As National Adoption Week (20-26 October) gets underway, Coram is calling for people across the country to share their own stories of adoption, as part of its programme of activities marking the centenary of The Adoption of Children Act in 2026.
The Adoption of Children Act (1926) 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 and is a significant historical development in child welfare legislation.
Coram will run a programme of activities, launching in January 2026, to mark the centenary of adoption by telling the story of its evolution and its contribution to supporting vulnerable children. As part of this, the charity is aiming to gather 100 stories of adoption from across the years, reflecting changes in adoption and capturing the diverse experiences of adopted people, adoptive parents, birth families and others touched by adoption.
The stories will feature on a new website, launching today, providing a new longitudinal resource, alongside a timeline of adoption spanning the last century.
The stories will feature on a new website, launching today, providing a new longitudinal resource, alongside a timeline of adoption spanning the last century.
The programme of activity also looks to the future of adoption as a service for children in care, which is particularly important at a time when more children are entering care but the numbers of children being adopted is at an all-time low. As the availability of adoptive families continues to decrease, latest figures* show that 2,940 children in England are waiting to be matched with an adoptive family, of which 1,430 have been waiting more than 18 months since entering care. The number of approved adoptive families waiting to be matched is 1,420 – the largest gap between approved adopters and children waiting for five years.
Two young siblings, Ava and Callum**, aged four and three, have been waiting for an adoptive family for more than a year, with all options for matching unsuccessful so far. Their social worker says: “Ava and Callum are so affectionate and loving, outgoing and very funny. They share an inseparable bond. Their foster carers regularly find them snuggled in bed together before going to sleep, telling stories to each other and singing songs together. Their bond is so strong that our professional assessments have concluded that to separate them would be detrimental to their wellbeing – now and later on in their lives.
“Ava and Callum would bring an enormous amount of happiness and love to any family. I would love to see Ava and Callum get the permanence and stability they deserve and that they need, to provide them with the best opportunity to reach their potential and continue to progress throughout their lives.”
Dr Carol Homden, CEO of Coram, said: “As the UK’s first children’s charity, established as the Foundling Hospital, Coram has a long history of offering care to children who cannot grow up within their birth families. Our work in adoption is dedicated to putting children first and foremost to ensure they can grow up in safe loving families. It is imperative that we recognise the needs of these children for permanent loving homes and encourage more adopters to come forward.
“The centenary of the Adoption Act provides an important moment to reflect upon the role of adoption and its history, recognising the change from the era of relinquishment to a service for children in care, with importance placed on connections, life story and therapeutic support. The creation of a new collection of personal stories aims to help build understanding of adoption through time and its potential to support children and young people today and in the future.”
The centenary programme throughout 2026 will include events, conferences, a special edition of CoramBAAF’s Adoption & Fostering journal, and the publication of adoption research as well as instalments from a book on the Century of Adoption in England and Wales (due to be published in 2027).
For more information and to share stories of adoption, visit adoptionstory.org.uk.
*Q1 2025/26 Adoption and Special Guardianship data, collected by Coram for the Department for Education: coram.org.uk/the-childrens-and-social-care-secretariat/
**Names have been changed to protect anonymity