There has been a 40 per cent decrease in the number of children in the UK waiting for adoption, the latest official figures have shown.
According to the ‘Adoption Leadership Board headline measures and business intelligence’ report, which covers the fourth quarter of 2014 and into 2015, there were just 2,810 children were waiting to be placed as of 31 March 2015. This is down two fifths from 31 March 2014 when there were 4,680 children awaiting a placement with a new family.
There has also been a drop in the length of time children are having to wait to be adopted; in 2012-2013 the average number of days between entering care and placement stood at 656 - a year later this had fallen to 594. The data available so far for the 2014-2015 period suggests that this figure is going to fall further still, with predictions suggesting it could hit 533.
However, the government’s latest quarterly data revealed that timelines are changing. It shows that in Q2 2013-14, 50 per cent of approvals made by local authorities were made within six months of registration, while in Q4 2014-15 this had decreased to 28 per cent.
So while the number of children awaiting adoption and the average time spent in care is falling, work evidently still needs to be done in improving the speed of approvals being made for children to leave and enter their new home.