Adoption: LGBT+ People
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s statistical release entitled Children looked after in England including adoption, last updated 20 November 2025, how many children looked after were adopted in England in the year ending 31 March 2025 by same-sex couples, broken down by whether the adopters were recorded as male same-sex couples or female same-sex couples.
Answered by Josh MacAlister
The department publishes information on the sex of adopters, including a breakdown by legal status, in Table E3 of the ‘Children looked after in England, including adoptions’ statistics release, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/cf632a88-23f2-4d70-5463-08de072d13df. The department does not collect information on the age of adopters.
In the year ending 31 March 2025, 1980 children were adopted by different-sex couples and 450 children by single-adopters. Of the 610 children adopted in the year ending 31 March 2025 by same-sex couples, 410 children were adopted by male same-sex couples and 200 were adopted by female same-sex couples.
Figures on the number of children looked after who were adopted, broken down by the child’s age on adoption and whether the adopters were same-sex couples, different-sex couples or single adopter can be found in the attached table.
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