Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children were in care in the last 12 months; how many were adopted during that period; what was the average waiting time for adoption applications to be processed; and what percentage of children currently awaiting adoption have been waiting for longer than 18 months.

Figures showing the position for children looked after at 31 March 2018 will be published on the 15 November 2018.

The latest figures show that the number of children who were looked after as at 31 March 2017 was 72,670.

There were 4,350 looked after children adopted during the year ending 31 March 2017. In that period, the average time between the decision the child should be placed for adoption and the child being matched to adopters was eight months. These figures were published in 2017 in table A1, E1 and E2 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017 (SFR 50/2017)’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.

Some 2,580 children had a placement order but had not been placed for adoption as at 31 March 2017. 18 per cent (or 460 children) had been waiting 18 months or more since the adoption decision. Figures on the number and percentage of children categorised by other waiting times are published in table E4 of the above statistical publication.