Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times local authority children's services departments have put children up for adoption against the wishes of their parents in each year for which information is available.

The department does not collect data on specific adoption circumstances.

Information on those children placed for adoption, where consent is dispensed by the court, is published annually in Table D1 of the statistical release 'Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017' at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017. These are circumstances where the court can dispense without the consent of a parent to the placement and adoption of their child if the welfare of the child requires it. This may be a decision in some situations that does not accord with the wishes of the parents.

The welfare of a child is paramount and local authorities have a statutory duty to intervene to undertake child protection enquiries and to take action to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. However, decisions on adoption are ultimately taken by an independent judge based on the evidence presented.