After a two year assessment journey Neil and Stuart were matched - and now live - with their son. However, his birth parents want to contest the adoption. Check out their story in the latest instalment of 'Adoption, Fostering & Tea'. 

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How do you know when it's the right time to adopt? Cameron shares his story in the latest instalment of Adoption, Fostering & Tea.

He and his husband are researching adoption and wondering whether they know enough. Should they move house first?  When is the right time to start the process?

You can check out his questions and solutions on Apple podcasts now, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Stuart and Simon return to update us on their story in the latest instalment of 'Adoption, Fostering & Tea'. The couple adopted siblings in 2020 and share the joy and challenges they've gone through since their first appearance on the podcast. ️‍

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Voluntary adoption agencies across the UK have come together with a joint mission to stop brothers and sisters who are waiting in care from being separated when adopted.

Almost half of children currently waiting in care* are part of a family group and voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) are looking for people who can offer them a permanent and loving home.

Diagrama Adoption and Fostering is among 23 VAAs from across the UK that have together created a guide for people considering adoption containing helpful information and advice from parents who have already adopted sibling groups.

Kate Patel, Head of Adoption and Fostering, Diagrama Foundation said, 'The impact on children in care who are separated from their brothers and sisters can be huge. It is vitally important that a permanent family is secured for them, however if this means they are separated from their siblings when they have already experienced a difficult start in life, then this can be really challenging.

'Yet so few people feel equipped or able to consider adopting a sibling group of two, three, or even four children.

'We are excited to be part of this project sharing first hand, heartfelt experience and advice from families who have already done this incredible thing of adopting a sibling pair or group.'

VAAs are specialists in finding families for children who wait the longest in care. They work in partnership with local authorities to find families for children waiting for a permanent home.

As independent, not-for-profit organisations VAAs offer intensive services to provide families with support - both when the children are placed and into the future.

Maggie Jones, Chief Executive, Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA) which represents VAAs across the country said, 'Brother and sisters who are adopted together are often the only constant thing in each other’s lives in times of huge upheaval, loss and trauma.

'The voluntary adoption sector are specialists in finding families for sibling groups and being there for them with bespoke packages of support for as long as it’s needed.'

Find out more about Diagrama Adoption

Find your nearest Voluntary Adoption Agency 

*There are currently 2,030 children waiting to be adopted in England. 890 of those are in a family group. 520 children who are part of a sibling group have been waiting for 18 months or more to find a home.

What's it like to foster babies if you're LGBTQ+? Terry & Alex - a same-sex couple - do just this.

Their story kicks off the tenth series of New Family Social's podcast Adoption, Fostering & Tea.

You can check out this ep wherever you get your podcasts and catch up with some 60 previous instalments.

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Apple Podcasts

Analysis of the latest figures by New Family Social shows that in Wales in the same year 1 in 4 adoptions were to same-sex couples. In England it stood at 1 in 6. While adoptions to same-sex couples in Scotland fell in 2022, both Wales and England saw increases in their figures.

‘This fall is truly troubling for LGBTQ+ Scots who hope to adopt,’ says James Lawrence, Head of Communications & Engagement at New Family Social. ‘In recent years Scotland’s adoption services have never matched the same proportions of LGBTQ+ people adopting as those in Wales and England. These new figures now show a worrying slide in both the proportion and also the actual numbers of adoptions to same-sex couples in Scotland.

‘We do know of isolated examples of good practice from individual agencies in Scotland – such as Scottish Adoption, St Andrew’s Children’s Society and Barnardo’s. In Wales and England there’s clear national strategies – and results – for recruiting and supporting LGBTQ+ adopters.

‘In Wales for example, all LGBTQ+ adoption applicants can access dedicated support through their assessment, matching and parenting – no matter which local authority they go on their journey with – thanks to our partnership with Wales’ National Adoption Service. Similarly all the adoption collaboratives in Wales – which represent all the local authority adoption services in the country – participated in the UK’s LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week this year.’

‘In every adoption case the needs of the child must be paramount. Poor engagement with LGBTQ+ people restricts the pool of potential adoptive parents, which isn’t in the best interests of vulnerable children. There’s clear evidence across Britain that it’s possible for a country to routinely see 1 in 6 adoptions be to same-sex couples, where there’s a strategic approach at a national level in efforts to broaden engagement and recruitment.’

LGBTQ+ adoption in Scotland

Source: National Records Scotland

Limitations of data: No country in the UK fully records LGBTQ+ adoption. The statistics reported by government focus on the composition of the adoptive family by gender - so whether the parents are two men, two women, one man and a woman, etc. rather than the sexual orientation or gender identity of the adopters. This means single LGBTQ+ people, bi people in a different gender relationship and trans people in a different gender relationship are invisible in the figures.

LGBTQ+ in the UK & considering adoption or fostering? Join New Family Social for free as a Bronze member. You can then access our online tools to find information sessions and details of local agencies keen to hear from you as a potential applicant.

Join as a Bronze member 

Congratulations to the five winners of our The Queer Parent competition. Each winner's now been contacted and a copy of the book is now 'en route' to you. 

Thanks to the 200 members who entered the competition and to the book's publishers for their generous prize. 

In May 2023 senior leaders from across the adoption sector in England took part in a course specifically designed to drive improvements in its work with LGBTQ+ applicants.

As LGBTQ+ people now represent the second largest group of people who adopt in the country New Family Social works with agencies to make this as smooth as possible – while also supporting and advocating for LGBTQ+ people on their adoption (and fostering) journeys.

Among the organisations that completed the two-part course for senior leaders were:

• Action for Children
• Adopt East RAA
• Adopt London East RAA
• Adopt London South RAA
• Adopt North East RAA
• Adopt South RAA
• Adopt Thames Valley RAA
• Adopters for Adoption
• Adoption Central England (ACE) RAA
• Adoption Connects RAA
• Adoption East Midlands RAA
• Adoption Focus
• Adoption Matters
• Adoption Now RAA
• Adoption West RAA
• Birmingham Children’s Trust (Now Adopt Birmingham RAA)
• Caritas Care
• Coram Ambitious for Adoption RAA
• Coram Baaf
• CVAA
• Diagrama
• IAC Centre
• National Adoption Leeds
• One Adoption North & Humber RAA
• One Adoption West Yorkshire RAA
• PACT Charity
• SSAFA
• Yorkshire Adoption Agency

The training – which was free to attend – was open and promoted to all regional adoption agencies and voluntary adoption agencies working in England.

If you’re considering which agency to go on your adoption journey with – and it doesn’t appear on the list above – you may want to ask it why.

Bronze members can also log in to the site to check out agencies across the UK that want to hear from LGBTQ+ people as potential applicants. 

Diagrama Foundation is asking people in Kent to consider choosing a career that makes a difference to children’s lives. With many children in care urgently requiring foster placement the charity will host a free fostering event at the Maidstone Community Support Centre on 22 June. At the event people looking for a rewarding career can find out more about foster care.

The charity is an agency member of New Family Social. This allows any LGBTQ+ people who foster with Diagrama to apply to access a Gold membership free of charge.

Kate Patel, Diagrama Foundation's Head of Adoption and Fostering, said: 'There's a pressing need for additional foster carers for the children in care in Kent. We'd love to meet with anyone who perhaps previously considered fostering but never pursued it, or is looking for a new and rewarding career where they'll make a difference.

'Those who foster with us can be assured that they are in very safe hands. Not only do we provide 24/7 support but we're thrilled that our recent Ofsted report rated our service as GOOD. It highlighted that ‘Children say that they feel safe and well cared for by their foster carers’. It also said that "Children and foster carers benefit from the expertise that the leadership and management team bring in the areas of child placement, social work with children and families, and safeguarding".'

The informal Diagrama drop-in fostering event will take place at Maidstone Community Support Centre on 22 June between 11am and 2pm. Those attending can meet and talk with members of the fostering team as well as carers employed by the charity.

Foster Carers need to be aged over 21 and must have a spare bedroom in their home. They can be retired, working full or part time, single or married and from any race or cultural background. No experience of having children is necessary as the charity provides full training.

Diagrama foster carers receive a minimum of £415 per week per child.

To find out more visit Diagrama's website or call 0800 802 1910

New Family Social’s summer camp will return to the West Midlands in August 2023. Gold members can log in now to find out more details – location, dates – and book on, as part of the first ticket release.

The camp is a unique opportunity for LGBTQ+ adoptive parents, foster carers, special guardians and the children they care for to holiday together. As well as a packed schedule of events for all children and young people it’s a rare chance for them to spend time with families that look like theirs.

Gold members can log in to find out more