Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she intends to take to raise awareness of the possibility of adoption for (a) people who may be eligible to become adoptive parents and (b) women in unplanned pregnancy who do not wish to raise a child themselves.

The Department for Education funds the First4Adoption service which is the national information service for adoption in England. The department has also provided £17 million in additional funding over 2013-16 to help voluntary adoption agencies recruit and approve more adopters, including those who can meet the needs of children who are harder to place, and address sector-wide issues with regard to the recruitment of adopters. The department has provided local authorities with £200 million over 2014-16 to support adoption reform on the ground and improve the recruitment of adopters. Last year the department and First4Adoption worked closely together in developing promotional resources in order to reach out to anyone interested in adoption. These resources are available, free of charge, to be used by all local agencies and regional consortia in their work to promote adoption. The department also works with the British Association for Adoption and Fostering on National Adoption Week, taking place 19-26 October 2015.