Campaigners accuse Gavin Williamson of using adoption as 'political football'

In the speech, intended to mark National Adoption Week (12-18 October), Williamson called for an end to “narrow-mindedness” during the adoption process amid claims it is putting off potential adopters.

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He said that councils are making “too many lifestyle judgments” which is restricting the number of adoptive families available to find permanent homes for children in care.

During the speech, Williamson highlighted latest adoption figures published by Coram, however, when asked by CYP Now for data to back-up claims that “some local authorities make it harder to adopt if you rent your home rather than own it, or if you’re not a perfect ethnic match”, the Department for Education admitted this was “anecdotal”.

Sector leaders have said the speech “missed the mark” adding that adoption is “far too important to be treated as a political football in this way”.

Robin Sen, lecturer in social work at the University of Dundee, said: “I’m all for valuing experiential knowledge, but focusing major policy announcements around tittle-tattle is something else entirely. 

“Adoption is far too important to be treated as a political football in this way. The minister’s speech says a good deal about his own need to shore up his cabinet position and very little about the needs of children in the care system or of prospective adopters.”

In a blog for Adoption UK, the charity’s chief executive Sue Armstrong Brown, said: “Adoption agencies have heard a very clear message to make adopter recruitment more inclusive, and prospective adopters might have heard that they are welcome and valued. Those would both be good outcomes.  

“But social workers, who include some of the most professionally selfless people I know, have heard that their snobbishness is keeping children in care. Adoptive families are still in the dark about whether the Adoption Support Fund will be extended beyond next spring, and we didn’t hear any tangible commitment to providing ongoing support for adopters and other families raising children who can’t live with their birth families.”

Meanwhile, Andy Elvin, chief executive of Tact Fostering & Adoption, labelled the Education Secretary’s plans to prioritise adoption over other types of care as “depressing and predictable”.

“There are many elements of the care system that need attention and funding; recruiting more foster carers, Staying Put, support for kinship carers and support for care experienced adults,” he said.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.