The document discusses the recent decline in adoption numbers in the UK. It considers the argument that this could be a positive thing if more children were being reunited with families, but casts doubt on this. It notes the large magnitude and suddenness of the drop in adoption orders. There is also no evidence that past decisions to take more children into care or increase adoptions were inappropriate. While adoption may not be the best option for all, research shows it provides the most stability and permanence compared to long-term fostering or kinship care. The sudden drop in adoptions is concerning given the transformative effect it can have on children's lives.

1. Tuesday’s publication of the Myth Buster on recent court cases
prompted a diverse debate on Twitter. One tweet stood out for me,
a distinguished academic challenging why the fall in adoptions
wasn’t seen as a good thing? I think that’s a question worth trying
to answer.
In certain circumstances if the fall in numbers meant that more
children were being permanently reunited with their families, or
moving into good quality kinship care it would be a good thing.
But I don’t believe that’s the case. First of all, the magnitude and
suddenness of the drop should prompt disquiet: placement orders
have dropped by nearly half in nine months. Second, there’s no
evidence to believe that decisions to take more children into care
in recent years, and see more of them adopted, have been
inappropriate. Much has been made of the number of adoptions,
last year - 5,000 - reaching record levels. But that’s only in recent
years. The reality is that adoptions have been in steady decline,
since the mid seventies when there were 25,000 a year. And there’s
no evidence that we’re being too cautious in reuniting children.
Elaine Farmer’s recent study found that of those returned home
from care – about half - were neglected or abused again within two
years.
Has the Government’s drive to secure a recovery in adoption
numbers perhaps blinded local authorities to alternatives? All I
can say is that after three years immersed in this, after visits to
perhaps forty local authorities, I have simply never come across a
culture in which adoption was pursued as an end in itself. I don’t
believe we have local authorities, or individual practitioners, who
would not rather see successful reunification with the birth family
as the reason for a child leaving care. In recent years we may have
seen a greater – evidence informed -realism about the prospects of
such reunification. But I don’t believe that option is ever casually
dismissed.

2. I believe adoption is the best outcome for only a minority of
children in care. Fostering can be fantastic and is, very frequently,
the better option for some children, older children for example.
And I have described Kinship Carers as forgotten heroes: some of
them need more support and I want to help achieve that. But in
terms of stability, adoption offers a permanence which neither
long term fostering nor kinship care can match. Professor Julie
Selwyn’s research into adoption breakdown found that a child
aged 0-4 years was 61 times more likely to experience a disruption
if cared for under an SGO than an adopted child of the same age.
Ian Sinclair’s 2005 study, Foster Children: Where Do They Go And
How Do They Do found that fewer than half of the fostering
placements, generally expected to be long term, lasted longer than
a year.
So, I think we need to be truly concerned at the sudden drop in the
number of children being selected for adoption when that option is
likely to have such a transformative effect on lives.