Covid-19: The impact on children waiting for adoption

On Tuesday 14 July 2020, the APPG for Adoption and Permanence held its second one-off session looking at the impact of Covid-19 on adoptive families and children placed in other permanence arrangements. While the first session focused on education and the transition back to school for families, this session focused on a very different part of the system; that is, the flow of families stepping forward and being available to children waiting to be adopted.

Adoption recruitment is of vital importance. With the latest figures showing 2,800 children in England waiting to be matched with an adoptive family and 41% of these children already waiting 18 months or longer, the stream of individuals and families stepping forward remains of paramount importance. The session sought to understand how Covid-19 has impacted the journeys of prospective adopters through the assessment and approval process and gather a broader picture of the impact this has had on children waiting.

Mark Owers, Chair of the National Adoption Recruitment Steering Group told the group of the applaudable resilience and adaptability demonstrated by social workers and adoption teams across England in the wake of the pandemic, recognising the challenges faced by having to rapidly move their systems online. He shared that while the virtual medium has sped up parts of the assessment and approval process and provided greater efficiency, it has also impeded social workers from being able to use all five senses when assessing prospective adopters, which has caused concern.

Despite the challenges faced by the adoption workforce, Mark outlined that interest in adoption had actually increased during Lockdown, with some regional adoption agencies (RAAs) reporting inquiries to be up by between one quarter and one third. He attributed this to the renewed emphasis on family that Lockdown has brought, with many people spending more time at home and having space to think more about family life and whether adoption could be an option for them.

Building on Mark’s evidence, Maggie Jones, CEO of the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA), reinforced that Covid-19 had elicited greater interest in adoption with higher attendance at online information events. She welcomed the innovative practice seen within the sector in response to the pandemic, including the strong level of peer support developed and facilitated for adoptive families. Despite these successes, she highlighted that decision-making panels had particularly struggled with the new virtual medium causing them to be slower and not processing as many people as they normally would.

In addition, the requirement of prospective adopters to undergo and submit a medical check has been a considerable concern. While the Government introduced temporary regulations which relaxed the requirement for the medical check to be submitted before a prospective family can proceed to Stage 2, many families who would be looking to go to decision panel in the next month or so are unable to do so, because they remain unable to secure a medical check through their GP. This is resulting in a backlog of families at the Panel stage of the process. In addition, there has been inconsistency of thought and approach about how introductions should be conducted between children matched with a family, resulting in some children experiencing delays in moving to live with their forever family.

In between witnesses, the session heard powerfully from three families at different stages along their adoption assessment journey about the impact of Covid-19. These families spoke unanimously to the way in which conducting much of their assessment process via virtual means had provided efficiency, but also spoke honestly about the challenge of answering deeply personal questions through a more impersonal medium. In addition, some felt nervous about having never seen their social worker in the flesh, despite having reached a fairly late stage in the process. Moving forward, as agencies and authorities consider what elements of the virtual way of working should be kept, it is vital that these families’ experiences are taken on board and that the process recognises the need to remain appropriately relational, given the highly personal nature of the assessment process.

Finally, John Simmonds from CoramBAAF shared about the significant challenges faced by the Courts system during Lockdown and the impact on adoption. While the courts shifted to virtual ways of working, Judges have remained highly conscious of the huge and lifelong impact of their decisions upon the lives of children, birth families and adoptive families. Many found conducting proceedings via telephone or conference call to not be in keeping with the fundamental principle among courts of a fair trial and as such, many care proceedings came to be routinely adjourned. Although courts have now reopened, they continue to face challenges in operating within social distancing measures causing many court proceedings to remain adjourned. Sadly, this means that a significant number of children are facing delayed decision-making about their lives, impacting their ability to find stability as early as possible. Prior to Covid-19, the courts were already experiencing a backlog in cases which has now only been exacerbated. John called on urgent action to be taken by the courts, local authorities and central government to assess the scale of children waiting as a result and identify what solutions should be put in place to address these issues.

Overall, the session highlighted the truly mixed picture created by Covid-19 on the journeys of prospective adopters and children waiting. While there has been positive practice emerging, including heightened interest in adoption and greater efficiency in the process by the use of virtual means, it was also clear that the system is in danger of enduring delays at many points; around medical checks, panels and most crucially, in the courts system. The APPG recognises the importance of taking swift action to ensure that children do not wait unnecessarily to find stability and we stand ready to work with Government and the sector to mitigate against delays in the adoption system and ensure children are placed in a timely manner in homes where their needs can be met.