Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by Adoption UK Cost of living crisis: Impact on adoptive families and adopted people. Summary of survey data December 2022, published on 26 January, what steps they will take to support adult adoptees in response to the findings in that report that (1) 41 per cent of adopted people said the increased cost of living was having "a significant negative impact on their mental health", and (2) 89 per cent reported that increased costs for transport and accommodation making it harder to maintain relationships with birth relatives.

The government understands that many people, including adopters and adopted adults, are worried about the impact of rising prices. For this reason, the government is providing £37 billion of support this year, targeted at those who are most in need. The package will see millions of the most vulnerable households receive at least £1,200 of support in total this year to help with the cost of living, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400 to help with their bills.

The department aims to ensure that children waiting to be found new adoptive families are placed with as little wait as possible. Tackling long waits for children who require new adoptive families is a key priority in the 2021 Adoption Strategy ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’. The department is funding Regional Adoption Agency (RRA) leaders to improve the recruitment of adopters, matching children with approved adopters and adoption support over the next three years. In the past year, RAAs have focused on those children who wait the longest and have seen a fall in the number of children with a court placement order waiting for 18 months, from 390 at March 2020 to 240 at September 2022.

Where necessary, the statutory framework covering adoption allows RRAs and local authorities to provide financial support to adoptive parents to support the placement of a child or the continuation of adoption arrangements.

Adult adoptees should be able to access the support that they need, particularly around their mental health needs. The department is publicly consulting on amendments to regulations to simplify arrangements for providers who support adopted adults that will increase the accessibility of support services. One of the proposed changes in the consultation is to remove the requirement that therapists be registered with Ofsted when providing counselling services to adopted adults. This change is recommended in Adoption UK’s ‘Cost of living crisis: impact on adoptive families and adopted people’ report.

The government is also improving NHS mental health support availability. The NHS Long Term Plan and mental health expansion plans will increase funding for mental health services, to target groups with severe mental illness and young people.