News

Councils fail to make use of voluntary adoption agencies

1 min read Social Care
Around 1,000 children a year are in foster care unnecessarily because local authorities are failing to make use of voluntary sector adoption services, it has been claimed.

A report on adoption services in England by think-tank Policy Exchange has found that some local authorities put off using voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) for financial reasons.

VAAs specialise in finding adoptive parents for children who local authorities have historically had difficulty in placing, such as children over the age of four, children from an ethnic minority group or those who are part of a sibling group.

Policy Exchange researchers claim the main reason for the decline in use of VAAs is a misconception about the true cost of using them to successfully place a child. 

The annual cost of funding a child in foster care is £25,000, while there is a one-off cost of £24,080 to successfully place a child through a VAA.

Policy Exchange claims that, because budgets tend to be run on an annual basis, the additional up-front cost is deemed prohibitive with anecdotal evidence suggesting that some authorities have even left a child in foster care until the beginning of the next financial year rather than use a VAA placement due to the impact on their annual budget.

Statistics collated for the report found that two-thirds of VAAs have reported a decrease in services purchased by local authorities and 40 per cent of VAAs say that their future financial viability is in jeopardy.

James Groves, researcher at Policy Exchange, said: "While foster care can provide stability in a child's life it is surely better that a long-term outcome involving adoptive parents is found as quickly as possible for any young person in care.

"That some local authorities are not making better use of voluntary adoption agencies, who have a proven track record of finding families for hard-to-place children, is difficult to comprehend."

Register Now to Continue Reading

Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's Included

  • Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month

  • Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector

Register

Already have an account? Sign in here

Posted under:


More like this

Hertfordshire Youth Workers

“Opportunities in districts teams and countywide”

Administration Apprentice

SE1 7JY, London (Greater)