In May 2023 senior leaders from across the adoption sector in England took part in a course specifically designed to drive improvements in its work with LGBTQ+ applicants.

As LGBTQ+ people now represent the second largest group of people who adopt in the country New Family Social works with agencies to make this as smooth as possible – while also supporting and advocating for LGBTQ+ people on their adoption (and fostering) journeys.

Among the organisations that completed the two-part course for senior leaders were:

• Action for Children
• Adopt East RAA
• Adopt London East RAA
• Adopt London South RAA
• Adopt North East RAA
• Adopt South RAA
• Adopt Thames Valley RAA
• Adopters for Adoption
• Adoption Central England (ACE) RAA
• Adoption Connects RAA
• Adoption East Midlands RAA
• Adoption Focus
• Adoption Matters
• Adoption Now RAA
• Adoption West RAA
• Birmingham Children’s Trust (Now Adopt Birmingham RAA)
• Caritas Care
• Coram Ambitious for Adoption RAA
• Coram Baaf
• CVAA
• Diagrama
• IAC Centre
• National Adoption Leeds
• One Adoption North & Humber RAA
• One Adoption West Yorkshire RAA
• PACT Charity
• SSAFA
• Yorkshire Adoption Agency

The training – which was free to attend – was open and promoted to all regional adoption agencies and voluntary adoption agencies working in England.

If you’re considering which agency to go on your adoption journey with – and it doesn’t appear on the list above – you may want to ask it why.

Bronze members can also log in to the site to check out agencies across the UK that want to hear from LGBTQ+ people as potential applicants. 

Diagrama Foundation is asking people in Kent to consider choosing a career that makes a difference to children’s lives. With many children in care urgently requiring foster placement the charity will host a free fostering event at the Maidstone Community Support Centre on 22 June. At the event people looking for a rewarding career can find out more about foster care.

The charity is an agency member of New Family Social. This allows any LGBTQ+ people who foster with Diagrama to apply to access a Gold membership free of charge.

Kate Patel, Diagrama Foundation's Head of Adoption and Fostering, said: 'There's a pressing need for additional foster carers for the children in care in Kent. We'd love to meet with anyone who perhaps previously considered fostering but never pursued it, or is looking for a new and rewarding career where they'll make a difference.

'Those who foster with us can be assured that they are in very safe hands. Not only do we provide 24/7 support but we're thrilled that our recent Ofsted report rated our service as GOOD. It highlighted that ‘Children say that they feel safe and well cared for by their foster carers’. It also said that "Children and foster carers benefit from the expertise that the leadership and management team bring in the areas of child placement, social work with children and families, and safeguarding".'

The informal Diagrama drop-in fostering event will take place at Maidstone Community Support Centre on 22 June between 11am and 2pm. Those attending can meet and talk with members of the fostering team as well as carers employed by the charity.

Foster Carers need to be aged over 21 and must have a spare bedroom in their home. They can be retired, working full or part time, single or married and from any race or cultural background. No experience of having children is necessary as the charity provides full training.

Diagrama foster carers receive a minimum of £415 per week per child.

To find out more visit Diagrama's website or call 0800 802 1910

New Family Social’s summer camp will return to the West Midlands in August 2023. Gold members can log in now to find out more details – location, dates – and book on, as part of the first ticket release.

The camp is a unique opportunity for LGBTQ+ adoptive parents, foster carers, special guardians and the children they care for to holiday together. As well as a packed schedule of events for all children and young people it’s a rare chance for them to spend time with families that look like theirs.

Gold members can log in to find out more

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.'