Coram-i analysis of foster care adoptions

Following on from analysis which was undertaken last year, Coram-i has shared new Summary Reports on Foster Care Adoptions from the perspective of both the child’s and the adopter’s journey. Analysis was undertaken on the child and adopter level data for adoptions that were identified as Foster Carer adoptions (children adopted by their foster carer (not Early Permanence placements) to see if any patterns and trends could be identified.

The analysis indicates that the proportion of foster care adopters continue to decline. Children in foster care adoptions remain more likely than standard adoptions to be over the age of 5, from an ethnic minority, have a disability and have a ‘harder to place’ characteristics, but less likely to be from a sibling group.

Foster care adopters are now more likely to have a disability and less likely to be from an ethnic minority (excluding white minorities) than standard adoptions. However, they remain more likely to be female, identify with a religion, be a single adopter, be aged over 50, and heterosexual. A notable change from 2020/21, is that adopters identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual, and same sex couples, both decreased by nearly half in 2021/22.

The Summary Reports are available here:

Foster care adoptions CHILDREN 2021-22

Foster care adoptions ADOPTERS 2021-22

Please do not share these reports outside of your organisations as they are not public reports.