Adoption: time for a change?
Adoption: time for a change?
- Contrary to popular perception, the overwhelming majority (82%) of children in local authority care are not babies and young children "waiting for adoption", but older children aged between 5–16 years. For these children conventional adoption is likely to be a remote, if not impossible, aspiration particularly in light of the continuing decline in successful adoptive placements. On 31 March 2016 only a tiny percentage (just under 3%) of the 70,000 children in local authority care in England were subject to placement orders for adoption but had not yet been placed, and most (73%) of that tiny group were considered 'hard to place' (meaning a child aged 5 years or over, BME, disabled or part of a sibling group) (DfE: Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2016; Adoption Leadership Board quarterly data report: July to Sept 2015).
- Contrary to popular perception, the overwhelming majority (82%) of children in local authority care are not babies and young children "waiting for adoption", but older children aged between 5–16 years. For these children conventional adoption is likely to be a remote, if not impossible, aspiration particularly in light of the continuing decline in successful adoptive placements. On 31 March 2016 only a tiny percentage (just under 3%) of the 70,000 children in local authority care in England were subject to placement orders for adoption but had not yet been placed, and most (73%) of that tiny group were considered 'hard to place' (meaning a child aged 5 years or over, BME, disabled or part of a sibling group) (DfE: Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2016; Adoption Leadership Board quarterly data report: July to Sept 2015).