Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to ensure that records of adoptions are more easily accessible by relevant parties.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Adoption and Children Act 2002 introduced a process to help relevant parties access information on adoption records for those adopted on or after 30 December 2005. The legislation sets out that certain information relating to a person’s adoption must be kept. Once an adopted child reaches the age of 18, they can request this information from the adoption agency that placed them with their family. This will usually take the form of their permanence report. On receipt of such an application, an adoption agency will consider carefully how best to disclose this information since it will contain information about the child’s early life, some of which may be upsetting or distressing.
Individuals who were adopted before 30 December 2005 may apply to the Registrar General for information to enable them to obtain a certified copy of their birth certificate. The Registrar General must inform the adopted person of the availability of counselling services (with a requirement to attend for those adopted before 12 November 1975) before the information can be provided.
Further information is available in the Adoption Statutory Guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adoption-statutory-guidance-2013.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) adoptions and (b) special guardian placements have broken down in the each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department does not hold information on all the occasions when special guardianship placements or adoptions have broken down. A research report, ‘Beyond the adoption order’, was published in 2014 and gave a one-off insight into adoption breakdown. This report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beyond-the-adoption-order-challenges-intervention-disruption.
National statistics on numbers of children in England starting to be looked after who had a previous permanence arrangement, whether a special guardianship order or adoption order, are available at the bottom of Table C1 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.
These figures were collected for the first time in 2014 and should be treated with caution as the information is based on self-declaration and for a large number of children the previous permanence arrangement is not known.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions children subject to special guardianship orders and adoption orders have been placed into local authority care under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department does not hold information on all the occasions when special guardianship placements or adoptions have broken down. A research report, ‘Beyond the adoption order’, was published in 2014 and gave a one-off insight into adoption breakdown. This report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beyond-the-adoption-order-challenges-intervention-disruption.
National statistics on numbers of children in England starting to be looked after who had a previous permanence arrangement, whether a special guardianship order or adoption order, are available at the bottom of Table C1 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.
These figures were collected for the first time in 2014 and should be treated with caution as the information is based on self-declaration and for a large number of children the previous permanence arrangement is not known.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adoptions have been disrupted in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department does not hold information on all adoptions which breakdown after the adoption order is granted.
A research report ‘Beyond the adoption order’ was published in 2014 and gave a one-off insight into adoption breakdown. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beyond-the-adoption-order-challenges-intervention-disruption.
Information is collected on children who return to care and who are reported as having previously been adopted. This is published in table C1 in the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’, available to view at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.
These figures were collected for the first time in 2014 and should be treated with caution as the information is based on self-declaration and for a large number of children the previous permanence arrangement is not known.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 13 December (HL3750), what guidance on (1) the cultures of specific minority ethnic communities, and (2) understanding different minority cultures, is provided to social workers who assess children for care or adoption.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Ensuring children are safe is our priority. Councils are expected to place children with foster parents who are best suited to their needs. For adoption, courts and adoption agencies must have regard to any of a child’s characteristics. This could include a child’s religious persuasion, racial origin, and cultural and linguistic background if thought relevant. Adoption agencies must work within the national regulatory frameworks, exercise their own professional judgement and develop their own policies to meet local needs. This is set out in the attached ‘Statutory Guidance on Adoption’ and can be found in Chapter 4.
The department commissioned the consultancy Mott Macdonald to produce materials for continuing professional development of social workers in achieving permanence. This contract was completed in December, with significant input from an expert working group of sector representatives. The department will consider how to take this forward in due course. This is in addition to the Assessed and Supported Year in Education programme, available to all newly qualified children and family social workers, the Practice Leaders Development Programme, and the Practice Supervisors Development Programme, which is currently under development.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 13 December (HL3750), what progress they have made in developing a continuous professional development programme for social workers; and where details of that programme can be accessed.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Ensuring children are safe is our priority. Councils are expected to place children with foster parents who are best suited to their needs. For adoption, courts and adoption agencies must have regard to any of a child’s characteristics. This could include a child’s religious persuasion, racial origin, and cultural and linguistic background if thought relevant. Adoption agencies must work within the national regulatory frameworks, exercise their own professional judgement and develop their own policies to meet local needs. This is set out in the attached ‘Statutory Guidance on Adoption’ and can be found in Chapter 4.
The department commissioned the consultancy Mott Macdonald to produce materials for continuing professional development of social workers in achieving permanence. This contract was completed in December, with significant input from an expert working group of sector representatives. The department will consider how to take this forward in due course. This is in addition to the Assessed and Supported Year in Education programme, available to all newly qualified children and family social workers, the Practice Leaders Development Programme, and the Practice Supervisors Development Programme, which is currently under development.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what education and training on the culture of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities is provided to social workers who assess children for care or adoption.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Chief Social Worker’s statement of knowledge and skills, published in November 2014, sets out our expectation of what all child and family social workers need to know and be able to do, to practice effectively. A separate knowledge and skills statement for achieving permanence, published in November 2016, explains how social workers should make long-term plans for children who are looked after or may become looked-after children.
Following registration, employers of social workers are responsible for determining the support and training they make available to social workers to meet the social care needs of children.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to reduce the number of children who are returned to care after adoption in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government has invested significantly in supporting adoptive parents, most substantially through the launch of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) in May 2015.
This is playing an important role in reshaping the provision and availability of local support so that children and families can receive the support they need to avoid adoption breakdown. In April 2016 the Fund’s scope was extended to cover children being cared for under a Special Guardianship Order and children living in England who were adopted from countries other than England (known as overseas and inter-country adoptions)
To date, over 12,500 families have received over £39m of therapeutic support through the Fund. Funding for the Adoption Support Fund will increase by over 20% for 2017-18 to £28m.
National statistics on numbers of children in England starting to be looked after who had a previous permanence arrangement are available at the bottom of Table C1 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016.
The Department collects information on looked after children from local authorities in England only. Figures on children starting to be looked after by previous permanence arrangements was first published for the 2013-14 financial year.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children who have been returned to care after adoption in England and Wales in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government has invested significantly in supporting adoptive parents, most substantially through the launch of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) in May 2015.
This is playing an important role in reshaping the provision and availability of local support so that children and families can receive the support they need to avoid adoption breakdown. In April 2016 the Fund’s scope was extended to cover children being cared for under a Special Guardianship Order and children living in England who were adopted from countries other than England (known as overseas and inter-country adoptions)
To date, over 12,500 families have received over £39m of therapeutic support through the Fund. Funding for the Adoption Support Fund will increase by over 20% for 2017-18 to £28m.
National statistics on numbers of children in England starting to be looked after who had a previous permanence arrangement are available at the bottom of Table C1 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016.
The Department collects information on looked after children from local authorities in England only. Figures on children starting to be looked after by previous permanence arrangements was first published for the 2013-14 financial year.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adoptive families have applied to the Adoption Support Fund in the last 12 months; how much has been paid from that Fund during that time period; and how much has been paid out below the amount claimed in that time period.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The latest Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Children looked after in England, including adoption, 2015 to 2016’ published by the Department for Education shows that to the year ending 31 March 2016, 4,690 children ceased to be looked after due to being adopted. This is less than the 5,360 in 2015 but is still higher than the 3,470 children ceasing to be looked after due to adoption in 2012. The SFR is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/556331/SFR41_2016_Text.pdf.
To address this reduction, we are amending legislation through the Children and Social Work Bill to improve the way decisions about long-term care options are taken, so that adoption is always pursued when it is in a child’s best interests. The Government’s adoption strategy, which we published in March, sets out plans to redesign the whole adoption system to ensure that we have the foundations in place to build a lasting change that benefits children.
The Department has funded research on adoption disruption numbers by Julie Selwyn, Dinithi Wijedasa and Sarah Meakings - titled ‘Beyond the adoption order: challenges, intervention, disruption’. This was published in April 2014 and looked at all children who were adopted from care in England between 1st April 2000 and 31st March 2011. The research can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beyond-the-adoption-order-challenges-intervention-disruption
The Department also publishes data each year on the number of children starting to be looked after who were in a previous permanence arrangement, as part of the above SFR. At 31 March 2016, local authority returns showed that this figure was 510. This is available in table C1 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2015-to-2016. This data was collected for the first time in 2014.
We recognise that adoptive families need support and that is why we established the Adoption Support Fund (the Fund). Local Authorities made 5,873 applications to the Fund on behalf of 8,193 families during the period November 2015 – October 2016. During the same period (November 2015 – October 2016) £26,714,546.16 of funding was approved. Up until 6 October, applications were fully funded where they met the Fund’s criteria. Where an application is not eligible it would be returned to the local authority to review and amend to ensure that it meets the criteria of the Fund. Once an application is approved the total value requested from the Fund would be paid out in full to the local authority.
On 6 October, we introduced a ‘fair access’ limit for the Fund: eligible applications of up to £5,000 will continue to be fully funded; exceptional cases can receive up to an additional £25,000 from the Fund where there is matched funding from the local authority.