CSC0076

Written evidence submitted by Adoption UK 

About Adoption UK and why we are responding: 

Adoption UK is the leading charity providing support, community and advocacy for adopted people and those parenting children who cannot live with their birth parents. With a national membership of over 6,000 Adoption UK is the largest voice representing the adoption community in the U.K.

Every year, around 4,000 children in the UK are placed in permanent adoptive families. There is a common misconception that once adopted, the trauma these children have experienced ends, but it does not. Adopted children spend an average of 15 months in care, often moving through several foster families, losing everything that is familiar to them along the way. Latest government data highlights that 80% of adopted children will have suffered abuse, neglect, or violence and a further 11% have experienced family dysfunction[1] - most are placed in care before being adopted. The longer a child remains in care, the more likely they are to experience multiple moves between foster placements which can re-traumatise the child.

Adopted children are much more likely than their peers to have neurological disorders such as Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Autistic Spectrum Disorder and are at elevated risk of several psychiatric disorders[2]..

The combination of early trauma and complex needs will impact a child’s education, health and wellbeing and the need for lifelong support is common. Evidence shows adopted young people are more than twice as likely as their peers not to be in employment, education, or training; more than twice as likely to seek help with their mental health and are over-represented in the criminal justice system[3].    

Is the current provision of children’s social care sufficient to meet demand?

1. The increase in the number of children entering care year on year, to a peak of 83,840[4] this year, is deeply concerning for the whole of the children’s sector, including adoption services, particularly given the current pressure on local authority budgets.
2. Adoption UK’s Barometer report (2023) highlights some adopters feel that pressure on social worker caseloads impacts the support adoptive families are given.[5] The relationships adoptive parents have with social workers are a key factor in the success of both the approvals process and in early placement. Where adopters do not feel supported, including where social workers caseloads prevent them from visiting as frequently as desired, this can have a negative impact on that parents’ ability to access timely and appropriate help and to effectively parent and support their child.

What factors are causing the increase in demand for children’s social care?

3. Against this backdrop of rising numbers of children entering care, adoptions and other permanence orders are declining.[6] Although there can never be a ‘right’ number of adoptions, and every care decision must be based on the individual needs of the child, wider trends in permanence have relevance here.
4. Despite the government’s commitment to reduce the amount of time a child with a plan for permanence waits in care, the latest Department figures show that adopted children are waiting on average two years and five months to be adopted, two months longer than the previous year and up from two years in 2019.
5. It is taking agencies longer to match a child with adopters once a decision has been made to place a child for adoption. This comes at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is having an impact on the decisions of prospective adopters to adopt. In Adoption UK research last year 87% of prospective adopters said cost of living increases were a significant factor in the decisions they were making about becoming an adoptive parent[7]. This is backed up by agency data which shows that adopter recruitment continues to decline, reducing the number of available approved adoptive families to be matched with the children waiting with a placement order.[8] Adopter registrations declined by 14% between the second quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2023[9].
6. Overall, the number of children adopted from care in England has fallen by 2% in the year to March 2023, to just 2,960. This is down from a peak of 5,360 in 2015. Last year’s figures showed a slight increase of 4% but this was marginal, considering a fall of 17% during the previous pandemic year. The number of adoptions in England has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, which were relatively stable at around 3,500. 
7. There has also been a decline in the proportion of children adopted who are considered ‘harder to place’ including black children, those with disabilities, sibling groups and children over five, and an increase in the proportion of these children waiting to be placed with adoptive families.[10] 

What measures can be undertaken to improve early intervention;

8. Early intervention is often used to describe the measures taken to avoid a child entering the care system, but early intervention is also necessary in adoptive families to prevent crises from escalating. Often, support comes too late and Adoption UK’s Adoption Barometer survey last year found that half of adopters who contacted their agency for adoption support in 2022 were experiencing significant challenges or were at crisis point. 
9. Adopted children are likely to have experienced abuse and neglect in early childhood, and all will have endured the trauma of removal from their birth family, often followed by subsequent moves in the care system before joining their adoptive family. They are statistically more likely than the general population to have a range of health, developmental, social and emotional challenges. Among children represented in last year’s Adoption Barometer, 47% were reported to have diagnosed social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH), 40% had diagnosed attachment difficulties or disorders and 22% had recognised speech, language and communication needs. Rates of diagnosed autism and ADHD are several times higher among children of survey respondents than would be expected in the general population.[11]
10. Alongside ‘core support’ such as information and training, most adoptive families will require access to ‘enhanced’, tailored, adoption support services at some point. Adoption UK is calling for every child to receive a multi-disciplinary assessment of support needs before placement, shared with adopters, and which is then used to inform a robust, standalone multi-disciplinary support plan with a duty on the local authority to deliver the support required. This should be reviewed regularly and may include therapeutic interventions, short breaks, financial support for the family, specialist training and counselling.
11. It is imperative that such support is offered in a timely way, to help avoid crises and potential adoption disruption. Where the support available is not able to meet the needs of children and families, or comes too late, the outcomes can be devastating. 5% of established family respondents reported that their adopted child had left the family home prematurely during 2022, higher than in any previous year of the Adoption Barometer. Three quarters of these 82 children were aged 16 or younger at the time of leaving their adoptive home.
12. The Adoption Support Fund, which offers crucial therapeutic support for adoptive and kinship care families, has consistently been viewed positively by the majority of those who have received it, across the five years of Adoption Barometer reporting. However, each year, respondents have raised concerns about the challenges they have faced in attempting to access this support. Most of the comments about adoption support that referenced the Adoption Support Fund included references to delays at the point of requesting an assessment or while waiting for the application to be submitted.[12]
13. Efficient administration of this funding requires local authority adoption support teams to be suitably resourced to handle the assessment and application stages, and co-ordinated strategies to ensure the demand for specialist therapeutic providers can be met, regardless of location.

How combinations of kinship care, residential education, foster care and adoption could provide alternatives to residential care;

14. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 s1(2) states that ‘the paramount consideration of the court or adoption agency (when considering care/permanence placements) must be the child’s welfare, throughout his life.’ This means there is no one best option, but rather, decisions must be carefully made that consider the specific needs of the individual child.
15. However, where it is not possible for children to live with their birth family, adoption is a vital option for children to grow up in a permanent, loving home. Evidence shows that outcomes are better for children who are adopted than for those who grow up in care.[13]
16. On average, adopted children do much better than children who remain in care on measures of outcomes, although it is important to consider that those who remain in care have usually entered care later. Improved outcomes are evidenced throughout childhood, including a catch-up in language development, some improvements in educational attainment and emotional and behavioural development. There is evidence that adoption protects from some genetic and developmental risks, especially when parents are warm, sensitive, and responsive in their parenting.[14]
17. Evidence also shows that most adoptees remain connected to their adoptive families and continue to receive support as they become adults[15]

How children’s social care can impact a child’s educational or long-term outcomes and ways to improve outcomes for care leavers;

18. Most adopted children have experienced care before being placed with their adoptive family, and have experienced the same early life trauma and separation as those in care and care leavers.
19. Adopted children are more likely to be excluded, more likely to have social, emotional and mental health difficulties and are more likely to leave school with no qualifications. Adopted children do half as well as their peers in statutory exams, and are 20 times more likely to be permanently excluded from school.
20. In research carried out by Adoption UK in 2022[16], three quarters of adopted young people and adults said they needed more support than their peers while they were in school, yet more than half felt they didn’t receive the support they needed. Only 19% felt that their final examination results were a fair reflection of their abilities. Almost 80% of adopted children reported they routinely feel confused and worried at school, and two thirds of those at secondary school report being teased or bullied because of being adopted. On leaving school, adopted young people are twice as likely to not be in education, employment or training (NEET) compared to their peers.
21. In recognition of the impact that early trauma and adverse experiences, time spent in care and transitions to permanence can have on children’s development, the DfE in England has extended a package of initiatives that were originally designed to support the education of looked after children to include previously looked after children. However, years after the introduction of Pupil Premium Plus (PP+), the extension of the designated teacher and virtual school roles to include previously looked after children, evaluations of the effectiveness and impact of these initiatives remain thin on the ground, and there is little to guide education professionals towards increasing their effectiveness.
22. Adoption UK would like to see the following measures implemented to improve educational outcomes for previously looked after children:

• Training in the needs of care-experienced children to be mandatory during initial teacher training and integrated into the Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications.
• The Department for Education commission thorough research into the effectiveness of Pupil Premium Plus, the designated teacher and the role of the virtual school in supporting the educational outcomes of previously looked after children.
• The Department for Education to commission and publish evidence-based best practice guides with case studies which clearly outline effective interventions and support for previously looked after children as a specific cohort.
• The introduction of a statutory framework for previously looked after children, similar to the Personal Education Plan for looked after children, to facilitate collaborative approaches to identifying support needs, planning interventions and evaluating outcomes throughout a child’s time at school.
• A statutory requirement for all local authorities to publish a ‘local offer’ for previously looked after children, including information for families about the role of the virtual school and the designated teacher, priority access to school places and Pupil Premium Plus.

23. Whilst there undoubtedly needs to be tailored support packages for children in care and care leavers which help them to combat the specific challenges these young people face, policymakers must take care not to exclude previously looked after children from measures that could support all care experienced children and young people.
24. The government’s ‘Stable Homes, Bulit on Love’ implementation plan mirrored the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England in largely excluding adoptees from support measures that could have been extended to them. This includes the proposal for children in care and care leavers to receive greater support to achieve their potential through new education, employment and training opportunities, e.g. apprenticeships. These measures could have benefited adoptees who, as described above, face similar challenges in education and on leaving school. Similarly, government proposals to decrease mental health and physical disparities and increase life expectancy for children in care and care leavers, whilst hugely welcome, also exclude adopted children who share similar health disadvantages to children and young people in care. Adoption UK research shows that over half of adopted young adults accessed or attempted to access mental health services last year and almost half were reported to have diagnosed social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH). The combination of this, coupled with a high likelihood of complex and overlapping additional needs such as ADHD, autism and FASD, can bring significant challenges for adopted children and young people.
25. Without a legal definition for ‘care experience’, policy and practice will continue to exclude adoptees from this cohort. In denying adopted people access from measures that could improve life outcomes, policymakers reinforce the misconception that once a child is adopted, they are no longer in need of support. Young adoptees report a ‘hierarchy’ in care experience, particularly in post-16 and higher education, where support packages are largely framed specifically around the needs of care leavers; and where pupil premium plus funding ceases to be available to previously looked after cohorts.

The specific experiences of disabled children or children with additional needs within children’s social care, how they differ from their peers, and ways to improve their experiences;

26. Care experienced children, including those who are adopted or in other forms of permanence, are more likely to have SEND than their peers. Government data shows 55.7% of Children looked after for 12 months or more have SEND, compared to 16.6% of the general population. Adoption UK report 80% of children represented by respondents to their annual Barometer survey have recognised SEND. Compounding this, this cohort is likely to have the identification of SEND and any accompanying support delayed.
27. Adoption UK has called for integration between SEND standards and existing support structures for looked after and previously looked after children, for any national standards and guidance to be expanded to include a fuller range of SEND, including developmental trauma and attachment difficulties and FASD.  There is a high prevalence of Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs amongst care-experienced children (see para 10 above) and there must be special guidance that these children will be excluded from punitive measures around school attendance.
28. Children who are categorized as ‘harder to place’ in the adoption system include children with disabilities, and there has been a decline in the proportion of children in this category being adopted. These children also wait the longest to be placed with an adoptive family.[17] Adoption England is currently working on improvements to adopter recruitment and matching, to reduce the time it takes for children to be placed in adoptive families.[18]

The government ’s children’s social care implementation strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love, released in February 2023, including:

          - How effective it is projected to be in the long-term.

29. Adoption UK broadly welcomes the proposals set out in the government’s plans for improving children’s social care to date, including a focus on early help for struggling families and investment in kinship and foster care. Investment in the social care workforce is long overdue – and measures to free up social workers to spend time with families is welcome. However, as illustrated above, the plans largely exclude adopted people from proposed measures, which feels like a missed opportunity and which reinforces the misconception that once adopted, a child or young person is no longer in need of support.
30. The government plans do not make any proposals to improve the way adoption works, although they do reference work already underway by Adoption England to improve contact between adoptees and their birth families. This is vital and urgent: Research by Adoption UK found that nearly all adopted children now have some form of contact with their birth families, and while most adoptive families engaged in direct contact are positive about it, the majority say it is emotionally difficult for their child at times.  Everyone involved in maintaining relationships between adopted children and their birth family needs professional support. Adoption UK is calling for government to mandate and fund Regional Adoption Agencies to ensure every adopted child has a written plan to guide relationships with birth family, led by a named specialist social worker. 

January 2024