For the Secretary of State, it is a mission that has deeply personal roots. Michael Gove was himself adopted at four months old, as was his younger sister, who turned out to be profoundly deaf. They benefited from parents who gave them a loving, stable upbringing.
Forty-four years on from Gove’s life-defining moment, we have an adoption system that is clearly flawed. For much of 2011, the government has championed adoption as the best choice for many vulnerable children in an attempt to arrest its recent decline. It is eager to speed up and simplify the assessment process for adopters; in fact, Gove’s father was on a 20-a-day cigarette habit at the time he was adopted, something he has claimed would never get waved through today.
In its desire to drive up the numbers, the government has published league tables disclosing adoption rates across the country. As they stand, they are crude and simplistic. Now the Department for Education is working with ministerial adoption adviser Martin Narey and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services to establish an "improved set of performance data".
For this improvement to be real, it should take into account the outcomes of children who are adopted; the number of adoptions that break down; and the number adopted who are traditionally harder to place, including older children, black children, those with disabilities and siblings. Councils spend 60 per cent of their adoption budget on assessments, so any savings achieved by a simpler process should be used to provide better post-adoption support for families, such as therapy and financial aid.
For all its good intentions though, the government’s sheer focus on adoption is dogmatic and misdirected. Given the widespread agreement that adoption may not be the best option for all children, it would be absurd not to include performance data on other permanent placements, including fostering and special guardianship orders. Adoption should not be pursued as an end in itself, but as one means to the real purpose, which is to find vulnerable children loving homes.
Read CYP Now's special report on adoption.
