Campaigning
Influencing government policy and legislation on adoption across the four nations of the UK is an important part of Adoption UK’s mission to improve the outcomes for adopted children and the lives of adopted families.
Adoption UK's four main policy ‘asks’:
- Adopted children to have the same status as looked-after children in relation to their educational needs.
- Adoptive families to have a statutory entitlement to adoption support services, not just an assessment.
- Legislation to be amended to give parity between maternity and adoption pay and leave.
- Adopted children and adoptive families to have the same priority of access to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) as looked-after children receive.
A copy of our policy manifesto can be found below:
Supporting Adopters - Adoption UK's policy recommendations 2011
Latest campaigning news
Government announces plans to overhaul adoption assessment process
On 22 December 2011, Adoption UK welcomed the Government’s announcement on improving the assessment process for prospective adopters.
Jonathan Pearce, Adoption UK Chief Executive, will be part of the Children’s Minister’s Adoption Assessment Working Group, which will draw up a new process to recruit, train and assess people as adoptive parents.
Mr Pearce said: “A great deal of improvement is needed to bring the process up to where it should be and it is great to see that the Government is pushing forward with this issue.
“However, Adoption UK believes any focus on recruiting adopters must go hand-in-hand with good support packages to encourage new adopters and ensure the long-term success of adoptive placements.”
Find out more about our campaigning work in:
England
DECEMBER 2011
Draft revised school admissions code - adopted children to recieve the same priority as looked-after children
On 2 November 2011, The Department for Education published its response to its May 2011 consultation on changes to the school admissions framework.
Giving children adopted from the care system priority in the admissions system is a key development within the new code. It is a major achievement for Adoption UK as it is an issue we have been campaigning on for years.
In response to the announcement and to many of your questions, Adoption UK has produced a briefing to the revised school admissions code:
Answers to key questions - Draft Revised School Admissions Code - December 2011
Adoption UK and the Intercountry Adoption Centre have also written a joint letter to the Schools Minister, Nick Gibb MP, in relation to the revisions:
NOVEMBER 2011
"Rapid Review" of the adoption system by HM Treasury
Following the Prime Minister’s involvement in reforming the adoption system, HM Treasury was asked to carry out a “rapid review” of the adoption system, with view to making recommendations to the Prime Minister in early December, focused on reforming the system, speeding up the process and increasing the number of adoptions from care.
Adoption UK was closely involved in this review and was asked to circulate to its membership and supporters two documents that request further information on prospective adopters’ and adoptive parents’ views on, and experiences of, the adoption system.
OCTOBER 2011
Parliamentary reception
On 11 October 2011, Adoption UK held a Parliamentary reception in Westminster to raise awareness of our four main adoption policy ‘asks’.
The event celebrated Adoption UK’s achievements over the past four decades in supporting the adoptive families of children adopted from the care system; raised the profile of the adopted children and families’ need for support; and looked to the future to see how we can further improve adoption policy and practice and help adopted children and families overcome their early traumatic experiences.
Fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference 2011
On 4 October 2011, Adoption UK held a successful fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference to raise awareness of our four main adoption policy ‘asks’.
The event was chaired by Rosemary Bennett, reporter for The Times, and the discussion panel members were Jonathan Pearce, Adoption UK’s Chief Executive; Amanda Greenwood, Adoption UK’s Development Manager; and Jim Clifford, an adoptive parent who featured in the BBC documentary ‘A Home for Maisie’.
Attendees at the event included MPs, family barristers and representatives from other children’s charities.
A link to an article on the event, written by Children and Young People Now, can be found on our Adoption UK in the News pages.
SEPTEMBER 2011
Supporting an e-petition that calls for greater ongoing support for vulnerable children adopted from the care system
Adoption UK is raising awareness of a new e-petition on the Department for Education (DfE) website which calls for greater ongoing support for vulnerable children adopted from care.
Specifically, the e-petition calls for a legal definition and status for adopted children who were formerly classed as looked-after children (LAC) and for the level of support adopted children and their families receive, to match that of looked-after children and their guardians.
The e-petition has been set up by an adoptive father; shocked at the lack of post-adoption support he has received from his local authority. Although not an Adoption UK-lead initiative, we are backing the e-petition as the issue it raises and its policy objective match key ‘asks’ of our own policy manifesto.
For more information and to sign the e-petition, please visit the Department for Education’s website . Please be reassured that all signatories are concealed from public view.
AUGUST 2011
School Admissions Framework Consultation
Earlier this year, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove launched a consultation on revised School Admissions and School Admission Appeals Codes. The Codes are in place to ensure a fair and straightforward admissions-to-school system that promotes equity and fair access for all.
The current School Admissions Code and School Admission Appeals Code have been in place since February 2009 and apply to all maintained schools and academies in England.
The consultation, which closed 19 August 2011, will inform the final Codes intended to come into force in time for the September 2013 admissions.
Adoption UK responded to the consultation. Below is a summary of the charity’s response. To see a full copy of the Consultation Response Form, please contact Erika Pennington via email on erika@adoptionuk.org.uk
School Admissions Framework consultation - Adoption UK response - 19 August 2011
Schools Admission Response Form
JUNE 2011
Private Members' Bill on Adoption Pay and Leave
An end to discrimination against adoptive parents taking adoption leave from work moved one-step closer on the 29 June, with the introduction of a Private Members’ Bill in the House of Commons.
If passed as law the new legislation would remove the distinction between the pay and leave that adoptive parents are entitled to when adopting a new child compared to that for working mothers who give birth to their children.
Adoption UK helped draft the Bill which was introduced by Valerie Vaz, Labour MP for Walsall, under the 10-minute rule, proposing that current legislation is amended to ensure adoptive parents are treated in the same way as other working mothers and parents.
Currently adopters are discriminated against in the following ways:
- They are required to have 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employers before being entitled to adoption leave (but there is no continuous service requirement for maternity leave).
- During the first six weeks of adoption leave, adopters are entitled to weekly pay at the prevailing rate of statutory adoption pay (currently around £128 per week), while those on maternity leave are entitled to the first six weeks on 90% of their weekly salary.
- Self-employed adopters and adopters on welfare benefits are not entitled to any allowance or entitlement, while self-employed mothers on maternity leave and new birth mothers on welfare benefits are entitled to a maternity allowance (again, currently around £128 per week).
There is to be a second reading on the Bill on Friday 20 January 2012.
If you would like to help Adoption UK to pursue this issue and gain support for the Bill, please download and complete the below letter which you can send to your local MP:
Letter Template - Gaining support for the Private Members Bill on Adoption Pay and Leave
SEPTEMBER 2010
Family Justice Review
Adoption UK submitted its response to the Ministry of Justice’s call for evidence for its Family Justice Review.
The Review plans to:
- examine both public and private law cases
- explore if better use can be made of mediation and how best to support contact between children and non-resident parents or grandparents
- examine the processes (but not the law) involved in granting divorces and awarding ancillary relief, and
- look at how the different parts of the family justice system are organised and managed
The stated overall aim of the Review is to produce a system which allows families to reach easy, simple and efficient agreements which are in the best interests of children whilst protecting children and vulnerable adults from risk of harm.
Family Justice Review - Adoption UK response 30 September 2010
Educational outcomes for looked-after and adopted children
Adoption UK submitted its response to this cross-party inquiry (chaired by MPs Lisa Nandy and Edward Timpson), which focuses specifically on barriers to learning and educational attainment for young people from a care background.
Education outcomes of young people in care - Adoption UK response 13 September 2010
AUGUST 2010
National Minimum Standards for Adoption Agencies and Adoption Support Agencies
Following previous responses and discussions regarding the revised Standards, Adoption UK provided further advice and comments to government officials.
(see also March 2010 update below).
JULY 2010
Department for Education's Adoption Stakeholder Group Adoption UK’s Chief Executive attended the first meeting of this group under the Coalition Government.
The main focus of the meeting was on matching and linking processes in relation to adoption – something which follows on from a recent research report by the Department for Education’s Adoption Research Initiative.
This meeting was an opportunity for Adoption UK to comment on issues around recruitment and matching processes for prospective adopters - particularly in relation to diversity.
APRIL 2010
Media attendance at adoption proceedings/transparency and openness in the family courts
Adoption UK closely followed activities surrounding the Children, Schools and Families Bill.
The Bill (which contains new provisions on media access to, and reporting restrictions on, the work of the family courts) was victim to the pre-election “wash up” in Parliament in early April.
Although initial opposition in the House of Commons had forced the previous Government to make some concessions, it was hoped that the Bill’s progress through the House of Lords would create further opposition and hamper proceedings. However, before the Bill could go through its parliamentary process in the Lords, a deal appeared to be struck between David Cameron (the then leader of the opposition) and Jack Straw (the then Justice Secretary), which resulted in the Bill receiving Royal Assent.
The main reasoning behind opposition to the Bill is a research report published by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (of which Adoption UK was a part), which provides evidence in opposition, from experiences of children and young people in care.(For more details see also January/February 2010 update below.)
MARCH 2010
National Minimum Standards for Adoption Agencies and Adoption Support Agencies
Adoption UK’s Chief Executive (along with representatives from the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies, fostering agencies and children’s homes) met with government officials to work on issues arising from the collation of the consultation responses.
This meeting followed the submission of two previous responses from Adoption UK, to the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ consultation on the draft revisions to the National Minimum Standards for adoption agencies and adoption support agencies.
(For more detail on National Minimum Standards, please see October 2009 update)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010
Media attendance at adoption proceedings/transparency and openness in the family courts
Adoption UK continued to coordinate lobbying work against the Government’s plans to legislate in favour of media attendance in the family courts. Adoption UK did this as part of the Interdisciplinary Alliance for Children (a collection of leading children, families and legal organisations).
The Children, Schools and Families Bill contains provisions on media access to, and reporting restrictions on, the work of the family courts. It completed its passage through the House of Commons in January 2010, with objections forcing the Government to make concessions to its plans to further extend media access.
As a result of these amendments, the Bill cannot be brought into effect until a full, independent review has been conducted on the provisions and impact of the media being granted access to family courts (proposed to commence in April 2009). The conclusions of the independent review must then be set out in a report laid before Parliament. The independent review itself cannot commence before a full review has been completed on the findings from the pilot, allowing for the publication of anonymised judgments.
The Conservative Party said that, if they win the general election, they will “scrap” the provisions and start again.
The Interdisciplinary Alliance for Children had prepared briefings for the parliamentary committees that scrutinise the Bill, highlighting:
- The likely identification of children and families involved in proceedings, which could threaten the stability of present and future family placements
- The unwillingness that many children and young people have expressed about participating fully in proceedings if they know that the media are present
- Delays to court proceedings, in order to resolve issues around the reporting of cases.
Adoption UK is also part of a Children’s Commissioner’s research project, conducted by Oxford University, which is gathering children and young people’s views on media access to the courts. An interim report in January found that children and young people would be reluctant to testify in court if they knew the media were present, and that they have concerns about being bullied if information about their cases and histories found its way into the public domain.
Statutory Adoption Guidance to the Adoption and Children Act 2002
Adoption UK’s Chief Executive, as part of the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ review group, provided comment on proposed revisions to the guidance used by local authorities to implement and put into practice the provisions of the 2002 Act.
Intercountry Adoption – charges for overseas adopters to use government services
Following the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ (DCSF) plans to introduce certain casework charges for overseas adopters, Adoption UK was a signatory in a joint letter objecting the proposals.
Coordinated by the Intercountry Adoption Centre and sent to the DCSF Minister Baroness Delyth Morgan, the letter was also signed by BAAF, PACT (Parents and Children Together), NICA (Network for Intercountry Adoption) and OASIS (Overseas Adoption Support and Information Service). The letter highlighted the following points:
- The importance of intercountry adoption as the only opportunity for a safe and secure family life for a small number of children: including those being adopted by relatives who are resident in the UK; and those adopters who turn to their country of heritage because they are no looked-after children in the UK with whom they might be matched.
- The Government’s previously stated intention to provide an equivalent and equitable service between intercountry and domestic adoption; as set against the current two tier system (ie, domestic adoption costs largely borne by the agency, while intercountry costs borne by the adopters), which the current plans would exacerbate.
- A rebuttal of the Government’s justification that these are services to adults, when in fact the services are provided as part of the UK’s obligations under the Hague Convention and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- That the UK already has some of the highest intercountry adoption fees of any receiving country, and that increasing the fees runs the risk of a minority of prospective adopters circumventing procedures and putting children at risk. There were only 200 intercountry adoption applications in 2009, and so the income generated will be modest compared to the increase in risk.
CAMHS
Following a successful presentation to the MPs and peers of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Adoption and Fostering in December on early intervention in children’s lives, Adoption UK’s lobbying and campaigning work for 2010 began with efforts to improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for adoptive families.
Adoption UK Chief Executive Jonathan Pearce delivered a presentation on adoptive parents’ experiences of CAMHS to a conference in London, with the following key themes:
- The difficulties of dealing ‘day in, day out’ with the extreme, chronic and severe behavioural difficulties of many adopted children.
- The personal impact of those difficulties on parents’ mental and emotional wellbeing, and the effects on health and marriages/partnerships.
- Deep concern over the responses of schools and the educational system towards their children’s mental health difficulties.
- The missed opportunities that various public services had to do something about their children’s difficulties much earlier on, e.g., in care planning or at the time of placement.
- Unresponsive CAMHS, that in many cases were too hard to access, were not “adoption aware” and did not involve parents in their children’s therapeutic support.
- Concerns for the future health and wellbeing of their children, particularly in relation to adult mental health services.
The presentation summarised the conclusions from three focus groups of adoptive parents. It formed part of Adoption UK’s project work with the North London Post Permanent Placement Consortium over the past two years.
Adoption pay and leave
Adoption UK has responded to a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) consultation on plans to extend paternity leave to those in work.
Although not the direct focus of the consultation, Adoption UK’s response raised the related issue of the disparity between adoption pay/leave and maternity pay/leave, which unfairly discriminates against adopters. Jonathan Pearce also met with DBIS officials to raise this issue.
Click here for details of Adoption UK's 2009 campaigning in England
CAMHS
Adoption UK is part of the North London Post Permanent Placement Consortium, which brings together the Tavistock Clinic, the Anna Freud Centre, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Marlborough Centre, Coram and BAAF. The aim is to develop a consistent approach to the assessment and therapeutic treatment of adopted children. The Consortium is working under a DCSF project grant that will enable it to do this. It includes funding for Adoption UK to convene groups of adopters for the purposes of generating feedback and evaluation on the use of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). The third and last CAMHS focus group was held in March 2009. All three groups were incredibly powerful in terms of the stories and experiences that adopters were able to describe, not just in relation to CAMHS, but also other areas of family support, notably educational services. The focus groups will inform the wider project’s work and it is hoped they will have a major impact on the future development of CAMHS.
Scotland
2009
In September 2009, the bulk of the Adoption and Children Act (Scotland) Act 2007 came into force. Details of the new laws, which, among other things, cover new adoption support requirements for local authority social work departments in Scotland, can be found on the Scottish Government’s website.
It is not clear is what funding and resources the Government will be putting behind the new adoption initiatives, although there may be announcements about this later in the years.
Statutory Guidance on the Act is shortly to be developed: the Scottish Government has commissioned BAAF and the Fostering Network to draft this. Adoption UK will be closely involved in the consultations on the draft guidance and is currently asking the Government to confirm how it will consult on this.
Adoption UK has submitted several responses to the consultations on the draft Regulations to be made to implement the Act in Scotland. Download Adoption UK’s responses to the consultations below:
Support Services and Allowances
Adoptions with a Foreign Element
Adoptions with a Foreign Element - Special Restrictions
Disclosure of Medical Information
Wales
2009
In September 2009, Ann Bell (Development Manager – Wales) and colleagues had a successful meeting with the Children's Commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler, raising the profile of adoptive parenting issues. They called for support for the country’s adoptive families, particularly in the light of increasing numbers of adoptions that are taking place in Wales. Ann is currently carrying out a survey among adopters in Wales, to gather information their support needs and views on adoption. The Commissioner is interested in seeing this when it is published in early 2010.
Adoption UK has also responded to a consultation on the Independent Review Mechanism Fostering and Adoption. Download the consultation document and response below:
IRM Consultation - Adoption UK's response
In February Ann met with a civil servant from the Welsh Assembly Government to discuss the possibility of future work on educational support for adopted and looked after children.
Northern Ireland
2009
In October 2009, Stephen McVey (Development Manager – Northern Ireland) and Jonathan responded to the DHSS&PS’s consultation on the ‘Vetting Requirements in Adoption, Fostering and Private Fostering’. Download the consultation document and response below:
Vetting RequirementsConsultation
Vetting Requirements - Adoption UK's response
At the end of June 2009, Stephen met with officials from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSS&PS) to discuss Adoption UK’s work, its views on adoption services, to learn more about the forthcoming legislation and also to discuss the tendering process for the future adoption support services that the Department hopes to begin developing shortly.
Also in June 2009, at Stephen’s instigation, the Children’s Commisioner, Patricia Lewsley, met adoptive parents at a support group in Belfast to listen to them directly, to try togain a greater insight into the issues they faced. The meeting was attended by 20 parents, some travelling across the country to tell their stories.
They gave personal accounts of their experiences, telling stories that were often traumatic, showing the lack of support available to adoptive families. Dominant themes were education and health issues, courts, the length of the adoption process and lack of consistency across different trusts. Parents asked Ms Lewsley to challenge the trusts on their inability to provide services. The Commissioners’ Office has said it will explore how the concerns raised can be carried forward.
In March 2009, Stephen met with various MLAs at Stormont to discuss ways to resolve the political impasse around introducing new adoption legislation for Northern Ireland. He also had an unscheduled meeting with the Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, on the same issue, however, it remains unclear how the legislation will become a reality.
At the end of 2008, Stephen and colleagues met with representatives from the Department for Health, Social Services & Public Safety to discuss the specifications for a regional independent, birth parent mediation service, and a regional model for post adoption contact mediation and facilitation service and a therapeutic support service. A presentation was made on the work of Adoption UK, and its views on the key parts of an effective support service for adoptive families.