How many adoptions break down? Expand There is no UK-wide data, but most sources put the figure at between 3% and 9%. That’s still hundreds of families, and obviously each one is agonising for everyone involved. The terms adoption ‘break down’ and adoption ‘disruption’ are disliked by families whose children are no longer living with them, because they often continue to parent their children at a distance, with regular ongoing contact between them.
What support would my family get after adoption? Expand The adoption agency that places your child with you is responsible for your support, at least initially. This responsibility might move if you move area, or if you adopt from a different area to the one where you live. Your child is entitled to an ‘assessment of need’ before they are placed with you. The assessment should identify areas where you and your child are likely to need support. This could include specialist therapy, help to understand their life journey, support in school and medical support. Your adoption agency should help you access the support your child needs. This does not always happen, and adopters often report struggling for support. Adoption UK continues to campaign for improved support, and to work closely with adoption agencies to understand and provide what families need. In England, adopters and their agency can apply to the Adoption Support Fund to pay for therapeutic support: Adoption support fund (ASF) Most families say that peer support, from people with experience of adoption, can be incredibly important. Adoption UK has a free online forum, a lot of free resources and information, and a growing membership community with groups all over the UK. Find out more here: Adoption UK | Support for adopters
Will my child have contact with their birth family? Expand Adopted children have often lost everything they’re familiar with. Staying in touch with siblings and other birth family members (and other people who were important in their earlier life such as foster carers) can be incredibly important to their emotional wellbeing and sense of identity. For this reason, contact with birth family is increasingly common. Contact can either be direct (in person) or indirect (via letters, mediated by the placing adoption agency). So-called ‘letterbox contact’ with birth family is extremely common. Where children have siblings in other placements, it is highly likely their Adoption Order will include some degree of contact with each other – either direct or indirect. It is very rare for the courts to decide to grant direct contact between adopted children and their birth parents, due to the circumstances which led to the children being removed. Without this being part of the adoption order, it is illegal for birth parents to seek them out until the child is at least 18 years old. However, many adopted children are curious to meet birth parents and other birth family members before they are 18. Social media makes it more likely that this will happen, and adoption agencies are trying to take a more proactive approach to supporting children and young people as they explore their identity and help them prepare for possible direct contact at some point.
Should I consider adopting from overseas? Expand There are children desperately in need of a permanent loving family both in the UK and overseas. Domestic and inter-country adoptions are equally important and equally deserving of good support. Adoption UK will always encourage people to look at domestic adoption first, partly because of the numbers of children in the UK who are waiting, but also because the inter-country adoption process is costly for families and the process can be even more stressful than domestic adoption. But some prospective adopters have a clear idea about which country they wish to adopt from. They may have family connections, or are originally from that country, or they might be adopting a child who is related to them. To find out more about inter-country adoption, visit: intercountryadoptioncentre.co.uk
Do I have to adopt a child of the same ethnicity as me? Expand No. Most adoption agencies would prefer some ethnic connection between adopter and child, but children from black and minority ethnic backgrounds wait longer to be placed for adoption because of a shortage of prospective adopters from black and ethnic minority communities. Any adopter can theoretically adopt a child of any ethnicity, provided they can demonstrate understanding of the importance of supporting the child’s ethnic identity throughout their life. No child should be waiting a long time for adoption because of the colour of their skin or their religion.
Will I get any financial support? Expand Adopters do not receive regular financial support. In England, adopters can apply to The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) to pay for therapeutic support for their children, and your child will be eligible for Pupil Premium at school.
How much does it cost to adopt? Expand It doesn’t cost anything to adopt a child in the UK. Adoption from overseas can be costly. To find out more about inter-country adoption visit: Intercountry Adoption Centre
What's the process of adoption? Expand The adoption process varies in different parts of the UK, but the basics are the same: initial checks; training and assessment; matching; moving in. As a rough guide, you can expect it to take at least 6 months to reach the matching stage. It’s good to start your journey by reading and talking to people with experience of adoption.
Who can adopt? Expand There are very few things that automatically bar a person from becoming an adopter. To adopt, you must be: Over 21 legally resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, and have been so for at least 12 months. No criminal conviction or caution for offences against children or for serious sexual offences. This applies to everyone in the household. There are many other factors that will come into consideration, but none of them automatically exclude you. The most important thing is that you can provide a welcome home and you are able to put your adopted child’s needs first. A child does not need perfection.
How many adoptive families are there in the UK? Expand At least 55,000. Official figures do not exist – this is an AUK best guess, based on extrapolation from the average annual number of adoptions. Currently around 3,500 children are adopted in the UK each year.
Why do people adopt? Expand Around half of adopters come to adoption because they were unable to have birth children. However this figure has been decreasing steadily in recent years, and the number of people coming to adoption as a first choice for starting a family is increasing. Other factors include religious and cultural beliefs, people in same sex partnerships who want to become parents, and concerns about population growth and planetary boundaries.
What is the history of adoption? Expand Although adoption and fostering have taken place informally for centuries, it was only in 1926, after the passing of the Legitimacy Act, that adoption became legally recognised in England and Wales. Adoptions became legally recognised in Northern Ireland in 1929 under the Adoption of Children (NI) Act, and in Scotland in 1930 under the Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act. Initially, adoptions were seen as a way of providing security for war orphans and children born to unmarried mothers. The 1960s and 1970s saw major changes in adoption and fostering and family planning. While the number of babies available for adoption fell rapidly because of improved birth control and changing public attitudes, adoption practice changed its focus to finding families for children with ‘special needs’, such as those in local authority care who had been neglected or had physical or learning disabilities. Today, children are removed from their birth families only when it is judged unsafe for them to continue living there. The average age for a child to be placed for adoption in the UK is 3.5 years. This is because huge efforts are made to keep families together, including seeking members of the wider family who could take the child. Adoption remains a last resort for children who cannot live with any member of their birth family.
What is adoption? Expand Adoption is the legal process by which a child or siblings who cannot be brought up within their birth family become full, permanent and legal members of their new family. Adopters become the child's legal parents with the same rights and responsibilities as if the child was born to them. Most adopted children have lived in foster care for part of their childhood. Most foster placements are with foster families rather than in foster homes. Time spent in foster care can range from days to several years, and many children have more than one foster placement before being placed for adoption. Children who are adopted tend to have better outcomes than children who remain in foster care or spend their childhoods in and out of care.
As an adult adoptee, do I get help accessing records and tracing birth family? Expand Help is available, though not enough, and there can be costs. Adoption UK is campaigning for more support for adult adoptees. Visit our Services and Support page for adopted people for information and advice: Where can adopted people go to find support?
What sort of children need adoptive families Expand There are around 2,000 children living in foster care in the UK who have a plan for adoption but haven’t yet been matched with a family. That’s a tiny percentage of the children in care, most of whom will either return to their birth families or remain in foster or kinship care. The average age for a child to be adopted is 3.5 years. Often, that’s because social services do everything they can to keep families together, before the courts take the decision that adoption is the best decision for a particular child. At the moment there are more families waiting to adopt, than there are children with a plan for adoption. Obviously it’s vital to get the right family for each child, and some groups of children spend much longer in care before being matched with a family. Sibling groups spend around 11 months longer, and children over the age of 5, those with a disability, and black children all spend longer in care than their peers. If you’re the right family for a child or children from one of those groups, you are likely to be matched more quickly.