Adoption was hardly a foreign concept to Dawnette Bell when she first looked into the process a number of years ago.

"My father was brought up by another family member and my sister's husband is adopted," she said, "and my mother had three sisters and within each family there has been an adoption so it was not strange to me at all."

Ms Bell, a single mother now in the final stages of adopting her second son, originally made the decision to adopt a local child with her ex-husband.

"I wanted to have a baby and I was having trouble conceiving," she said. "We decided to look into adoption."

But shortly before the process was completed, Ms Bell and her husband split up. Suddenly single, she feared they would not allow her to raise an adopted child on her own.

"I went to Child and Family Services to tell them," she said. "They looked at me like I was crazy. 'Why wouldn't we consider you as a parent?' they asked."

Within weeks, the Customs officer had taken home her first son, Justin, now four years old.

"I got him on my mother's birthday," she said. "I really think that was a sign."

Sadly a few months later, her mother passed away.

Until the adoption was final, Justin stayed in her home as a foster child, "but it wasn't that way for me," Ms Bell said. "For me he was my child, right away as soon as I got him."

While Ms Bell said she has heard many horror stories about long waiting periods and difficult adoptions, that has not been her experience.

Justin came home with her straight from the hospital, while Jason - whose adoption is in the final stages now - came into her home two months after birth.

Unfortunately, while Ms Bell embraced new motherhood as an adoptive parent she was not granted maternity leave though she too was bonding with a newborn.

She quickly made arrangements with her sister to share caregiving but was disappointed that Government policy was not as open to her new role as she was.

"It was hard sometimes. I wouldn't get any sleep and I would go to work and complain that I was tired but it felt kind of good complaining," she said. "I am a mother, I thought and I earned it."

Adopting her second son was a joint decision made with Justin. "I never wanted to have just one child," Ms Bell said, "but I wondered whether I could handle it financially. I love children though, so the decision was really easy.

"My eldest son knows he is adopted. He knows he is special and he wanted a brother who would be special like him.

"My youngest son has three siblings in the area and we know one of them. Justin knows he is Jason's brother but not his. He knows the relationship is special."

Ten-month-old Jason will learn more about adoption as he grows, but Ms Bell is taking special care to build networks with the biological siblings of both boys where possible.

Although she was not provided with information on her son's biological parents, she inadvertently met the adoptive mothers of siblings to each boy and the families try to ensure the children spend time together.

"Bermuda is small. You can figure things out. I wouldn't want the boys to find out they have natural siblings and be confused later on."

The adoptive mother of Justin's brother is now Justin's godmother.

"We are building these ties," Ms Bell said. "It's strange how things work out."

Also of keen importance to her, has been ensuring there are strong male role models available to her sons.

"I am very careful about who comes around my boys," she said. "They will pick up behaviours from the men around them so I have made the decision not to date.

"They have strong role models in my father and my sister's husband. I am a Christian and I think it is very important, as boys, that they see men in responsible roles.

"They need to be aware actions have consequences and of the importance of responsibility."

At 37, Ms Bell has not ruled out the possibility of making a lasting union with a man in the future, but at the moment her children are her first priority.

Having them has raised her standards in potential suitors, she added.

"Things that I might have accepted before I would not accept now," she said. "It will have to be better than that."

Her elder son often says he has two fathers - his 'Papa' and his uncle Leonard, she said, and Ms Bell is grateful for her strong, extended family network.

"On Father's Day Justin gave them cards and said to me, 'Happy Father's Day, Mama'. Then he giggles," Ms Bell said.

While both her sons are happy and well-adjusted at the moment, Ms Bell is aware that children borne to drug-addicted mothers are at risk for developmental irregularities.

"They had a hard start in life," she said. "I've been in contact with the Child Development Programme and from the beginning we've been keeping a close eye on them. If there is anything we can test for and catch early, we will. But so far they are perfectly healthy.

"They are normal, little terrors."

To those considering adoption, Ms Bell urges not be deterred by horror stories of administrative hurdles.

"I was surprised by how easily I could adopt," she said. "Yes, you have to go through all the assessments. But it's very rewarding.

"I am responsible for shaping these children for the future and it is also a lot of fun. I really love children and it is great just watching them be kids too."