Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what support regional adoption agencies will provide for adoptive families from 2020 onwards.

Over half of all local authorities in England are already delivering adoption services through a regional adoption agency (RAA), and we expect all local authorities to be doing so from 2020. RAAs aim to deliver a regional adoption system where sufficient high-quality adoption services are available nationwide for all adopted children and their families.

Following the launch of a RAA it will be the responsibility of the agency to ensure that high quality adoption support is available within their region. This will be driven by local need and developed through learning from best practice across the regionalised system. All services should be provided to meet the requirements as set out in the Adoption and Children Act (2002).