LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week 2023 is underway and here's some curated highlights you can catch up with online:

We are South Devon 
Wirral View
Hull City Council News 
Swansea Bay News
Pink News 
Pink News - report on parenting study
Children & Young People Now 
Wigan Today
Leicestershire County Council 
Torbay Council 
Stockport Council 
Scene magazine - focusing on the campaign 
Lancashire County Council
Westmorland Gazette 
Hull City Council
Your Cumbria 
The Edinburgh Reporter 
Scene magazine - focusing on a local event 
Inside Devon
Fyne Times 
Knowsley News 
Nation Cymru

The latest estimates in England show that 4 in 10 children with a sibling are separated from a sibling when placed in care. Led by New Family Social, LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week starts today (6 March). It asks potential applicants to think about the number of vulnerable children they could parent or care for.

The need for more LGBTQ+ applicants to explore adoption and fostering is as great as ever. In England in 2022 there were some 82,170 looked-after children. Despite strong numbers of LGBTQ+ people adopting, the number of looked-after children grew by two per cent from the previous year.

Previous analysis showed 47 per cent of same-gender couples waiting for an adoption match were more open to considering groups of brothers and sisters, compared to 36 per cent of different-gender couples.

Tor Docherty, New Family Social Chief Executive said: ‘We hope LGBTQ+ potential applicants will think about the number of children they could care for. Some children need to be cared for by themselves. Others will thrive if they can live with their siblings. In adoption and fostering the needs of the child and children must remain paramount – for some siblings this means staying together.’

The 2023 campaign is supported by some 120 adoption and fostering agencies across the UK. It’s the only campaign to solely focus on LGBTQ+ potential applicants. Among the agencies supporting it are all the adoption collaboratives in Wales, where LGBTQ+ applicants can access dedicated support no matter where in the country they are.

Running since 2012, the campaign’s seen the number of adoptions in England to same-gender couples grow from 1 in 31 to 1 in 6 in 2022. In Wales in 2022, 1 in 4 adoptions were to same-gender couples. In Northern Ireland it was 1 in 10. In Scotland in 2021, 1 in 11 adoptions were to same-gender couples. No government in the UK publishes data on the number of LGBTQ+ foster carers who care for looked-after children.

You can follow LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week online and through Twitter (@lgbtadoptfoster) and Facebook (@newfamilysocial).

‘1, 2, 3, or more?’ is the theme of LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week 2023, which returns from 6 March, 2023. With record numbers of looked-after children across the UK, there’s never been greater need for more LGBTQ+ people to consider adoption or fostering.

The 2023 campaign asks LGBTQ+ people to consider adopting or fostering single children or those in sibling groups. Research by the BBC in 2020 found that more than half of sibling groups in care are split up. In some cases this is because the children need separate care. In others, it’s because of a lack of foster carers or adoptive parents who can care for siblings.

The campaign will bring together the UK’s adoption and foster care agencies with LGBTQ+ potential applicants. Now in its eleventh year, the campaign remains the only one to focus on LGBTQ+ people. LGBTQ+ adoptive parents now represent the second largest group of all adopters inEngland. 1 in 6 adoptions in the country in 2022 were to same-sex couples. In Wales it was 1 in 4. In Northern Ireland, it was 1 in 10. In Scotland in 2021, 1 in 11 adoptions were to same-sex couples.

Agencies wishing to participate in the campaign can complete this online form to register their interest.

1 in 4 adoptions in Wales in 2022 were to same-sex couples, analysis of data published this week by Stats Wales shows. The analysis - by New Family Social, the UK's charity for LGBTQ+ adopters and foster carers - reveals that 22.8 per cent of adoptions in 2021-2022 were to same-sex couples.

This represents a shift in proportion from previous years. Wales now has the greatest proportion of same-sex couples adopters in the UK in a single year - in England more than 1 in 6 adoptions were to same-sex couples, in Scotland in 2021 it was 1 in 11. 

How the statistic is calculated:

Adopter type in Wales	Number	Percentage of total
All adopters 2021/2022	285	100
Male/Male couples	50
Female/Female couples	15
All same-sex couples	65	22.8

As with all the data published by the UK governments it doesn't currently reflect the full engagement of LGBTQ+ people in adoption. The presentation of data excludes:

• Single LGBTQ+ adopters
• Bi people in different gender relationships
• Trans people in different gender relationships

LGBTQ+ people considering adopting in Wales can now benefit from a country-wide partnership between New Family Social and Wales' National Adoption Service. LGBTQ+ applicants to a Welsh local authority adoption service can apply to access New Family Social’s Gold memberships free of charge. It applies to all LGBTQ+ adopters who adopted or are supported through a Welsh local authority and to all future LGBTQ+ applicants taking this route. You can start the application process through this site.

If you hold a Bronze/Silver/Gold/Orange membership with New Family Social you can log in to view our statistics pages.

Adoptions by same-sex couples in England rose by 17 per cent in 2022, new figures published by the Department of Education show. Analysis by New Family Social – the UK’s charity led by and for LGBTQ+ adopters, foster carers and kinship carers – reveals the rise.

The Government statistics say that 540 out of 2,950 adoptions in England in 2022 were to same-sex couples. The same figures show that in 2021, there were 460; which rose by 17.4 per cent to this year’s total of 540.

Same-sex couples adopting accounted for more than 1 in 6 of all adoptions in England in 2022. This is the greatest proportion on record. The news follows the tenth LGBTQ+ adoption & fostering week in March – when the campaign started just 1 in 31 adoptions in the country were to same-sex couples. The campaign focuses on encouraging LGBTQ+ people to explore adoption and fostering and is the only one of its kind in the UK.

Welcoming the news, Tor Docherty, Chief Executive of New Family Social said: ‘This is hugely reassuring – not just for LGBTQ+ people considering adoption but also for looked-after children. These children’s needs are paramount in every adoption decision and LGBTQ+ people are an invaluable pool of potential parents.’

How the figures are calculated, using Department for Education categories and data released 17 November:

Adopter type	Adoptions in 2021 (2020/2021 reporting period)	Adoptions in 2022 (2021/2022 reporting period)
Total same sex couple not in civil partnership or married	160	180
Civil partnership couple [Total of male/male and female/female couples]	80	70
Married couple - both male	130	180
Married couple - both female	90	110
Total	460	540
Total number of adoptions in reporting period	2890	2950
Same-sex couples adopting as part of total adoptions	15.9 per cent / 1 in 6	18.3 per cent / 1 in 5.5

Restrictions of data: As the data presented by the Department for Education relates to adoptive family composition – rather than recorded sexual orientation or gender identity data – it excludes

• Single LGBTQ+ adopters
• Bi people in different gender relationships
• Trans people in different gender relationships

The full data release is available online

LGBTQ+ in England, exploring adopting and looking at agencies? If an agency you’re considering isn’t on the list below, you may want to ask it why. 

Since the summer, senior leaders from across the adoption sector in England have attended training to develop their agencies’ understanding of the issues LGBTQ+ adoption applicants and adoptive parents face. The training is part of a package of work for the National Adoption Recruitment Strategy Group. The course is open to and free for senior leaders delivering services to adoption agencies in England.

Some 14 half-day sessions were organised to deliver the first half of the training, which is a two part course. The first wave of training sessions concludes later in November, with the second half of the training course due later in 2022 and early 2023.

Among the regional and voluntary adoption agencies participating in the training are:

Action for Children

Adopt Coast to Coast RAA

Adopt East RAA

Adopt London East RAA

Adopt London West RAA

Adopt North East RAA

Adopt South RAA

Adopt South West RAA

Adopt Thames Valley RAA

Adopters for Adoption

Adoption Central England (ACE) RAA

Adoption Connects RAA

Adoption East Midlands RAA

Adoption Focus

Adoption in Merseyside RAA

Adoption Lancashire & Blackpool RAA

Adoption Matters

Adoption Now RAA

Adoption Partnership South East RAA

Adoption South East RAA

Adoption West RAA

Birmingham Children's Trust RAA

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Adoption RAA

Caritas Care

CCS Adoption

Coram Ambitious for Adoption RAA

Coram BAAF

CVAA

Diagrama

Family Adoption Links RAA

ICA Centre

National Adoption Leeds

One Adoption North & Humber RAA

One Adoption West Yorkshire RAA

PACT Charity

SSAFA

St Francis’ Children’s Society

Together for Adoption RAA

Yorkshire Adoption Agency

For more information on the training drop us a line through the Contact Us form 

CCS adoption was today (7 October) named as the recipient of the 2022 agency commendation award from New Family Social's LGBTQ+ adopter and foster carer members. 

The announcement comes at the close of the New Family Social's Adoption & Fostering Support Week for LGBTQ+ parents.

One LGBTQ+ adoptive parents nominating the agency said: ‘Throughout our whole adoption process CCS Adoption [was] so supportive. [The staff went] out of their way to help with the settlement of our children into our family. [CCS Adoption] provided specialist services to our family and ongoing support post adoption. We truly couldn't have asked for a better team of dedicated people.’

Accepting the award, CCS adoption's Emma Simpson said: 'CCS is delighted and so proud to receive the 2022 New Family Social members' commendation award. We've been positively promoting and supporting our LGBTQ+ adopters for many years now, through our social group and staff champions and are so pleased that our adopters have voted for us in recognition of this work.'

 

LGBTQ+ adoptive parents to more than one child experience greater levels of physical violence, violence against their home & property and verbal abuse from their children, than LGBTQ+ people who adopt one child. Suffering in silence? LGBTQ+ adoptive parents' experience of & response to violence from their children published today (7 October), reveals a disparity between the real-life experience of child to parent violence for LGBTQ+ adoptive parents to one child compared to those who adopt more than one. LGBTQ+ adoptive parents to more than one child are significantly less likely to seek support from their social worker or post adoption support services, than those parenting one adopted child.

Among the results in Suffering in silence? LGBTQ+ adoptive parents' experience of & response to violence from their children:

4 in 10 LGBTQ+ adoptive parents of one adopted child say that child directed physical violence towards them or their partner in the previous 12 months. 5 in 10 LGBTQ+ adoptive parents of more than one adopted child said the same.

Of those LGBTQ+ parents who’d adopted one child and experienced violence directed towards them/their partner, 66 per cent sought help from post-adoption support or their social worker. When asked the same question, 48 per cent of LGBTQ+ adoptive parents of more than one child, who’d experienced violence directed towards them/their partner, said they sought support.

The disparity is also visible on the experience of violence directed against the home or property and seeking support for it; 73 per cent of LGBTQ+ adoptive parents who’d adopted one child and experienced this behaviour said they contacted their social worker or post-adoption support for help. Of those LGBTQ+ adoptive parents who’d adopted more than one child and then experienced violence against their home or property, 32 per cent reported contacting their social worker or post-adoption support for help.

Access New Family Social's research [Gold/Silver/Bronze/Orange members, requires log-in]

Join New Family Social for free 

If you’ve experienced child to parent violence and need support, please contact your social worker or post-adoption support service. You may also find the following organisations helpful:

National Domestic Abuse Helpline / 0808 2000 247 

Family Lives / 0808 800 2222 

Children 1st Parentline [for families in Scotland] / 08000 28 22 33 

Parenting NI [for parents in Northern Ireland] / 0808 8010 722 

Adoption & Fostering Support Week for LGBTQ+ parents will return from 03 October, 2022. The awareness campaign shares the latest polling from LGBTQ+ adopters and foster carers across Britain, sharing new support materials for them and helping agencies improve the support services they offer. 

Don't want to wait until October? You can check out the 2021 campaign right now. 

Public nominations are open for New Family Social's 2022 awards. These commend adoption/fostering agencies and individual social workers for their work with LGBTQ+ people across the UK.

Nominations close at midday on 30 August, with the results announced during Adoption & Fostering Support Week for LGBTQ+ parents 2022.

New Family Social's LGBTQ+ adopter and foster carer members who hold a Bronze, Silver or Gold membership can participate, by naming agencies, social workers and providing examples of why they are worthy of recognition.

Enter as a Bronze member [log-in required]

Enter as a Silver member [log-in required]

Enter as a Gold member [log-in required]

You can also check out the 2021 winners which included Adoption Matters and Caritas Care.