Absolute adopter

Following a career in the environmental sector, Sue Armstrong-Brown has been appointed to head Adoption UK, replacing Hugh Thornbery who retired. She outlines the challenges ahead.

This is your first job within the children's sector - why choose to lead Adoption UK?

I spent my career helping charities achieve their goals with government. From that point of view, that was what the Adoption UK trustees were looking for. But the main reason was because I am an adoptive mother, and this was such a wonderful opportunity to link my personal passion and professional life.

What is your experience of adoption?

We have a birth son but, similar to a lot of people, we felt our family wasn't complete. That is why we wanted to try to adopt a child. We came forward just before the Munby judgment affected the adoption sector and, as a result, the process was very slow for us.

Just as we were coming through the system, the sector was feeling the impact of that judgment. Local authorities were having trouble justifying the cost of recruiting adopters. We had a very close worm's eye view of the impact of those changes. We were six months into the process when that happened and, as a result, our local authority decided not to progress with many adopters and not to complete approvals, so we switched local authorities to one that was still taking prospective adopters.

We did foster-to-adopt, and were one of the first in our local authority to do so. I'm a huge advocate for that following our experience. It has been successful and moving early has benefitted our daughter.

What do you make of concerns raised by the Family Rights Group that fostering to adopt represents "adoption by stealth"?

Like all processes, the stakes are incredibly high and it has to be done extremely well, but it has to have the interest of the child first. The longer a child waits, and the more disruption there is, the worse the impact is on the child. It is crucial to develop as many ways as possible to get children into permanent families to minimise disruption. There is a risk in it, but it needs to be made clear that it is fostering until an adoption happens.

Is the government right to have focused much of its attention on adoption?

All forms of permanence need to be assessed equally, and approved equally. It is clear that the adoption sector has benefitted from having an interested and motivated Secretary of State and minister [in former children's minister Edward Timpson], but I wouldn't put adoption as the gold standard ahead of other forms of permanence. They are all important and all need to be got right.

What are the main issues facing the adoption sector right now?

One of the main issues is how to place children for whom adoption is the right route but it is taking too long - children from minority ethnic groups, children who are older than five, or children in sibling groups. Those children are waiting far too long in care with adoption plans, and that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

There are also issues with support. Once a child is adopted, the problems they have experienced do not magically disappear. These children often require much higher levels of support, but sometimes families are having to fight for it. The deal that the state makes with adopters needs to be honoured. The problems these children sometimes have are not always recognised by the local authority. We are asking for adopted children to be given priority within child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Something like half of adopted children will experience a mental health problem - it needs to be addressed immediately.

There is also an issue in many schools with teachers not receiving training and support to understand what attachment difficulties are and don't necessarily know how to address the problems they can face when adopted children enter school. We are asking for all teachers to be taught attachment awareness when they go through training and have continuing training in it to ensure they thrive in school.

There are big shortfalls in educational attainment - adopted children are twice as likely to get poor GCSE results and exclusion rates are high. We need to see improved policies - they certainly slip through the net. Some parents have to give up work to home educate. There needs to be a much better safety net.

How do you think the government's Adoption Support Fund, which has had a cap of £5,000 imposed due to demand, is faring?

It is really good it exists - it is a big improvement on not having it. I can understand the cap being put in place, but I think the £5,000 figure needs to be assessed again. We understand there needs to be a cap, but the implementation needs some adjustments. People are doing things like saving their cap and are not sure if they should access it - that delays getting support to children.

We are also seeing people prioritise clinical support over peer-to-peer support, which can do a lot to support families who need help. Something like 81 per cent of adoptive parents have their support needs identified, but only 56 per cent are receiving support, so there remains a gap in provision. The support needed is higher than the finds available.

CV

Previously worked for prominent organisations in the environmental sector

Worked for the RSPB for 15 years in various roles, culminating in her appointment as head of conservation policy - a position held between 2011 and 2014

Between 2014 and 2016, was policy director at the Green Alliance, an environmental think-tank, before spending a short period as an independent environmental strategist

Has a six-year-old birth son and an adopted baby daughter