LGBTQ+ adoptive parents to more than one child experience greater levels of physical violence, violence against their home & property and verbal abuse from their children, than LGBTQ+ people who adopt one child. Suffering in silence? LGBTQ+ adoptive parents' experience of & response to violence from their children published today (7 October), reveals a disparity between the real-life experience of child to parent violence for LGBTQ+ adoptive parents to one child compared to those who adopt more than one. LGBTQ+ adoptive parents to more than one child are significantly less likely to seek support from their social worker or post adoption support services, than those parenting one adopted child.

Among the results in Suffering in silence? LGBTQ+ adoptive parents' experience of & response to violence from their children:

4 in 10 LGBTQ+ adoptive parents of one adopted child say that child directed physical violence towards them or their partner in the previous 12 months. 5 in 10 LGBTQ+ adoptive parents of more than one adopted child said the same.

Of those LGBTQ+ parents who’d adopted one child and experienced violence directed towards them/their partner, 66 per cent sought help from post-adoption support or their social worker. When asked the same question, 48 per cent of LGBTQ+ adoptive parents of more than one child, who’d experienced violence directed towards them/their partner, said they sought support.

The disparity is also visible on the experience of violence directed against the home or property and seeking support for it; 73 per cent of LGBTQ+ adoptive parents who’d adopted one child and experienced this behaviour said they contacted their social worker or post-adoption support for help. Of those LGBTQ+ adoptive parents who’d adopted more than one child and then experienced violence against their home or property, 32 per cent reported contacting their social worker or post-adoption support for help.

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If you’ve experienced child to parent violence and need support, please contact your social worker or post-adoption support service. You may also find the following organisations helpful:

National Domestic Abuse Helpline / 0808 2000 247 

Family Lives / 0808 800 2222 

Children 1st Parentline [for families in Scotland] / 08000 28 22 33 

Parenting NI [for parents in Northern Ireland] / 0808 8010 722 

Adoption & Fostering Support Week for LGBTQ+ parents will return from 03 October, 2022. The awareness campaign shares the latest polling from LGBTQ+ adopters and foster carers across Britain, sharing new support materials for them and helping agencies improve the support services they offer. 

Don't want to wait until October? You can check out the 2021 campaign right now. 

Public nominations are open for New Family Social's 2022 awards. These commend adoption/fostering agencies and individual social workers for their work with LGBTQ+ people across the UK.

Nominations close at midday on 30 August, with the results announced during Adoption & Fostering Support Week for LGBTQ+ parents 2022.

New Family Social's LGBTQ+ adopter and foster carer members who hold a Bronze, Silver or Gold membership can participate, by naming agencies, social workers and providing examples of why they are worthy of recognition.

Enter as a Bronze member [log-in required]

Enter as a Silver member [log-in required]

Enter as a Gold member [log-in required]

You can also check out the 2021 winners which included Adoption Matters and Caritas Care. 

   

New figures published this week show that there were a record number of adoptions in Scotland to same-sex couples couples in 2021. In total there were 44 adoptions to same-sex couples, out of a total of 480.  The previous high was 41 adoptions in 2019. The new figures show that 9.2 per cent - or 1 in 11 - adoptions in Scotland in 2021 were to same-sex couples. 

Despite these record figures, Scotland remains behind England and Wales in the proportion of adoptions to LGBTQ+ people, with England recording 1 in 6 adoptions to same-sex couples in 2021 and Wales 1 in 8.

No UK country successfully records the full engagement of LGBTQ+ people in adoption. The data collected is on the composition of the adoptive family - one man and woman, two men, two women - rather than sexual orientation or gender identity data of the adoptive parents. This means all data above excludes single adoptive parents, bi people in an opposite gender relationship and trans people in an opposite-gender relationship.

Year	Male couples	Female couples	Total same-sex couples in Scotland
2010 (earliest year on record)	4	1	5
2011	0	1	1
2012	7	1	8
2013	11	3	14
2014	7	10	17
2015	11	11	22
2016	24	6	30
2017	23	7	30
2018	23	5	28
2019	27	14	41
2020	11	7	18
2021	32	12	44

Source of Data: National Records of Scotland

LGBTQ+ adoptive parents feature in the latest ep of the Blended podcast - which is a special focusing on Fathers' Day. They share their experiences of parenting and how they'll mark the event.

Listen now on Apple podcasts 

We're recruiting! Could you be our new Supporter Engagement Manager, helping LGBTQ+ adopters and foster carers?

Find out more about the role by heading over to the vacancy page.

Applications close on 28 June.

As we head into Pride month, New Family Social shared some of its thoughts on what Pride means with Fyne Times. We also covered some of the barriers that LGBTQ+ adopters and foster carers can face in participating in parades and cutting comments from within our community.

Read the piece online

Day tickets for New Family Social's summer camp 2022 are now on sale. Summer Camp - which brings together hundreds of LGBTQ+ adopters, foster carers and the children they care for, from across the UK - takes place 25-29 August. It's a great opportunity to share time with other LGBTQ+ parented families and to build new friendships.

LGBTQ+ adopters and foster carers who hold a Gold or Silver membership can log in now to find out more. 

Summer Camp 2022

New Family Social is thrilled to announce today – 11 March, the last day of LGBT+ Adoption & Fostering Week – a new partnership with Wales’ National Adoption Service. This strategic relationship will mean that 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.

This is the first such country-wide partnership with New Family Social in any of the UK’s nations. It provides LGBTQ+ adopters and adoption applicants a consistent level of peer-support services, whichever local authority consortium they apply through. Adoption social workers for Welsh local authorities will also benefit from dedicated support and access to the latest good practice when working with LGBTQ+ people, developed by New Family Social.

Mae New Family Social yn falch iawn o gyhoeddi heddiw – 11 Mawrth, diwrnod olaf Wythnos Mabwysiadu a Maethu LHDT+ – bartneriaeth newydd gyda Gwasanaeth Mabwysiadu Cenedlaethol Cymru. Bydd y berthynas strategol hon yn golygu y gall ymgeiswyr LHDTQ+ i wasanaeth mabwysiadu awdurdod lleol yng Nghymru wneud cais i gael mynediad i aelodaeth Aur New Family Social yn rhad ac am ddim. Mae’n berthnasol i’r holl fabwysiadwyr LHDTQ+ sydd wedi mabwysiadu neu’n cael eu cefnogi gan awdurdod lleol o Gymru ac i bob ymgeisydd LHDTQ+ yn y dyfodol sy’n dilyn y llwybr hwn.

Dyma’r bartneriaeth genedlaethol gyntaf o’i bath gyda New Family Social yn unrhyw un o wledydd y DU. Mae’n darparu lefel gyson o wasanaethau cymorth cymheiriaid i fabwysiadwyr LHDTQ+ ac ymgeiswyr mabwysiadu, pa bynnag gonsortiwm awdurdod lleol y maent yn gwneud cais drwyddo. Bydd gweithwyr cymdeithasol mabwysiadu ar gyfer awdurdodau lleol Cymru hefyd yn elwa ar gymorth penodedig a mynediad at yr arferion da diweddaraf wrth weithio gyda phobl LHDTQ+, a ddatblygwyd gan New Family Social.

LGBT+ Adoption & Fostering Week returns today – 7 March – for its tenth year. The campaign – which encourages more LGBT+ people to consider both routes to parenting and caring – started in 2012. LGBT+ adopters and foster carers created the campaign to raise awareness and drive change, following statistics showing that 1 in 31 adoptions in England were to same-sex couples. In 2021 the figure stood at 1 in 6.

The campaign brings together some 70 adoption and fostering agencies from across the UK and LGBT+ potential applicants.

#BeTheChange – the theme for 2022 – asks LGBT+ people to think about the range of vulnerable children they could parent or care for. Each day will focus on sharing stories from LGBT+ adopters and foster carers already being the change for some of the country’s most vulnerable children.

On Monday the campaign will share stories from LGBT+ people who parent and foster siblings. New research for the campaign showing that same-sex couples are more open to considering adopting siblings than opposite-sex couples will be released.

Tuesday will share the stories of LGBT+ people who’ve adopted or care for children aged 5 or older. In England 6 in 10 children who started to be looked-after in 2021 were aged 5 or older.

There’s inspiring stories on Wednesday from LGBT+ people who’ve adopted children with life-limiting or life-changing conditions. On Thursday LGBT+ people who’ve adopted or foster children who have a mental health issue, are neurodivergent or have experienced trauma share their stories. LGBT+ autistic people who’ve adopted will share their stories too.

The campaign week closes on Friday with stories from LGBT+ people who don’t share the same heritage as the children they’ve adopted or foster. An LGBT+ adoptee will also share their story of this situation.

Tor Docherty, New Family Social Chief Executive said: ‘The need for more LGBT+ people to consider adoption or fostering is as great as ever, despite ten years of our successful campaign. When it started few agencies could answer the question ‘How many LGBT+ applicants do you have?’ Now it’s the bare minimum of information agencies should have when speaking to potential applicants. If you’re LGBT+ you can find agencies that want to hear from you and will offer you dedicated support.’

Visit the campaign page