I was delighted to join a roundtable today with a group of adopters from Adoption UK and hear their thoughts and concerns.
Adoption is a really important area of policy in my ministerial brief, and it remains a big priority for us in the Department for Education.
We continue to invest in supporting adoption and kinship care, and since 2010 the Government has made progress to reduce the number of children waiting for adoption from 5,000 to 2,600. Moreover, children are moving in with adoptive families faster. In 2015, the Adoption Support Fund was introduced which included £177 million to deliver support, such as therapeutic parenting, creative therapies, and specialist assessments to 62,000 families. In 2017 the first regional adoption agencies were launched. meaning there are now 31 agencies covering 145 local authorities across the country.
However, we recognise that we need to go further. This is why we have announced the new adoption strategy 'Achieving Excellence Everywhere' which is being supported by £48 million in investment. This strategy is seeing regional adoption agencies collaborating to deliver a framework of national standards, so that services are delivered to the same high quality across the country. It also sets out how the Government will improve adoption support from the moment a match with a family has been approved. This includes not only direct support in the home, but also by schools and local health services, and support which will continue throughout their childhood whenever it is required.
I will remain determined and steadfast in continuing to improve government policy issues surrounding adoption in England and holding meetings and roundtables like this one with Adoption UK helps me and the Government achieve this.