Family Law

The British Association for adoption and Fostering (BAAF) has been rated 'outstanding' in its recent Ofsted inspection.

BAAF works as a Voluntary Adoption Agency and Adoption Support Agency in England and Wales and was rated outstanding at every single area assessed, rather than just as an overall rating. The association will now feature on Ofsted's outstanding provider list.

Louise Hocking, BAAF's Director of Child Placement and the Registered Manager of its adoption agency is ‘delighted' with the rating which she said ‘reflects the work that the staff at BAAF undertakes and recognises their continuing dedication to improving the lives of vulnerable children and young people'.

'Ofsted's role is to inspect and regulate services and it is the key external mechanism for scrutinizing the work of adoption agencies. Therefore being rated as "outstanding" is a measure of the high quality of the service offered by BAAF to children, both directly and indirectly. The rating also informs the public and other professionals about how well the agency conducts its practice including its role in supporting and advising other agencies,' Ms Hocking said.

The number of adoptions is increasing in England, according to the Office for National Statistics. There were 5,206 adoptions in 2012, an increase of 9.8% since 2011 when there were 4,740 adoptions. It represents the largest annual increase in adoptions over the last 15 years.

However, there are still about 3 times as many children waiting for adoption than there are adopters available.  In particular children aged 5 and above take over a year longer to be adopted than children aged under 5, according to the Department of Education.