Agency ‘clarifies’ government figures

Official
figures are not clearly reflecting the rise in adoption of children
in care, Baaf Adoption and Fostering claims.

Office
for National Statistics figures published last week indicate that
the number of adoptions rose by just 1 per cent last year, despite
government pressure on local authorities to place more
children.

But
Felicity Collier, chief executive of Baaf, said this figure was
“misleading” because it included step-parent adoptions, which have
been falling steadily for several years.

According to the ONS figures, there were 5,131 adoptions in England
and Wales in 2001, an increase of just 49 on the previous year.
Although the number of adoptions of children under five rose by 7
per cent from 2,367 in 2000 to 2,532 in 2001, those of older
children fell by 4.5 per cent from 2,715 in 2000 to 2,599 in
2001.

But
Collier said that, between March 2000 and 2001, there were 400 more
adoptions of children in care in England than in the previous
12-month period, and an estimated 16 per cent fall in step-parent
adoptions.