’ first real loving home. But until now, we hadn’t met

Broadcasting to you live from PlayHard soft play, the town’s largest (and most horrendous) but cheapest play centre. Whilst peaceful and unoccupied on a term time afternoon, today PlayHard soft play is for some reason over-run by feral boys who are far too old, in my opinion, to be running up and down the enormous slide, and anyway, why on earth are they not in school? They all appear to belong to that woman over there who’s counting her cigarettes. Oh my God I’ve become one

This is our new family – from left to right in this marvellous illustration; Lyall, Daddy, Dad and Richard. I’m Daddy, although unlike our family portrait down there, I no longer sport a head of beautiful blonde hair. Richard’s pictures of me always feature an elaborate yellow hair do. Lyall’s 5, Richard’s 4. As you’d hope, on the way to adoption, a budding soon-to-be parent is vigorously prepared, trained and then probed until every closet’s skeleton has proverbially popped