Chapter 2: Adoption in Context
15. The legal history of adoption can be traced
back to the Adoption of Children Act 1926, which replaced the
widespread practice of unregulated de facto adoption with
a legal route for the permanent and secure transfer of orphans
and illegitimate children to new parents. Before the Adoption
and Children Act 2002 the most recent statute on adoption was
the Adoption Act 1976, which was not fully implemented until 1988.
By then, the model of adoption which that legislation was predicated
upon had largely ceased to exist.
Changes in societal attitudes
and the effects on adoption
16. From the peak of nearly 25,000 in 1968, the
annual number of adoptions has fallen steadily, and only 3,450
children were adopted in 2011-12. This decline in numbers reflects
the changing purpose of adoption over recent decades. During the
peak years of adoption, 51% of all adoptions were of babies, and
92% of adoptions were of 'illegitimate' children.[10]
Changes in societal attitudes, coupled with the improved availability
of contraception and the legislation on abortion[11],
along with increases in financial support for single mothers,
have reduced the number of children being given up for adoption.
This means that very few children under 12 months are adopted—only
70 babies were adopted in 2011-12.[12]
There is, however, the potential for many more babies to be adopted:
at 31 March 2012 there were 3,670 looked-after children under
12 months for whom a local authority had decided that adoption
would meet their best interests; when and if a placement order
is secured, these children may be placed for adoption.[13]
17. Today most children adopted in England are
adopted from local authority care. The majority of children taken
into care are there due to concerns about abuse or neglect (see
Box 1: Children in care & leaving care). For those children
who are not able to return home to their birth families adoption
provides a route out of the care system.
BOX 1
Children in care and leaving care[14]
| Children in care at 31 March 2012:
| | |
| Total |
| 67,050 |
| By placement type: |
| |
| Foster placement |
| 50,260 (75%) |
| Placed for adoption
| | 2,680 (4%)
|
| Placement with parents
| | 3,600 (5%)
|
| Other placement in the community
| | 2,340 (3%)
|
| Secure units, children's homes, hostels
| | 5,930 (9%)
|
| Other residential settings
| | 1,020 (2%)
|
| Residential schools
| | 960 (1%)
|
| Other placement |
| 120 (--) |
| | |
| By age: |
| |
| Under 1 |
| 4,190 (6%) |
| 1 to 4 |
| 12,430 (19%) |
| 5 to 9 |
| 12,700 (19%) |
| 10 to 15 |
| 24,150 (36%) |
| 16 and over
| | 13,580 (20%)
|
| | |
| Children entering care April 2011-March 2012
| | |
| Total |
| 28,220 |
| Category of need: |
| |
| Abuse or neglect |
| 15,670 (56%) |
| Child's disability
| | 840 (3%)
|
| Parents illness or disability
| | 1,070 (4%)
|
| Family in acute stress
| | 2,850 (10%)
|
| Family dysfunction
| | 5,010 (18%)
|
| Socially unacceptable behaviour
| | 830 (3%)
|
| Low income |
| 80 (--) |
| Absent parenting |
| 1,880 (7%) |
| | |
| Children leaving care April 2011-March 2012
| | |
| Total |
| 27,350 |
| Reason for leaving: |
| |
| Adopted |
| 3,450 (13%) |
| Died | |
40 (--) |
| Care taken by another local authority
| | 190 (1%)
|
| Returned home to parents or relatives
| | 10,160 (37%)
|
| Residence Order granted
| | 1,290 (5%)
|
| Special Guardianship order made
| | 2,130 (8%)
|
| Moved into independent living
| | 3,720 (14%)
|
| Transferred to residential social care funded by adult social services
| | 470 (2%)
|
| Sentenced to custody |
| 420 (2%) |
| Care ceased for any other reason
| | 5,500 (20%)
|
| All figures relate to England only.
| | |
BOX 2
Adoption[15]
| Children adopted April 2011-March 2012
| | |
| Total |
| 3,450 |
| By age: |
| |
| Under 1 |
| 70 (2%) |
| 1 to 4 |
| 2,550 (74%) |
| 5 to 9 |
| 740 (21%) |
| 10 to 15 |
| 80 (2%) |
| 16 and over |
| 10 (--) |
| | |
| Category of need: |
| |
| Abuse or neglect |
| 2,490 (72%) |
| Child's disability |
| 10 (--) |
| Parents illness or disability
| | 130 (4%)
|
| Family in acute stress |
| 220 (6%) |
| Family dysfunction |
| 460 (13%)
|
| Socially unacceptable behaviour
| | 20 (--)
|
| Low income |
| 10 (--) |
| Absent parenting |
| 110 (3%) |
| | |
| Average age at adoption
| | 3 years and 8 months
|
| Average time between entry into care and decision that child should be placed for adoption
| | 11 months
|
| Average time between decision that child should be placed for adoption and matching of child and adopters
| | 10 months
|
| Average time between date of matching and date placed for adoption
| | 1 month
|
| Total average time between entry into care and adoption
| | 2 years and 7 months
|
| All figures relate to England only.
| | |
18. This change has had a number of significant
effects, which the Adoption and Children Act 2002 sought to address.
First, most children are now adopted at an older age than was
previously the case. The average age at adoption is now 3 years
and 8 months (see Box 2: Adoption). As a result an adopted child
may have memories of their birth family; they may also have ongoing
relationships with siblings or other family members. Issues of
contact with the birth family often need to be addressed and managed.
We discuss, in Chapter 8, the provisions for post-adoption contact
in the Adoption and Children Act 2002.
19. Secondly, many more adoptions are contested.
Birth families are often unwilling to give up their children,
both to the care system and then, ultimately, to adoption. Social
workers and the courts have to apply the law to resolve these
issues in the best interests of the child.
20. Thirdly, the contested nature of many care
cases and adoptions means that children can be forced to suffer
both delay and instability. Whilst court cases and legal issues
are progressing, children can find themselves moved between care
homes, foster parents and other forms of temporary care. This
instability can compound and intensify attachment and behavioural
issues which the children may already face as a result of exposure
to harm in their early life. We discuss the impact of such delay
and instability in Chapter 4, and the case for post-adoption support
Chapter 7.
Adoption and permanence
21. In the Action Plan for Adoption the
Government stated that "in many cases adoption is the best
option—particularly for younger children, but also for some
older children. Adoption gives vulnerable children, including
many with complex needs and a history of ill-treatment, the greatest
possible stability, in a permanent home with a permanent family.
It is, in every sense of the word, for good."[16]
22. Adoption is intended to bring permanence
and stability to the lives of children who may have experienced
trauma and instability in early life. Adoption is in many ways
unique. It confers a new legal status on the child who is "to
be treated in law as if born as the child of the adopters."[17]
Parental responsibility for the child becomes the sole preserve
of the adopters, and the parental responsibility of the birth
family comes to an end. A new family is therefore created, with
permanent legal relationships. This life-long transformative change
sets adoption apart from other routes out of the care system.
23. The Government acknowledged in the Action
Plan that adoptions do break down in some cases but that they
currently had "too little data and evidence about it."[18]
They have commissioned the University of Bristol to undertake
further research into the rate and reasons for adoption breakdown.
We comment on the absence of relevant data in paragraphs 200 to
206.
24. We recognise the unique nature of adoption
and its potential to enhance the lives of children by providing
a life-long, permanent route out of the care system. We agree
with the Government that there is scope to increase the number
of children benefitting from adoption.
Other routes to permanence
25. Adoption is a route out of care for a relatively
small proportion of children. This is principally a reflection
of the age profile of the care population in England: 75% are
over 5 years of age; 56% are over the age of ten.[19]
For many of this group it may not be appropriate for the link
with birth parents to be severed, or for them to be integrated
fully and legally into a new family.
26. The Action Plan for Adoption recognised
that for many children—in particular older children—long-term
fostering was the best care option. This can sometimes be with
wider family members, or family friends. Fostering does not involve
the creation of a new legal family; parental responsibility is
shared between the birth parents and the local authority.
27. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 created
Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs), which provide another route
to permanence. Special guardians share parental responsibility
with the birth parents and have responsibility for day to day
decisions about caring for a child or young person. Unlike adoption,
the basic legal link with the birth parents is retained. They
remain legally the child's parents, though their ability to exercise
their parental responsibility is limited. This provision was intended
to cater for older children who may wish to retain links to their
birth family, and who were therefore not suitable for adoption.
Since their introduction in 2002 the number of SGOs granted has
grown each year; there were 2,130 Special Guardianship Orders
granted in England in the year to March 2012.[20]
28. It is permanence that is important, rather
than the particular 'type' of permanence that is chosen. Professor June
Thoburn, from the Centre for Research on the Child and Family
at the University of East Anglia, suggested that "for a majority
of children and some prospective parents it is 'a sense of permanence'
and being confident of being 'a family for life' that is the key
to success rather than the particular legal order."[21]
29. Concern was expressed by several witnesses
that the Government's focus on adoption risked neglecting permanency
solutions for those children for whom adoption was not suitable.[22]
The Who Cares? Trust told us:
" ... the Government's current focus creates
a grave risk that, in a drive to increase the number of children
who are adopted, policy making for children in care in England
is becoming the poor relation. The logical consequence is that
local services will disproportionately divert their focus and
resources towards a minority of the children in their care, leaving
others at risk of continued poor outcomes."[23]
30. Nagalro, the professional association for
Children's Guardians, Family Court Advisers and Independent Social
Workers, echoed the concern over the application of resources:
"Over-emphasis on adoption risks directing
resources away from the whole range of looked-after children including
those for whom other permanence options are preferable."[24]
31. There were calls for a more wide-ranging
review of care and permanency options, rather than singling out
adoption for reform. TACT, the fostering and adoption charity
and voluntary agency, argued that:
"The care system should be reviewed as a
whole so a holistic approach to ensuring the best and appropriate
outcomes for those children who enter care should be preferred...a
piecemeal approach to reform is rarely effective."[25]
32. Action for Children called for "a system
which has at its heart a drive to find the right placement for
each individual child, rather than creating a false hierarchy
of care—where adoption is interpreted as being the preferred
care option."[26]
33. While adoption is valuable in transforming
the lives of those children who benefit from it, it can only provide
a solution to a small proportion of children in the care system.
Long-term fostering, special guardianship and the placement with
friends or family, referred to as kinship care, are also worthy
of attention and support. In focusing exclusively on adoption,
there is a real risk of overlooking the needs of the vast majority
of children in care for whom adoption is not appropriate. The
outcomes for all children in care must be the focus of concern
and investment.
- Adoption is only one solution for providing
children in care with the love, stability and support that they
need. Long-term fostering, kinship care and special guardianship
play a significant role in meeting the needs of many of the children
who cannot be cared for by their birth parents. These permanency
options merit equal attention and appropriate investment, both
by Government and by agencies working at the national and local
level. Improving the outcomes for all looked-after children should
be the objective.
10 Professor N V Lowe, Cardiff Law School, written
evidence Back
11
The Abortion Act 1967 came into force on 27 April 1968. Nearly
190,000 abortions took place in England and Wales in 2011 compared
with 22,332 in 1968 https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/transparency/files/2012/05/Commentary1.pdf Back
12
Statistical First Release, Children looked after in England
(including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2012,
Department for Education, 25 September 2012: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001084/sfr20-2012v3.pdf Back
13
HL Deb, 8 January 2013, WA3 [HL4259] Back
14
All figures in Box 1 are taken from the Statistical First Release,
Children looked after in England (including adoption and care
leavers) year ending 31 March 2012, Department for Education,
25 September 2012: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001084/sfr20-2012v3.pdf Back
15
All figures in Box 2 are taken from the Statistical First Release,
Children looked after in England (including adoption and care
leavers) year ending 31 March 2012, Department for Education,
25 September 2012: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001084/sfr20-2012v3.pdf Back
16
An Action Plan for Adoption: Tackling Delay, Department
for Education, March 2012, paragraph 4. Back
17
Adoption and Children Act 2002, section 67 (1) Back
18
An Action Plan for Adoption: Tackling Delay, Department
for Education, March 2012, paragraph 34. Back
19
Statistical First Release, Children looked after in England
(including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2012,
Department for Education, 25 September 2012: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001084/sfr20-2012v3.pdf Back
20
The Department of Education has commissioned the University of
York in collaboration with the British Association for Adoption
and Fostering to conduct a study of the use of Special Guardianship
Orders; the final report is expected in June 2014. Back
21
Professor June Thoburn, written evidence Back
22
Written evidence from: Alliance for Child-Centred Care, BAAF,
Family Rights Group, Kinship Care Alliance, Nagalro, TACT, The
Who Cares? Trust Back
23
The Who Cares? Trust, written evidence Back
24
Nagalro, written evidence Back
25
TACT, written evidence Back
26
Action for Children, written evidence Back
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