Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence entitled Adoptee Voices, published on 28 January 2026, if she will take steps with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to ensure mental health provision is available for adoptees that is trauma and adoptee-informed.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The ‘Adoptee Voices’ publication enabled the department to hear directly from adoptees and about their experience of trauma and mental health provision, such provision must be informed by lived experience as well as clinical evidence. The department recently published a consultation, ‘Adoption Support that Works for All’, confirming that we are working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care to design their new pilot to improve mental health support for children in care and their families. This pilot will include support for adoptive families starting in one area and aims to test an integrated model of mental health support for children and families
Alongside this, we are expanding our investment in Regional Adoption Agency multi‑disciplinary teams, which bring together social care, health and education professionals to deliver a holistic package of assessment and support for adopted children and their families.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence entitled Adoptee Voices, published on 28 January 2026, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a national adoptee forum.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Adoption England already has a well-established National Youth Forum. Young people who contributed to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Adoption and Permanence’s Adoptee Voices report can join the Forum to share their views and influence the government and others involved in developing policy. The government particularly wants to hear from adoptees and those with lived experience of adoption. That is why we are seeking their views specifically through our consultation on the future of adoption support. The consultation document can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/adoption-support-that-works-for-all.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence entitled Adoptee Voices, published on 28 January 2026, if she will take steps to provide (a) a safe space in school and colleges for adoptees and (b) a teacher in each school to support adoptees.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children and young people should have every opportunity to achieve and thrive, but too many face barriers holding them back. The upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a system that delivers educational excellence for every child and young person, no matter their background or circumstance.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of previously looked-after children, including children adopted from state care, and must appoint a Virtual School Head to discharge this duty. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to provide advice and expertise on the needs of previously looked-after children on their roll. Previously looked-after children have highest priority in school admissions and attract Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,630 per child per year to support improved educational outcomes.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are committed to updating statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads, including strengthening sections on promoting the educational outcomes of previously looked-after children. In doing so, we will consider the findings of the report to ensure guidance reflects the experiences and needs raised by adoptees. This will support greater consistency and ensure good practice is shared across the system.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence entitled Adoptee Voices, published on 28 January 2026, if she will take steps to provide additional support for adoptees in schools.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children and young people should have every opportunity to achieve and thrive, but too many face barriers holding them back. The upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a system that delivers educational excellence for every child and young person, no matter their background or circumstance.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of previously looked-after children, including children adopted from state care, and must appoint a Virtual School Head to discharge this duty. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to provide advice and expertise on the needs of previously looked-after children on their roll. Previously looked-after children have highest priority in school admissions and attract Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,630 per child per year to support improved educational outcomes.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are committed to updating statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads, including strengthening sections on promoting the educational outcomes of previously looked-after children. In doing so, we will consider the findings of the report to ensure guidance reflects the experiences and needs raised by adoptees. This will support greater consistency and ensure good practice is shared across the system.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that communication in (a) adoption support and (b) reunification cases is (i) timely and (ii) compliant with statutory guidance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Regional adoption agencies should clearly set out on their websites what adoption support is available, who provides it, and how families can access it. This should include an overview of universal, targeted and specialist forms of support. During the adoption assessment process, prospective adopters must also receive information, counselling and advice about adoption, including the support services they may be entitled to. In addition, the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund provides nationwide access to funded post‑adoption support, including therapeutic interventions for adopted children and their families.
In early‑permanence placements such as foster‑to‑adopt, reunification may occur if the court decides a child should return to their birth family. In these circumstances, reunification must follow statutory care‑planning duties, ensuring well‑planned transitions and appropriate support for carers and parents. Adoption England’s Reunification Framework provides structured guidance for practitioners to manage these transitions safely and sensitively, ensuring the child’s needs remain central throughout the process.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure local authorities use the foster to adopt pathway for children in care.
Answered by Janet Daby
Fostering to adopt, also known as early permanence, is a crucial way to offer children stability at a very early stage, preventing multiple moves in the care system. The department has provided funding of £250,000 in 2025/26 for Adoption England to promote this practice and it is encouraging that the number and proportion of early permanence placements has increased from 14% (400) in 2020/21 to 23% (676) in 2023/24. This is avoiding delays and minimising disruption for more children, allowing them to bond with their adoptive family at an earlier stage. Adoption England have also published national standards in this area. The purpose is to promote and shape effective early permanence practice in all adoption agencies across the country to ensure families receive a consistent and high-quality approach no matter where they live, and enable more children to benefit from early permanence placements.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of the foster to adopt pathway for (a) adopted children and (b) the stability of adoptive placements.
Answered by Janet Daby
Fostering to adopt, also known as early permanence, is a crucial way to offer children stability at a very early stage, preventing multiple moves in the care system. The department has provided funding of £250,000 in 2025/26 for Adoption England to promote this practice and it is encouraging that the number and proportion of early permanence placements has increased from 14% (400) in 2020/21 to 23% (676) in 2023/24. This is avoiding delays and minimising disruption for more children, allowing them to bond with their adoptive family at an earlier stage. Adoption England have also published national standards in this area. The purpose is to promote and shape effective early permanence practice in all adoption agencies across the country to ensure families receive a consistent and high-quality approach no matter where they live, and enable more children to benefit from early permanence placements.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of families that have experienced adoption breakdown in the last 12 months.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department does not collect information centrally on families that have experienced adoptions that break down.
The department publishes information on whether children starting to be looked after in any given year were known to have been previously adopted. The latest information available relates to the year ending 31 March 2024 and is in the table ‘CLA starting during the year by characteristics – National’ of the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistical release which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92f77d0d-7e95-45a1-f1db-08dd5cc661f7. This includes information on any known previous permanence arrangement for a child starting to be looked after.
Information for the year ending 31 March 2025 will be published in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure (a) collaboration and (b) information sharing between (i) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), (ii) GPs and (iii) adoption support workers providing care to children with mental health issues.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department provides to schools on providing (a) social, (b) emotional and (c) mental health support to children going through the adoption process.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.