Adopting two young children with brain damage was a gamble which paid off, according to Mike and Doreen Coleman. They already had three daughters and had fostered many children.

But, with the arrival of Abbie and Ben they felt their family was complete It hasn't been easy - that is the first thing the Colemans will tell you - but it has been worthwhile.

Adopting Ben, four, and Abbie, three, has enriched their lives further, according to Mike and Doreen, who live in Exwick. And although their neighbours, friends and family think they are mad, the couple say they are just a normal family. With three birth daughters - Nicola, 14, Katie, 17 and Leanne, 20 - the Colemans did not feel they were lacking, but knew they had more love to give. And so their journey from foster parents to adoptive parents began in 1993.

Doreen said: "When our youngest started school, I thought about fostering, but at first I didn't dare mention it to Mike. Then we talked about it and went for it."

After seven months of preparation with social workers, their first foster child, George, two, arrived in 1993. The couple remember feeling like a whirlwind had hit.

Like many of the other children who joined the Coleman household, George was only with them for a short time. Mike said: "Sometimes a parent has been arrested or the child has been left alone or the parent just can't cope and needs a break but there is no one else to look after the children." That is when he and Doreen step in, often at very short notice.

Part of the vetting and assessment process involves birth children as well Doreen added: "It is really important to involve your own kids as much as possible because they are fostering as well, in a way. We all really enjoyed fostering."

When they began, no one in the family had any experience of children with disabilities. "We took in seven foster children over a very short term, between March and June, then we had a child with brain damage," said Doreen. "He came to us and within a matter of hours we knew something was wrong. He was three months old and we took him to hospital. "It was suspected meningitis but he turned out to have mild cerebral palsy." While they were at the hospital Mike and Doreen met 13-week-old John, who was also in need of care. And 10 days later they were asked if they would foster him.

He stayed with the family for two years and Mike said: "Over that period we learnt a lot. "Doreen in particular was the main carer because I was working."

Doreen also began to help out at Honeylands, the centre for children with special needs on Pinhoe Road, Exeter. John went on to be adopted by another family. When he left they were heartbroken, but Doreen added: "You do get attached when you are caring for them, but at the end of the day they are not your children. "The thing that helped us was to get stuck in with more fostering. "After John we were approved for three children and put on the out-of-hours list, so you get called at all sorts of times."

After a few hectic years with children coming and going, the couple decided they wanted something more stable. "We wanted to give the children our name and something permanent," said Doreen. Adoption UK is a magazine which profiles children looking for a new family, and it was there that the Colemans found Ben. Doreen said: "Because we had enjoyed caring for children with special needs none of us was frightened. "We thought we would like to help a child and there is more call for children with disabilities because they are harder to place. "We had the experience and really wanted to do it."

Ben was 19 months old when he first entered their home in Burrator Road, Exwick. He had sustained injuries as a baby when shaken and as a result suffered brain damage. He is now quadriplegic, blind with cerebral palsy and has a condition where the brain doesn't grow at the normal rate. Doreen said: "Now he is a delightful sunny little boy who loves music and activities and joining in with other children." Abbie arrived in March 2000 soon after Mike was made redundant from an insurance broker's and decided to be a full-time carer.

Like Ben, Abbie wasn't born with brain damage but had a severe case of meningitis when she was seven years old. She is now deaf, blind, with cerebral palsy and is profoundly disabled. Mike added: "These children have taught us so much. I enjoy caring for them and feel my time is better spent trying to help them than working for somebody else." Doreen said: "They have enriched our lives and we don't take anything for granted any more. "We take a lot of pleasure in the simple things and our expectations in life aren't the same as other people's. "It was a big gamble and sometimes it is hard work being together 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but it has worked out really well for us all."

Used courtesy of the Express & Echo Story filed: 00:06 Monday 30th July 2001