Drop in number of children approved for adoption continues

Statistics published by the Adoption Leadership Board show that between January and March this year 850 adoption placement orders were granted by the courts, compared with 960 between October and December 2014, a fall of 11.5 per cent.

The figures show that for the financial year 2014/15 overall there were 3,790 placement orders granted, compared with 5,020 in 2013/14, and 5,920 in 2012/13 – a fall of 36 per cent in the space of two years.

The drop in placement orders granted by family courts has been blamed on a ruling made in September 2013 by Sir James Munby in the case Re B-S, in which he criticised “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.

In November 2014, the Adoption Leadership Board issued “myth-buster” guidance in an attempt to clarify the situation and halt the decline.

In July this year, the government's adoption adviser Sir Martin Narey warned that unless the fall in the number of placement orders being sought by social workers is addressed, the total number of children being adopted is set for an “alarming drop".

The Adoption Leadership Board figures show that in total 5,340 children were adopted in 2014/15, an increase of 5.7 per cent on the 2013/14 figure of 5,050.

The fear is that this figure could begin to drop dramatically due to fewer children being approved for adoption.

There has already been a significant fall in numbers of children waiting to be adopted – those for whom a placement order has been granted but are yet to be placed with an adoptive family.

The latest figures show that 2,810 children were waiting as of 31 March 2015, compared with 2,960 children waiting as of 31 December 2014 – a drop of 5.1 per cent. In March 2014 the number stood at 4,680.