Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the needs of adopted and kinship children are recognised in reforms to special educational needs and disabilities provision and wider education policy.

The current system for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is failing too many children and families. Improving the life chances of children and young people with SEND is the first priority for these reforms, including for adopted children and for those who have experienced early-life trauma. Every child deserves a high-quality, inclusive education, and families should not have to battle the system for this.

During the 12-week ‘SEND reform, putting children and young people first’ consultation, we hosted over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, including ‘deep dive’ discussions on the interaction between children’s social care reforms and recommendations from the Law Commission’s report into disabled children’s social care. The government will provide a full response to this report in the autumn.

The SEND reform consultation has now closed, and we are carefully reviewing and considering all responses submitted to the consultation. We will publish a response to the consultation in due course.

Virtual School Heads promote the educational achievement of previously looked-after children, including those who left care through adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements orders. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act extends this role to eligible children in kinship care.

Schools must appoint a designated teacher for previously looked-after children, who attract £2,690 annually in Pupil Premium Plus. We are updating statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads and designated teachers, and schools can now record children in kinship care through the school census.

The department is considering responses received from ‘Adoption Support that Works for All’, which consulted on support at key life stages and integration of social care, health and education. The department is also piloting support for children entering secondary school, and Families First Partnership multi-disciplinary teams will help families receive support from the right professionals at the right time.