Why we need to get a grip on adoption

[Alison J Stevens]

Why we need to get a grip on adoption

A balance must be struck between safeguarding, helping families to stay together and positive action, says Anne Longfield

• Anne Longfield
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 24 February 2012 10.00 GMT
• Article history

Many families are searching for a child to adopt but they often complain that the process is offputting and inflexible. Photograph: Getty

The rising number of children going into care and falling numbers of adoptions are of huge concern. There are many children in need of loving parents, and many appropriate parents searching for a child to adopt.

At 4Children we speak to families who tell us of the heartache they have gone through under the current system. They speak of a process that is offputting and inflexible. They feel that too often the system is actively working against the very people it was created to support. Many potentially suitable parents feel driven away.

We have to get a grip on the adoption system, putting children and families first. It takes more than a year for some potential candidates to be given approval, leaving thousands of children in care for years waiting for a family. Clearly, anything that can make the adoption process faster and simpler will benefit the record number of children going through the system.

While there has been improvement in recent years for the outcomes of children in care, they still lag behind other children. Good adoption can help support those children who have been through crises – building self-esteem and coping skills, setting boundaries and routines – so they prosper and flourish in later life.

A balance must be struck between safeguarding, helping families to stay together and pushing positive action. But a commitment from government to speed up decision making is welcome.

The priority must be to give potentially good parents their opportunity, and give children the loving support they deserve. This requires the government to do more to convince more people to consider adoption.

Adoption is frequently a consequence of family breakdown and crisis. Where adoption is inevitable, we call for a streamlined adoption process. But it would be doing families a disservice if we did not also call on government to provide more early intervention support to prevent family breakdown in the first place, giving parents the skills and support they need to deliver for their children.

Better early intervention is crucial to improving children's wellbeing in any situation. The government is already making progress, such as the pilot parenting schemes and Sure Start children's centres being offered in local authorities across the country. But there is much more to be done. Research for 4Children's Give Me Strength campaign has revealed huge public support for a more preventative approach to family support, with 95% of people believing that families in crisis are capable of turning their lives around with the right help.

Our priority should therefore be to help families who are struggling and stopping problems developing into crises.

The government deserves praise for the positive approach it has taken on adoption. But if it fails to provide a properly financed universal system of early intervention support, then more families will face crises and more children will end up in care.

Making adoption simpler so more people sign up is a welcome step. The next move is a strong programme of early intervention delivering for families.