Adoptions by female couples in Scotland almost halved in 2024, compared to the previous year. New figures published by National Records of Scotland show that 8 out of 369 adoptions in the country in 2024 were to two female joint adopters, compared to 15 in 2023.

1 in 8 adoptions in Scotland in 2024 were to same-gender couples, with 40 adoptions taking place to male couples last year. With the number of male joint adopters in Scotland rising from 29 in 2023, the tumble in recorded adoptions by female couples mirrors a similar slide in England.

Analysis of these new statistics by New Family Social, shows Scotland remains the country with the lowest proportion of LGBTQ+ adopters in the UK. In England in 2023/24, 1 in 5 adoptions were to same-gender couples, and in Wales and Northern Ireland the figure was 1 in 6.

James Lawrence, Head of Communications & Engagement at New Family Social said: ‘While the proportion of same-gender couples adopting in Scotland remained static in 2024, it masks a worrying decline in the number of adoptions to female couples. Adoption leaders in Scotland need to look closely at their recruitment strategies, assessment and matching practice to identify possible causes for this fall and take action. Looked-after children deserve to have access to the greatest possible pool of potential adoptive parents and this includes LGBTQ+ people.’

The data:

	2024	2023
Adoptions total [Scotland]	369	369
Two male joint adopters	40	29
Two female joint adopters	8	15
Total number of adoptions to same gender couples	48	44
Number of adoptions to same-gender couples as percentage  of all adoptions in year	13	11.9

Data from National Records of Scotland

Limitations of the data

All data published by any UK government undercounts LGBTQ+ people's engagement with adoption. This is because the published data focuses on the composition of the adoptive family rather than covering the sexual orientation and gender identity of the adopters.

As a result our calculations have to exclude:

• single adopters who are LGBTQ+
• bi adopters in a different-gender relationship
• trans adopters in a different gender relationship