Coram CEO Dame Carol Homden is today urging the government to ensure that adopted children and their families are given the support they need, at a parliamentary event taking place to mark the centenary of the Adoption of Children Act 1926, which introduced for the first time in England and Wales a legal process by which the rights and responsibilities for a child could be transferred.
Dame Carol highlighted that adoption has been shown to provide exceptional stability for the thousands of children approved for adoption who cannot return to their birth families. However, the current low levels of adopter recruitment make it all the more important to ensure more consistent and dependable support is available for the children who have faced the greatest adversity.
She said: “Today we mark a significant moment – the centenary of The Adoption of Children Act 1926, which introduced for the first time in England and Wales a legal process by which the rights and responsibilities for a child could be transferred from birth parents to adoptive parents. It provided a legal framework for adoption to secure children’s futures, a significant historical development in child welfare legislation which continues to evolve.
“Today, adoption is a service for our most vulnerable children who have normally been removed from their family because they have experienced, or were likely to experience, significant harm there and need a lifelong, loving home as part of another family. Despite the challenges which can be faced and are often portrayed in the media, adoption remains an essential option for those children, and in the vast majority of cases they grow up safe and loved as part of wonderful families.
“Research is clear that adoption provides strong stability and positive outcomes and brings joy to many families and it is deeply concerning that, despite the very best efforts of practitioners, we are experiencing significant challenges with children waiting to be adopted continuing to rise because of a shortage of adopters.”
The number of children waiting to be adopted has increased by 45% in England over the past three years. Over 3,000 children in England are waiting to be matched with an adoptive family and 1,500 of these having been waiting for 18 months or more, while the number of adoptive families is decreasing.
She said: “While the reasons for these trends are manifold and complex, it is vitally important that adopters and all those considering embarking on the journey of caring for a child from the care system are afforded every possible support. That is why Coram has joined sector calls for the government’s public engagement process into the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) to be fully independent, and for a two-year moratorium on further structural changes to the Fund.
“When adoptive families are struggling, adoption agencies are there to help but we need greater responsiveness from schools and mental health services to their needs and extending into the transition to independence, not only to avert crisis but to build greater confidence in the system.”
She concluded: “Adoption has – as it always has – a profound impact for all those affected and – as we mark the importance of the legislative protections for children – it is timely for us to ensure that the needs of tomorrow as well as the needs of today are met.”
Coram is today launching a programme of publications, conferences, research and service development through 2026 we aim to tell the story of adoption to date and consider together how it will evolve in future. As part of this, Coram is sharing stories of adoption from across the years, capturing the diverse experiences of adopted people, adoptive parents, birth families and others touched by adoption at www.adoptionstory.org.uk where more information on the programme can be found.