The Adoption Barometer: A Stocktake of Adoption in England
Adoption UK · 2024
About this report
This annual survey of adoptive families and adult adoptees in England finds that the proportion of families in crisis reached 38% in 2023, up from 30% in 2022, and optimism about the future has fallen to its lowest ever recorded level. Adopted young people aged 16–25 are more than twice as likely to be NEET compared to the national average, and support for adult adoptees — including access to personal records, therapeutic services, and peer support — remains severely inadequate. While improvements were seen in early-stage processes such as life story materials and written support plans, delays in approvals and deep shortfalls in specialist support for teens, young adults, and adult adoptees are persistent and worsening concerns.
Research details
- Methodology
- Survey
- Sample size
- 2,087
- Sample
- Adoptive parents of children aged 0–25, prospective adopters, and adult adoptees aged 18 and over living in England; 93% white ethnicity among adopters, 16% LGBTQ+, 43% Adoption UK members; adult adoptees 71% aged 45 or older, 70% adopted in the 1970s or earlier.
- Who it's about
- Care-experienced / care leavers
- Place
- England
- Youth involvement
- No youth involvement