David Cameron unveils 'foster to adopt' plan
David Cameron is to announce plans to radically speed up the amount of time it takes to place children with potential adopters.
Couple receive MBE for fostering 150 children
Clive and Sharon Cumming, a couple who have fostered up to 150 children over more than three decades have both been awarded an MBE
Couple to get MBEs for fostering 150 children
Clive and Sharon Cumming, a couple who have fostered up to 150 children over more than three decades will be awarded MBEs today.
Live updates
Report: Foster parents made to 'feel like criminals'
Two foster parents had their three foster children taken away by a council on the grounds that they are members of the UK Independence Party, according to reports.
The couple said they were made to feel 'like criminals' when a social worker told them that their views on immigration made them unsuitable carers. The husband and wife who have been fostering for nearly seven years, The Telegraph reported.
Minister for Children and Families on adoption proposals
The Minister for Children and Families, Tim Loughton, has spoken to ITV News about plans to speed up the amount of time it takes to place children with potential adopters.
Mr Loughton said the proposal will help continuity and help build an attachment bond at an earlier stage.
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David Cameron unveils 'foster to adopt' plan
David Cameron is to announce plans to radically speed up the amount of time it takes to place children with potential adopters.
Read the full storyAdoption UK welcomes fostering plans in principle
Jonathan Pearce, chief executive of Adoption UK, has welcomed the Government's planned changes, but he warned that more detail was needed to clarify how the system would work:
– Jonathan Pearce, Adoption UKThe proposals for England need to address some of the practice issues that are already known about, as well as provide some more detail on how the system will work in practice, particularly the support arrangements for prospective adopters and how adoption pay and leave arrangements will need to be adjusted. In essence, this new initiative can only truly work if all the details are smoothed out and proper support is put in place for adopters.
PM unveils foster-first policy for prospective parents
Babies taken into care will be looked after by the families who hope to adopt them under government plans to reduce the disruption that many suffer in real life.
David Cameron has told The Times that ministers will legislate to make fostering by approved adopters 'standard practice' for infants under 1, so they can have a more stable side.
What the Foster For Adoption plan is proposing
- Under the Foster For Adoption plans, men and women who have been cleared as adopters can become a child's foster parent until they are legally allowed to adopt them.
- Now, local authorities generally wait until court orders are made before beginning their search for a permanent home.
- The move will not pre-empt any legal ruling, meaning the youngsters could be returned to their birth parents or other carers.
- But the Government hopes it will mean the interests of the children are put first.
- New analysis shows that of the babies put into care aged under one month, half were eventually adopted, but it took an average of more than 15 months for them to move in with their permanent family.
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Ministers 'will legislate as soon as possible' on adoption reforms
Ministers have said they will legislate "as soon as possible" to make fostering by potential adopters standard practice.
Education Secretary, Michael Gove, said: "The Government owes it to children to encourage more parents to consider adoption.
"In reforming the system we are determined to make sure the child's interests are paramount."
UK adoption figures
- 3,050 children were adopted in 2010-11.
- 60 babies under the age of one were adopted in 2010/11.
- Over the last three years 31% of children who left care aged 0 to 4 did so through adoption.
- 10% through special guardianship and 7% through residence orders.
Foster adoption plan 'to give children better start'
David Cameron hopes the Fostering For Adoption scheme will give children a better start in life by ensuring they have a stable home as quickly as possible.
Cameron said: "I'm determined that we act now to give these children the very best start in life.
"These babies deserve what every child deserves: a permanent, secure and happy home environment to grow up in."
David Cameron unveils foster adoption plan
David Cameron is to announce plans to radically speed up the amount of time it takes to place children with potential adopters.
Youngsters will be able to move in with their possible future permanent families before lengthy legal procedures are finalised, the Prime Minister will reveal tomorrow.