The Contribution of Voluntary Adoption Agencies to Outcomes for Children

The contribution of voluntary adoption agencies to outcomes for children

VAA Sector Performance Report

Key points from VAA Statistical Returns: 2014-15 ENGLAND

Voluntary Adoption Agencies Sector Performance Report

Statistical Returns: 2014-15

Contents:

Chart Index

Where possible the following colour code convention has been used on the graphs:

SECTION A: Key findings relating to children

This year the Voluntary Adoption Agencies in England have seen a slight decrease in the number of children placed in comparison to 2013/14 by a total percentage of 11%. There has been a 54% overall increase in placements over the last 5 years.

There has been a notable decrease in the number of children placed within a sibling group in comparison to last year and the number of children placed in larger sibling groups (one of three, one of four, more than four) is also the lowest in 5 years.

Across the system as a whole, 14-15 saw 37% of children placed in sibling groups with 25% of VAA’s placements being in sibling groups.

Figure 3 above shows that while fewer children in the younger age ranges (4 and under) were placed by VAAs last year, there was an increase in the number of children over the age of 5 who were placed, even in the context of the overall reduction in placements seen by the sector.

The average age at placement across the system is 3 years and 10 months. This is in line with the ages at placement for VAAs with the majority of children being placed between the ages of 1-4.

Four of the CVAA English member agencies undertook inter-country adoption placements in 2014/15

The number of intercountry placements made by the VAAs in 14-15 is precisely the same as the previous year. While the context for intercountry adoption remains difficult, with long delays and restrictions by sending countries, there is some anecdotal evidence that interest in intercountry adoption is increasing again as the climate for domestic adoption becomes more challenging, and with a surplus of adopters now seeking children.

There has been a slight decrease of 2% in the percentage of BME children placed overall. This is in line with what is happening across the system as the overall proportion of BME children placed in 2014/15 is also 19%. 22% of children waiting to be placed across the system are BME.

The overall numbers of children placed who are covered by these 6 categories decreased from 650 in 2013/14 to 528 this year (-18%). This decrease consists of children with specific health care needs or being subject to a SEN statement; children at risk of foetal-alcohol syndrome or whose mother is known to have used drugs during pregnancy; and children known to carry genetic risks such as schizophrenia.

However, the decrease masks a 19% increase in the number of placements for children registered as disabled or with a formal diagnosis, and an increase of 26% in placements for children identified as suffering from developmental delay.

Achieving accurate and consistent reporting of children’s additional needs continues to be challenging and in the table above, some children will be showing in more than one category. However, the figures do highlight the complex issues presented by many children awaiting adoption and evidence the importance of comprehensive adoption support services being available to adoptive families and the importance of joined up provision across education, health and social care services.

With a decrease in the overall number of children placed, (11%) one would expect to see an increase in the number placed but not yet formally adopted and indeed, the graph above shows a decrease of 9% on the previous year.

Whilst still placing a good number of children, the disruption rate pre-adoption has decreased slightly from 3.2% in the previous year to 3% in 2014-15. In previous years there has been an increase in disruptions of placements of children aged ten or older; whilst this year, disruption has increased for children aged 0-4.

SECTION B: Adopters from enquiry onwards

Figure 9 – Adopter Enquiries by Quarter for 2013-14 and 2014-15

2014/15 we saw a 23% increase on last year’s adopter enquiries with a large increase in enquiries in both the first quarter and the final quarter.

Figure 10 shows an increase in applications from prospective adopters across the year as a whole – though with numbers of applications declining from Q2 onwards.

The above graph demonstrates a decreased conversion rate from enquiry to application, with 2013/14 figures suggesting an application to enquiry ratio of 1:7.6 in comparison to this year’s ratio of 1:9.9. However, with many VAAs introducing marketing and recruitment techniques that recognise that the market for VAA adopters is heavily dominated by children with challenging needs, this may be an example of effective VAA recruitment techniques as they redirect unsuitable enquiries and focus their efforts on those more willing to take the children available.

Figure 12 – Number of Adopters Approved over last 5 years

Statistics for 2014-15 show that VAAs have achieved a 2% increase in adopter approvals on the previous year. Given the sustained fall in adoption decisions and placement orders across 14-15 (a fall of 50%), converting these adopter approvals into placements will require VAAs to increase their market share as a sector significantly. Maintaining large adopter stockpiles, and lengthening timescales in the wait for interagency fee receipts will continue to be a challenge for agencies too.

There has been a significant increase in the number of families approved for sibling adoption, reversing a downward trend from the past two years. It is worth bearing in mind the decrease in the number of children placed by the sector within a sibling group over the past year. 48% of children awaiting adoption are part of a sibling group.

Figure 14 – Second-time Approvals

Because the number of approved adopters remains high, it has had the effect of reducing the percentage of second time adopters significantly. The number of 2nd time adopters has remained reasonably consistent with last year at around 7% of overall approved adopter numbers.

The number of adopters with a BME heritage has decreased from 167 last year to 159 this year. As the overall adopter approval numbers continue to rise it does result in a lower percentage of BME numbers.

Statistics for 2014-15 evidence significant increases in the number of adopters approved for the majority of the above groups, as part of the overall increase in approvals. Same sex female couples have increased by 23%, Single female adopters have increased by 50% and Single Male adopters ha increased by 400+% (against the back-drop of overall increase in approved adopter numbers). Same sex male couples were the only category to see a decrease by 124%, These 4 categories together now represent 26% of the overall number of approved adopters.

The above graph demonstrates the ratio of children placed to the number of approvals. The average ratio over the last 7 years is 1.290. If we were to apply that to the number of approvals during 2014/15 it would have resulted in 1,048 placements this year.

There has been a slight decrease in the number of adopters being matched in less than 6 months since 2013/14, however there is still a significant improvement in comparison to subsequent years. As national child-level matching timescales increase, and with a larger VAA adopter stockpile, this is likely to increase over the coming year. All other time scales are comparable with what was established in 2013/14.

In 2011-12 CVAA saw a significant drop (46% on the previous year) in adopters who withdrew post approval, but in 2012/13 the figure increased 19%. In 2013/14, this increased by a further 10%, and this has remained static for 2014/15.

This shows how many adopters approved by VAAs and LAs went from ROI to approval within 6 months or less. LAs performed better on this measure, with significantly more adopters being approved by LAs within 6 months of submitting an ROI than by VAAs. Nevertheless, for both VAAs and LAs, the vast majority of prospective adopters took more than 6 months to proceed from ROI to approval.

SECTION C: Adoption support

The above figures demonstrate an 8% decrease in new referrals for support on last year.

SECTION D: Agency scale & scope and finance

Figure 22– Number of VAAs placing these numbers of children

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This table shows that there is an increasing gap between the smaller and larger VAAs. The numbers of VAAs placing a smaller number of children has increased, however, this could be to attributed to an overall reduction in number of children placed across the sector.