Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they intend to take in response to the estimate published by the BBC that during the last five years the adoption arrangements of more than 1,000 children have resulted in those children being returned to local authority care.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Providing support for families at an earlier stage, before needs escalate to crisis point, is critical and we are working with Adoption England to achieve this.
Adoption England are working with their local authority partner safeguarding teams to improve the support adopted families receive when they are in crisis. This includes developing a national protocol which can be used for all adoption support services teams in regional adoption agencies and local authority front door safeguarding services.
We have provided funding of £8.8 million to Adoption England to improve adoption services, including support to adoptive families This includes implementing a new framework for an early support core offer which covers the first 12 to 18 months after placement.
This financial year the department has also invested £50 million into the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to ensure that adopted children can access therapeutic services which help stabilise placements and address complex needs.