Statistics published by the Department for Education show that a total of 4,690 looked-after children were adopted in 2016, compared with 5,360 in 2015, a fall of 12 per cent.
It is the first annual fall in numbers of adoptions since before 2012, but was largely expected due to a significant drop in the number of children being placed for adoption in recent years.
The fall in adoption placements is widely accepted to stem from a ruling made in September 2013 by Sir James Munby in the case Re B-S in which he criticised the "sloppy practice" of social workers and said that local authorities must provide evidence that all alternatives to adoption had been considered before bringing a case to court.
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