Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

John Milne Excerpts

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

As I have already said, this Government have no intention of getting rid of the funding in future years. It is down there in law that support needs to be given to adoptive families and, indeed, we are giving that support to children placed in special guardianships and to kinship carers.

[John Milne (Horsham) (LD)]

I am talking to a family in my constituency who adopted a young boy and a girl in 2021. They understood at the time that the children were likely to have special needs because of their upbringing, but they were prepared to take on the challenge. The boy in particular requires therapy to keep him in mainstream school. They have been very distressed over recent months at the possibility of losing the funding. Does the Minister not appreciate that this damages our great need to recruit more people to be adoptive parents, which does the state a great service and the children themselves the best possible service?

[Janet Daby]

There are many families, people or couples who wish to adopt, and I encourage them still to consider including a child in their family and in their life. I will also say, as I have said before, that local authorities have a duty to support adopted children, and no adoptive person or couple should ever not adopt for financial reasons. Obviously, they also undertake an assessment to make sure they are suitable.