Coronavirus: Number of adoption inquiries rising as people ‘have more time to think about their futures’ during lockdown

'It seems as though during lockdown, people are talking more about their futures and considering adoption as part of it,' agency coordinator tells Kate Ng

Inquiries from prospective parents seeking to adopt have been increasing during lockdown (Getty Images)

Adoption agencies have seen an increasing number of inquiries from people looking to adopt as the coronavirus lockdown has given them more time to “mull it over”.

There was a decline in the number of inquiries in March as the spread of Covid-19 seemed to affect every aspect of normal life, and agencies sought to reassure potential adopters their services were running as normal.

But as the UK enters its seventh week of lockdown, a number of adoption agencies across the country have seen a rising interest in adopting.

David Rafelle, media coordinator at Aspire Adoption, said the Dorset-based agency has seen the number of inquiries received go up by 50 per cent in April.

“In the last two weeks of March, the numbers did tail off – we only got around two inquiries – but this month, we’ve received around 18 inquiries,” he told The Independent.

“We cover the county of Dorset so we haven’t got a huge population base to be serving, but we’re hearing from people from all over the county. It’s been a real surprise.

“I think it’s really positive news, and it seems as though during lockdown, people are talking more about their futures and considering adoption as part of it,” he added.

Other agencies have reported the same increase in inquiries between March and April. Coram, which runs one of the largest independent agencies in the UK, also reported an increase in inquiries this month after a decline in March.

Sue Lowndes, managing director of Coram, said: "We have had an increase in enquiries between March and April. There was a decrease from 84 enquiries in February to 48 in March. In April we have received 61 enquiries (more than the 54 in April 2019)."

​But an increase in inquiries may not always be a good thing, cautioned Norman Goodwin, chief executive of Adoption Matters, as it meant that the agencies would need to rise to the challenge of filtering suitable potential adopters.

Mr Goodwin told The Independent: “There has been a general increase in adoption inquiries, but many of them may not meet the criteria for becoming an approved adopter. For example, we may get 1,000 inquiries – but 990 of them might be just curious, or be under the age of 21 or over the age of 90, or might not have the right living space for a child that follow the guidelines. There are a lot of things adoption agencies must go through to determine their suitability.

“Adoption is a very personal thing and people gradually come to it. We think people have got more time to think about their future and do background reading about it during the current lockdown, and are therefore making some inquiries about it for more information.

“But for the agency, it’s about getting the balance right between who are the people genuinely interested, and moving through the stages of those making the initial enquiries to those who might become approve adopters. That takes time and money that we may not have, and too many non-serious inquiries may waste resources.”

Delays in the adoption process are inevitable while the current public health crisis is ongoing, and will continue to pose challenges for social workers who, under normal circumstances, would speak to prospective parents face-to-face and assess their suitability.

Ms Lowndes said potential adopters who have just entered the system may encounter a “bottleneck” in the later stages of the assessment process, as “we would always want to physically meet applicants and see their own homes”.

“There is a potential for a bottleneck of people at the latter stages of the assessment process, if restrictions continue to prevent face-to-face meetings. This may ultimately result in a delay of approved adopters for children waiting for adoption.”

Standards must be maintained at all costs despite the restrictions, otherwise people who may not be suited to adoption might “slip through the net”, posing a danger to the children searching for their permanent homes, added Mr Goodwin.

“We have to be really careful, we would still have to go and see those people face to face,” he said. “The circumstances must be right to make that happen, and each one has to be risk assessed.”