In 2018, my husband and I became one of the first married same-sex couples to adopt in Germany. We had moved from London back to Berlin three years earlier, hoping to achieve a work-life balance that would give me more time to write and allow us to start the family we had talked about for 12 years.While Berlin’s affordability and the generous welfare system of my husband’s home country make having a family easier, adoption is much more difficult.
There are fewer children, more prospective parents and tighter rules, including being married – which had been impossible for gay couples until 2017.This made the call, when it came one Wednesday afternoon, even more magical. “We have a little boy who needs a family,” the social worker said.