Adoption
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adoption placements were (a) disrupted and (b) broke down in each of the last five years; and what assessment she has made of the role of access to therapeutic support in maintaining placement stability.
Answered by Josh MacAlister
The department does not collect information centrally on the number of adoptions that have been disrupted or adoptions that breakdown. We publish an annual statistical release which contains information on looked after children who have been adopted or are in the adoption process.
The published information that is available relates to children who started to be looked after during each collection year and whether they are known to have had previous permanence arrangement. This is in table C1 of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/e29ff5f1-b011-4b2d-a0f7-08de00c387a4.
While some families receive timely and effective help, others face long waits. We are currently considering responses to our consultation on the future of adoption support ‘Adoption Support that Works for All’. We want to develop practice so that families can access more holistic assessments more promptly and receive better coordinated support so that families do not find themselves in crisis with a risk of breakdown.
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