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Will the Government's Myth Buster document resolve the decline in adoption?
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Cast your minds back to March 2012 when the Government launched its campaign to promote adoption.
Adoption in 2012 was at its lowest point in a decade – with only 3 000 children adopted in 2011. In 2012 only 60 babies (children less than 12 months) were adopted.
Led by Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for Education who was himself adopted as a baby the Government wanted to promote early successful adoptions – not thwart them.
The Government were firmly of the view that the ‘adoption system’ took too long. Things needed to be speeded up. Decisions to remove children from their birth families needed to be made in a more timely way. More children ought to be provided with a stable loving and permanent adoptive home. And here began the firm focus on timescales within adoption.
What has changed?
Since 2012 everything has been speeded up and shortened. The adoption assessment (two stage process) has quickened. Prospective adopters can now expect to be assessed within 6 months by their local authority. The family justice system has sped up – care cases...
Read the full article here.
