Volunteer families are needed to give homes to more than 850 children on a regional adoption waiting list.

A campaign working to encourage families to adopt will be in the city centre tomorrow aiming to reduce potential adopters’ anxieties about the process and quash myths about it.

The Being Family roadshow will be at the Kirkgate Shopping Centre throughout the day and is part of a major adoption campaign currently running across Yorkshire.

Sue Smith, of Bradford, adopted Alex 16 years ago when he was a baby.

“We already had a daughter after a third round of IVF but had always dreamt of having a big family.” she said.

“We knew we could offer a child a safe and loving home. I had friends who had adopted and their feedback was really positive so we decided to go for it.

“The process was comprehensive. After expressing an interest in adoption we were invited to attend a group meeting every Saturday. Here we talked about everything from birth parents to drug taking.

“It didn’t make for easy listening but it gave us the chance to meet other potential adopters.

“After the group meetings we were allocated a social worker who made lots of home visits to see where we lived and what we were like as parents.

“It was an incredible and life-changing journey. Alex is completely and totally part of the family, we couldn’t imagine life without him.”

In Bradford, 73 children are currently waiting to be adopted. Last year, 77 children from the district were matched with adopters, up from 63 matches the previous year and 54 in 2011.

Across the Yorkshire and Humber region there has been a rise year on year in the number of children who need new families.

Being Family is a new scheme being run by the Yorkshire and Humber Adoption Consortium and is supported by Yorkshire celebrity hairdresser Andrew Barton, who was adopted.

Manager at the Yorkshire and Humber Adoption Consortium Nic Haughton said: “We want to bust some of the myths about adoption, about age, marital status and income levels. We want people to think ‘Maybe I could do that’ rather than rule themselves out.

“We have over 850 children from the Yorkshire and Humber region waiting to be matched with approved adopters right now and the numbers are growing.”

For further information visit beingfamily.co.uk or call 0300 222 5934.