Adoptions in Somerset have almost doubled in the last year. In 2012/13 there were 51 adoptions, 24 more than the previous year, a huge increase compared to the 15 per cent rise nationally.
Cllr Frances Nicholson, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, said: “The massive response to the Council’s campaign to attract more people to adopt and the hard work of the Adoption Team to improve the approval and matching process is really helping to meet the increasing need for adopters and ensure that children waiting to be adopted can move to their ‘forever families’ as soon as possible.
“However, there is much more to do, we are continuing to make improvements to the adoption process following government’s adoption reform and we continue to campaign to find more potential adopters for children in care.”
The national and local rise in adoptions is also because of an increase in children coming into care. In Somerset, the number of children in care has risen from 370 to more than 500 in just four years. This rise is in line with national trends that are strongly linked to the high profile Baby Peter case. More people are aware of the signs of neglect and abuse and are quick to report it, which means more children come into care at an early age. In Somerset, currently around 60 per cent of children waiting to be adopted are under two years old, a very different picture to five years ago when hardly any children under two were available for adoption.
Cllr Nicholson continued: “There are children of all ages, ethnicities and religions waiting to be adopted, babies, toddlers, older children, siblings, twins and children with disabilities all waiting for loving and caring parents to give them a home and a family. Finding families for these children is our priority.”