Adopted children '20 times more likely to be excluded'

The adoption charity's survey of 2,084 adoptive parents found an exclusion rate (across all four UK nations) of 1.61 per cent.

Department for Education exclusion statistics for the 2015/16, which relate only to England, puts the exclusion rate at 0.08 per cent of the total school population. This indicates that adopted children are 20.1 times more likely to be excluded.

The survey also found that adopted children are 16 times more likely to be temporarily excluded from school in the first three years of primary school compared with other children.

In addition, parents reported that 15 per cent of the adoptive children covered by the survey were informally excluded from school, meaning their exclusion went unrecorded in official figures.

Of the parents whose children were excluded in the 2015/16 school year, 12 per cent were told that the only way to avoid permanent exclusion was for them to voluntarily remove their child from the school.

Adoption UK said that while its self-selecting survey can only be indicative it highlights the need for the Department for Education to start collecting data on exclusions of adoptive children as it already does for looked-after children and those with special educational needs and disabilities.

"The comparatively high number of exclusions of very young adopted children is particularly disturbing," said Becky White, schools development officer at Adoption UK.

"Many of these children will have only recently moved to their new adoptive families and are then experiencing significant disruptions to their education at a vulnerable point in their lives."

Adoptive parent and Adoption UK member Patricia, whose son was temporarily excluded several times prior to permanent exclusion, said: "His school didn't understand the huge sense of shame and rejection that adopted children feel.

"Being permanently excluded was the ultimate rejection for him. His behaviour has gone drastically downhill since the exclusion and there has been a knock-on effect for the whole family."

The survey also found that the proportion of adopted children who are excluded is highest in Scotland and that 55 per cent of those excluded receive no learning support during their time out of school.

White said the findings show adoptive families need more support. "The challenge for us now is in convincing education professionals that extra support is needed for adopted children from the start - instead of waiting until they are at crisis point."