DURING the long car drive to meet our foster daughter, we didn’t talk, we both had so many different emotions going through our heads we were in our own worlds.

It had been 18 months of waiting and we were finally getting to meet our daughter Andrea.

At that point, my partner Fay and I had been together for eight years and we had spoken about wanting a family together from the start.

Fay had worked with disabled children previously and had an idea she wanted to foster a child with special needs.

There are so many children who are in need of families and children in need of care that it just seemed right for both of us.

The process of panels and meetings to discuss fostering and adapting our house all were in preparation for the new addition to our family and we were so excited for her to arrive.

Arriving at the house, where Andrea had lived with her temporary foster parents from birth, we were welcomed in and introduced to Andrea, then two, as her “forever family”.

I remember it hitting me that it was our little girl. Her thick blonde hair was what stuck in my mind when the hour was up and it was our time to say goodbye.

It was difficult not being able to take Andrea home with us, but it was important in those two weeks for her to gradually get to know us and for us to learn more about her care.

First we saw her for an hour and then two and then three and then overnight to see her night-time routine.

Andrea has cerebral palsy and at that time she couldn’t walk, was fed through a tube and had to have physiotherapy on her chest to help clear it and be moved two or three times in the night.

After the two weeks were up, we could take Andrea to her new home.

We had decorated her bedroom in preparation and Andrea brought all of her toys with her – of which there was an old toy dog which she still insists on taking to bed each night.

We quickly became a family and all settled into our new lives.

Despite being told she would never speak, Andrea can now say whole sentences. If she was in the room now, she would say: “I want Sponge Bob Square Pants on”. She knows her own mind.

She also does sign language, but she is so motivated to learn to speak. We encourage her with puppets – she has about 100 – and her first word was “puppet” aged five and a half.

We get up at 6.30am to 6.45am and at about 7.45am, we give Andrea a full wash, taking special care of the tube in her stomach.

Then we help brush her teeth and get her dressed. We try to keep everything appropriate for a young girl and like to include her in things, like brushing her hair and asking what she is going to wear.

I was prepared for being a mother and a carer for a child, but I had not anticipated the amount of love and joy I would get back from Andrea.

She cannot walk on her own because her limbs are too weak, but if we support her, she can walk and she can move herself indoors. She still has to be fed through a tube, but she does have the odd taste of food and she no longer needs physiotherapy for her chest.

We know her so well now, she loves swimming more than anything and puppets, but she is not so keen on jigsaws.

Her illness is secondary now. It’s ourselves as a family that we focus on and have fun. Andrea is now seven and a half and she has a zest for life. She goes to clubs, cinema, theatre and swimming.

Two of our friends confided in us last year they had been adopted. Neither had good experiences and they said the main thing was not knowing about their past – that’s why we have made it a priority.

We can’t judge Andrea’s biological parents and their decisions, all we can do is keep the lines of communication between Andrea and her siblings open so she has a connection to her past.

We have “letter box” communication with her siblings and we show her letters from them. It is important for her to have that connection – imagine if you didn’t know where you had come from.

Faye and I have always been incredibly close and now we’re even closer. We are less selfish now – like everyone is when it’s just the two of you in a relationship.

When you have a child, suddenly it is not about just you any more – your lives revolve around the child.”

l Sue, 44, and her partner Fay, 43, live in Braintree. Their story was told to Louise Mackenzie.