Adoption data published today obscures reality of declining adopter numbers and long waits for children

The Department for Education has today revealed the latest data on the numbers of children in care and those placed for adoption and special guardianship orders in the last year.  

The number of adoptions remains similar to previous years, with 3,040 adoptions taking place in the year to March 2024, compared to 3,020 in the year to March 2024 – a slight increase. Following a peak of 5,360 adoptions in 2015, there has been an overall decline in the number of adoptions taking place.   

In comparison, the number of special guardianship orders (SGOs) increased last year by 6% from 3,860 to 4,110. In 2019 the number of special guardianship orders overtook the number of adoptions and 2,800 of these were granted to former foster carers who were relatives or friends, a 13% increase. 

Special guardianship orders are overwhelmingly obtained by family members or friends of the family who were caring for a child, or by foster carers (including family/friend foster carers), suggesting that SGOs are predominantly being used where children would otherwise have been in informal kinship arrangements or long-term foster care.  

The average age of adoption has gone down slightly to three years and two months from three years and four months, in contrast to the average age for special guardianship which has increased slightly to six years and five months this year, from six years and two months last year.  

The latest data shows that on average, it takes one year and seven months for a child to be placed with their adoptive family from care, the same length of time as last year. It also shows that the average time it takes for a child to be adopted from care is two years and three months, down one month since last year.   

The average time between a child entering care and being placed for adoption was one year and seven months, the same as last year. In total it takes two years and three months from entering care to an adoption order being granted. 

These figures come amid growing concern for the decline in the number of prospective adopters coming forward, impacting the numbers of children with a plan for adoption waiting to be placed with an adoptive family and the amount of time they wait. Data published earlier this year revealed a shortfall of 750 adoptive families as of March 2025, almost three times as many as a year previously, with a 55% rise in the number of children waiting for over a year with a placement order.