Reports from the Adoption Leadership Board demonstrate that the time taken between a child being received into care and being placed in an adoptive placement has again reduced.
Drop in average adoption waiting time
The board reports that the period of time in 2012-2013 was 22 months and this reduced to 18 months in 2014-2015. The first quarter of 2015-2016 has shown a further reduction of a month resulting in the average period of time being 17 months.
The improvements have been driven by an increase in the number of children being placed within a year. In 2013-2014 the average number period of time between a Placement Order being made and a child being matched with prospective adopters was seven months. This figure has increased slightly in the first quarter of 2015-2016 to a period of 8 months.
On 30th June 2015, there were 2460 children waiting to be placed for adoption following a Placement Order being made this was down from 31st March when there were 2970 children waiting to be placed.
The number of people registering to become adopters has decreased from 1250 to 960 a reduction of 24% however the figures suggest that there are now more prospective adopters than children waiting for placements and so it is hoped that the wait for children to find adoptive placements will continue to fall.
How can Nelsons help?
For more information in relation to adoption, please contact a member of our expert Family Law team on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.