New ALB data confirms shortage of approved adopters

7 December 2017

Data from the Adoption Leadership Board (ALB) published today by the Department for Education shows that the number of approved adopters has declined during the last year. A new report, “Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017” reveals that the number of adopter approvals has dropped to around 700 each quarter, as opposed to over 1,000 in 2014-15 (approximately 2,800 a year). Meanwhile, the number of Adoption Placement Orders has remained relatively stable with approximately 1,000 orders being granted each quarter (around 4,000 a year). In a commentary document published to coincide with the report, ALB Chair, Andrew Christie, said “This reinforces the importance of increasing adopter recruitment and support, especially for harder to place children.”

You can read the full report here and the commentary here

 

Return to List