It is a picture of relaxed companionship that could have been taken at any large family gathering. But take a closer look and you’ll see that this heart-warming scene is no ordinary family portrait.
For nine of the children have the chromosomal disorder Down’s syndrome – and all of them have been selflessly adopted by one extended family, the Patterson clan.
Braving insulting stares, hurtful criticism and a never-ending timetable of hard work, the family have devoted their lives to providing a loving home to some of the most vulnerable people in Britain.
The photograph shows James, 32, Alice, 28, Molly, 26, and Riley, ten, who were all adopted by retired nurse Pam Patterson and her husband Gerald, a former police officer, and made a part of their rumbustious household in Birmingham.
Left to right: George Bull, 3 , James Patterson, 32, Jenny Bull, 33, Gerald Patterson, 62, Isabel Bull, 6, Alice Patterson, 28, Pam Patterson, 60, David Bull, 35, Riley Patterson, 10, Molly Patterson, 26, Leigh Bull, 61, Matthew Bull, 23, Timothy Bull 28, Roger Bull, 65, Tomas Bull, 3
Added to the remarkable group are David, 35, and Timothy, 28, who were adopted by Pam’s brother Roger Bull and his wife Leigh, who also foster four-year-old Marie.
Meanwhile, Roger’s daughter, Jenny, 33, adopted six-year-old Isabel and more recently three-year-olds twins, George and Tomas. And his youngest son, Matthew, 23, is also a part-time carer for his two brothers.
The experience of adopting, the Pattersons say, has enriched their lives. But, they admit, it hasn’t always been easy. While Pam and Gerald’s friends are playing golf and heading off on luxury holidays in their retirement, the couple still need to organise a babysitter when they want to go out.
More cruelly, the family have had to face insulting comments from passers-by, from doctors and even from their own relatives, one of whom asked why they were ruining their lives and the lives of their biological children.
Their answer is simple, as they make clear today in an uplifting interview with The Mail on Sunday: they wished to care for children who might otherwise have languished in the care system.
One of the most common genetic abnormalities, Down’s is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome, most commonly a chance occurrence at the time of conception. As well as the familiar facial features, those with Down’s syndrome – one child in 1,000 born in the UK has the condition – often have varying degrees of physical and mental disabilities.
With the help of modern medicine, they can live to the age of 50 to 60, often meaning that they need a lifetime of care.
Yet Pam and Gerald’s family insist they can neither understand the fuss people make about the condition, nor the praise people heap on them for doing what they describe as ‘no big deal’.
Pam and Gerald already had two biological children, Emma, then six, and Chris, then two, when in 1985 they adopted James, their first Down’s child. He was just seven months old.
They were fully aware of the task ahead of them. Pam and Gerald had spent much of the 1970s volunteering at the Gateway Club in Birmingham, which caters for children with special needs. Even so, the decision to adopt a disabled child left some friends and family reeling.
‘One family member asked why we were ruining our lives,’ Pam, 60, reflects. ‘They felt we’d ruined our biological children’s lives, too. Some of our friends, whose lives had never been touched by special needs, couldn’t understand why we’d done it either. But we chose to adopt knowing that what we were taking on we were taking on for ever – and my older two had no problem.’
Pam has long held a special affection for Down’s children. ‘At school I helped at a special school instead of doing sport, which I hated,’ she smiles. ‘It’s so rewarding. You get what you put in. They achieve because you put in the effort.’
Today, James has very little speech but, according to his mother, has a sunny disposition and lives in the moment. ‘We could all learn a lot from him,’ she reflects, no doubt referring to the many critics she has faced down over the years. Pam recalls the time a GP raised needless concerns about her daughter Alice, whom she adopted at 12 weeks old in 1989. ‘I’d taken her to the doctor while we were on holiday in Cornwall,’ says Pam. ‘He asked if we knew she had Down’s and then said, “Do you realise what you’ve taken on?” He was really rude.
‘I told him I’d come for an ear infection, not a moral discussion. They’re my children and you’d fight to the death for them.’
Today, Alice is a gold medal-winning gymnast representing Great Britain all over Europe with the British disabled display team.
Molly, whom she adopted at the age of three in 1996, was a bigger challenge. Visually impaired, she had never been to playgroup and she wasn’t walking. ‘She screamed and pulled hair. Yet today she has the most fantastic body language.’
Then, In 2012, the couple agreed to take Riley. While her own children were always supportive of their adopted siblings, they were initially reticent about the three-year-old who was oxygen-dependent, had heart problems and was on a lot of drugs. Pam says: ‘The agency had been looking for a family who could take on a child with Down’s syndrome but who could also deal with the fact he might not make it. We were older but we thought it wouldn’t matter. We were at home anyway so we might as well be at home with one more.’
Today, Riley’s progress is nothing short of miraculous. His heart has been repaired and he’s expected to live well past his teens.
‘There aren’t many people who would adopt a child with special needs but it’s so rewarding,’ says Pam’s niece, Jenny Bull, a paediatric nurse. ‘In fact, I’d rather have a child with Down’s. I’ve grown up with them and never knew any different. Down’s is my normal.’
She says her adopted daughter Isabel needed nothing more than patience. ‘She didn’t sit up until she was 11 months old and didn’t walk until she was two-and-a-half years old,’ she says. ‘But it wasn’t an issue. I knew she would get there.’
When the little girl was three, Jenny adopted identical twin boys, Tomas and George. ‘They aren’t verbal but they’re two little monkeys,’ she says. ‘I do get more stares when I’m out with all three of them, but I just ignore that.’
If the joy has been considerable, so has the sacrifice. Says Pam: ‘We knew we wouldn’t have a retirement like our friends are having. They go off on holiday, they sit and read the papers. They play golf. We have to arrange a babysitter for nights out. That’s how we roll; it’s our lives. I don’t understand how people find it odd. But it’s not odd to us.’
Indeed, simply finding enough money for their brood has been hard and she says that the children must rely on disability living benefits.
In addition, Pam sometimes worries about what will happen to her children when, eventually, she and Gerald die. Some adults with Down’s syndrome can live alone but Pam hopes her adopted children will continue to live in their family home with carers. She neither expects nor wants her biological children to move in and care for them. ‘They have partners and children of their own. I wouldn’t want them to take them on. It was our choice.’
But until then she and Gerald will continue to care for their adopted children and who knows, maybe even adopt another?
‘I’d adopt another one tomorrow but, now I’m older, I can’t give them the commitment they need,’ she says. ‘Look, to us, it’s not out of the ordinary. We’re not saints, we’re not perfect. It’s just our lives and what we have chosen to do and we wouldn’t change it for the world.’