Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were adopted from care in England by different-sex couples in each of the last five years, broken down by the age of the child at the date of the adoption order.

The department publishes information on the sex of adopters, including a breakdown by legal status, in Table E3 of the ‘Children looked after in England, including adoptions’ statistics release, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/cf632a88-23f2-4d70-5463-08de072d13df. The department does not collect information on the age of adopters.

In the year ending 31 March 2025, 1980 children were adopted by different-sex couples and 450 children by single-adopters. Of the 610 children adopted in the year ending 31 March 2025 by same-sex couples, 410 children were adopted by male same-sex couples and 200 were adopted by female same-sex couples.

Figures on the number of children looked after who were adopted, broken down by the child’s age on adoption and whether the adopters were same-sex couples, different-sex couples or single adopter can be found in the attached table.