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Education support

Source legislation

Education support for adopters in Scotland

Looked after children have the same rights to extra support in school as other children. All children who are looked after are automatically assumed to have additional support needs – unless they’re assessed and it’s decided they don’t have additional support needs at that time.

However, they may still need extra support later to cope with disruptions or upset caused by leaving a foster family, moving home or changing school. The child’s local authority must consider whether a looked after child needs a coordinated support plan.

Education, social work and staff from other agencies should work together to assess and plan the support a looked after child needs. Local authorities should have detailed policies in place on the education of looked after children to makes sure this happens. The child should be involved in planning their support and have a say in decisions about what they will learn at school and the support they need.

If a child is looked after, their home authority has responsibility for their education even if they are:

• placed in accommodation in another local authority and attending a school in that authority
• placed in a school in another local authority, for example, because school provision that meets their needs is available there.

For more information visit Enquire – the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning.

Read More: Additional support for learning: A guide for parents or carers of looked after children, Enquire

Support for two year old children

Some two-year-olds – including those who are looked after –are entitled to 600 hours a year of early learning and childcare.

Looked after children up to the age of three

Your local authority should also provide additional support for two-year-old looked after children receiving their funded hours of early learning and childcare

School-age children

Your local authority must identify whether your child has additional support needs and give them the appropriate support if they:

• attend or are registered with a school run by your authority
• receive education in another local authority school under arrangements made by your own authority
• have been placed at an independent special school or grant-aided school by your authority.

Your local authority must provide your child with ‘adequate and efficient’ additional support so that they can benefit fully from their education. The term ‘adequate and efficient’ is taken from the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. The Act focuses on individual provision directed at every child.

Find out more – The parents’ guide to additional support for learning, Enquire

Source legislation on adoption support

The Adoption Support Services and Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2009

The Adoption Support Services and Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2009: Circumstances in which adoption allowances may be paid

This page outlines the support adopters in England can access.

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Education support

Housing support

Adoption leave & pay

Adoption support plans

Prior to applying for an adoption order, an adoption support plan is drawn up between the adoptive parents and social workers. The plan outlines the support the child is expected to need in the future and how the adoptive parents will access it. As it can be more difficult to access support once the adoption order is made – with responsibility ceasing to be shared between the adoptive parents and the state, to only being the adopters’ responsibility – many New Family Social members find it useful to delay applying for an adoption order until they feel their concerns and requests for support are fully reflected in the adoption support plan.

Where do I get support from?

Your local authority can advise you on possible adoption support services that may be available to you.

The local authority that places the child with you is responsible for assessing your adoption support needs for three years after the adoption order. After three years it becomes the responsibility of the local authority where you live, if they are different.

If the child has lived with you for more than three years then contact your local authority to find out what support services might be available in your area. Each local authority has an adviser responsible for the services provided by that local authority. The adoption support team in your local authority is legally obliged to assess the needs of you and your child – and will consider with you what services could be of help.

If you adopt through a voluntary adoption agency you can approach it to discuss what post-adoption support services it provides that may help you. If necessary, your agency could help you approach your local authority if appropriate.

For more information visit First4Adoption.

Adoption Support Fund

This is funding for essential therapy services for adoptive families, as and when they need it. There's also separate funding for essential assessments that can be accessed if it is recognised that one is needed in order to better target needed therapy services - which some members find useful as this bypasses the local CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services) provision and isn't subject to the same waiting list, which can be a matter of years. Find out more on First4Adoption.

Education support for English adopters

Pupil Premium

This is funding – £1,900 per pupil – to help education providers give extra support to all children adopted from care to help them reach their potential. Visit First4Adoption for more information on how to help your child’s school access Pupil Premium.

Early Years Pupil Premium: Pre-school support funding

This is additional funding for early years pre-school settings to improve the education they provide for disadvantaged 3- and 4 year-olds including – but not restricted to – those adopted from care.

The funding goes directly to registered early years providers – including pre-schools, nurseries and childminders – that offer children free early education entitlement. Find out more on the First4Adoption website.

Priority access to school places

Adopted children living in England have priority access to schools, so that their parents have the greatest chance to gain a place in the school that most meets their child’s needs. Find out more on gov.uk.

Free education and childcare for 2-year-olds

A child can get free early education and childcare if they’re looked after by a local council or have left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order. Find out more on gov.uk.

Housing support for adopters in England

Priority housing for approved adopters

Approved adopters may be entitled to priority access to council housing . This depends on the adopter’s individual Local Authority housing policy. Make enquiries with the Housing Department in your local authority to establish what their policy is. Find out more from First4Adoption.

Discretionary housing payments

If you live in council housing and claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit while waiting for a child to move in you can also apply for Discretionary Housing Payments so that you’re not penalised financially while you have an empty spare room. Find out more on gov.uk.

Adoption leave and pay

Employed adopters are usually entitled to adoption leave and may be entitled to adoption pay, which is a legal right if you meet the criteria. Certain employers offer a more generous scheme than the statutory one, but no employer can offer less than the statutory amounts.

Read First4Adoption for a handy summary of the rules and entitlements for adopters arranging adoption leave and pay.

'To make sure that staff who adopt are treated as equally as staff who need time off for antenatal appointments, you can get paid time off work to attend five adoption appointments after you’ve been matched with a child. You will qualify for this paid time off if you qualify for statutory adoption leave. Your pay for these appointments should be at your normal salary rate and the time off shouldn’t be deducted from your adoption leave.

'If you don’t qualify for statutory adoption leave because your partner will take it – only one person in a couple can take adoption leave – you can still take time off work to attend two adoption appointments. The time off for these two appointments will be unpaid – unless your employer chooses to offer them as paid time off – to mirror the situation with a pregnant couple, where the pregnant woman’s partner is entitled to unpaid leave for two antenatal appointments.'

There's different support available for adopters depending on which country you are assessed in and adopt from.

Pick your country!

England	Scotland
Wales	Northern Ireland

• 490 adoptions to same-sex couples in 2019

• 1 in 7 adoptions now to same-sex couples in England

 

One in seven adoptions in England were to same-sex couples in 2019, statistics released today (5 December) by the Department for Education reveal. 490 adoptions were to same-sex couples in England in 2018/19, the highest ever number in a single year raising the previous record from 450.

The total number of adoptions in England in 2019 fell to 3,570, the fourth consecutive year-on-year decline since 2015.  The number of children looked after in England rose by 4 per cent to 78,150 at 31 March 2019.

Tor Docherty, chief executive of New Family Social said: ‘It’s fantastic to see the increasing number of children finding their new forever families in England with LGBT+ people. In every adoption case the needs of the child must be paramount and today’s figures show that a number of agencies now work hard to consider a broader range of potential parents. However, there are still thousands of children in care whose lives could be transformed by an LGBT+ adopter or foster carer.’

Of the 490 adoptions, 240 were to married same-sex couples, 100 to couples in a civil partnership and 150 to same-sex couples not married or in a civil partnership. The statistics do not include the sexual orientation or gender identity of single adopters, bisexual people not in a same-sex relationship or trans people – unless they are part of a same-sex couple.

Below is a summary of what the major parties have said in their manifestos about their plans for adoption, fostering, ongoing support for adoptive parents/foster carers and their kids and engaging LGBT+ people with these parenting routes.

Brexit party

No explicit references to adoption, fostering, ongoing support for families doing either or improving LGBT+ engagement.

Read the whole manifesto 

Conservative party

‘We will prioritise stable, loving placements for (children in care) – adoption where possible or foster parents recruited by the local authority. We will review the care system to make sure that all care placements and settings are providing children and young adults with the support they need.’

Read the whole manifesto

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)

Manifesto currently unavailable

Green party

‘(Will) support councils to extend staying put arrangements, to enable fostered young people to stay with foster parents until they are 21.’

‘(Will) create a fully inclusive education system, where children with special education needs are able to access their local school and are fully supported in that school. This means ensuring accessible buildings, an inclusive curriculum and the provision of specially trained teachers across the school system. Specialist schools will be retained, for when children and parents would prefer that option.’

Read the whole manifesto

The Independent Group for Change

No explicit references to adoption, fostering, ongoing support for families doing either or improving LGBT+ engagement.

Read the whole manifesto

Labour party

‘(We will) put LGBT+ equality at the heart of government, ensuring our public services are LGBT+ inclusive and delivering on the national LGBT Action Plan…

‘Labour will launch a wholesale review of the care system, including kinship care, considering national standards such as a central register of foster parents and regulation of semi-supported housing, to ensure we meet the needs of every child.

‘We will protect and build on Staying Put for over-18s in care and the Adoption Support Fund.’

Read the whole manifesto 

Liberal Democrats

‘(We will) increase statutory paternity leave from the current two weeks up to six weeks and ensure that parental leave is a day-one right, and address continuing inequalities faced by same-sex couples.

‘(Will) triple the Early Years Pupil Premium (to £1,000) to give extra help to disadvantaged children who are at risk of falling behind from the very beginning of their education.’

‘(Will) end the crisis in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities funding by allocating additional cash to local authorities to halve the amount that schools pay towards the cost of a child’s Education Health and Care Plan.’

Read the whole manifesto

Plaid Cymru

No explicit references to adoption, fostering, ongoing support for families doing either or improving LGBT+ engagement.

Read the whole manifesto

Scottish National Party

Manifesto not yet published

UKIP

No explicit references to adoption, fostering, ongoing support for families doing either or improving LGBT+ engagement.

Read the whole manifesto

New Family Social’s LGBT+ Adoption & Fostering Week campaign returns in 2020, from 2-8 March. More information will be announced shortly and New Family Social member agencies that want to sign up for more information can complete this form to be added to the mailing list and join other agencies already receiving information including:

• ACE Adoption
• Action for Children
• Adopt London South
• Adopt South
• Adopt Thames Valley
• Adopt Together
• Adoption Connects
• Adoption Counts
• Adoption Focus
• Adoption Matters
• ARC Adoption North East
• Aspire Adoption
• Barnardo’s
• Birmingham Children’s Trust
• Bristol City Council
• Buckinghamshire County Council
• Caldecott Fostering
• Cambridgeshire County Council Fostering
• Caritas Care
• CCS Adoption
• City of Stoke-on-Trent
• Family Futures
• Five Rivers
• Kent County Council
• Leicestershire County Council
• Lincolnshire County Council
• London Borough of Southwark
• Medway Council
• Norfolk County Council
• Northumberland County Council
• One Adoption North & Humber
• One Adoption West Yorkshire
• PACT (Parents and Children Together)
• Rochdale Borough Council Fostering Service
• Scottish Adoption
• Sheffield City Council
• Slough Children’s Services Trust
• Southampton City Council
• St Andrew’s Children’s Society
• St David’s Children Society
• St Francis’ Children’s Society
• Staffordshire County Council
• Stockport Council
• Suffolk County Council
• Team Fostering
• Thurrock Council
• Together for Adoption
• Tower Hamlets
• Vale, Valleys & Cardiff Regional Adoption Collaborative
• Worcestershire County Council
• Yorkshire Adoption Agency
  

Adoptions by same same-sex couples in Wales fell to 40 in 2019, recently published figures by Stats Wales reveal. This means that the proportion of adoptions in Wales to same-sex couples fell to 1 in 8.

The first ever official statement on LGBT+ people adopting in Northern Ireland, shows that in 2018/19  11 per cent of adopters were same-sex couples. The figure – which is not present in any of the accompanying data tables – is the first time that any information on LGBT+ engagement with adoption in Northern Ireland has been released publicly. The information is published by the Information & Analysis Directorate in the Department of Health in Northern Ireland.

In England in 2108 1 in 8 adoptions were to same-sex couples.

Read Children Adopted from Care in Northern Ireland 2018/19

To mark National Adoption Week 2019, New Family Social spoke to both  Fyne Times  and The Telegraph about LGBT+ people adopting, why LGBT+ people are open to adopting those children who are considered ‘harder to place’ and how to start your adoption journey.

1 in 8 adoptions in England in 2018 were to same-sex couples. See all the figures on our statistics pages.

From next September, secondary schools in England will have to teach LGBT-inclusive Relationships and Sex Education, and primary schools to teach about ‘different families’ which can include LGBT families.

This education will help reduce bullying, improve LGBT young people’s lives and enable all children and young people to better understand and respect each other. It’s particularly important for the adoptive and foster children of LGBT+ people. One in eight adoptions in England in 2018 were to same-sex couples and these children have often had chaotic starts to their lives. The support of seeing their new families reflected in the classroom is immeasurable.

Local authorities – who oversee education in most schools – need to hear public support for LGBT-inclusive education. Whether you’re a parent, student, adoption or foster care agency worker, or anyone who’s ever been at school – you can now voice your support. Head over to Stonewall’s website to complete a simple form that’ll identify your local education lead and help you get in touch with them.

Find out more on Stonewall’s website.