On Friday (28 November, 2025), the BBC released a new File on 4 documentary Adoption: The Blame Game and covered the story across their channels. Following an investigation and a large number of Freedom of Information requests, they discovered that at least 1,050 UK adoptees have been placed back into care in the past five years—approximately two thirds of these before an adoption order was made and one third after their adoption was already permanent. The latter are harder to count because once a child has been legally adopted they are outside the care system and there is no mandatory reporting of outcomes (see our earlier blog on this problem).
This follows a pessimistic picture of the current state of adoption painted by the latest Adoption UK Adoption Barometers, and the recent death of baby Preston, allegedly at the hands of his adopters, before the adoption order could even be made (and therefore, while still under the care of the local authority).
We can only conclude that adoption is broken. And wonder why we are still using this outdated model. Why are we taking children from the care system, handing them over permanently and irreversibly to strangers—often with the loss of name, heritage, relatives, language, culture, community and family medical history—when they need more care and support than adoptive parents alone can give them?
Adoption may have made sense when the State was saving money by encouraging those with resources to adopt the children of those without resources. (That didn’t make it right, but it was at least a rational policy as far as the State was concerned). Now, adoption requires a whole parallel and costly social services system. For example, in England this comprises Adoption England, dozens of Regional Adoption Agencies, post-adoption teams in local authorities, and the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund. And still, as adopters and adopter-centric charities such as Adoption UK tell us, there is not enough support.1 This is without even mentioning the abysmal lack of support and care for adult adoptees who are suffering the effects of trauma too.
Today, an adoptee who already carries trauma and fears further rejection learns that ‘permanence’ is a one-way street, and they can still be ‘sent back’ (a threat that rang in the ears of many older adoptees when they were children) but they can’t ever, as long as they live, get out of the adoption order that was foisted on them or reclaim their original family and identity. How is this system either right or sustainable? We need to stop being blinded by the belief that adoption itself is a good thing, and see it for what it is: anachronistic.
This blog was inspired by discussions among adult adoptees who heard the news on Friday. Thank you to everyone who has shared their views. AAM supports calls for a review of current provision but this must include: a review of legal and administrative aspects of adoption as well as how support is provided; and consultation with adoptees of all ages.
- Here we are assuming for the sake of argument that adopters are requesting all available support for their children, but we know this is not always the case. There is no stipulation that they engage with any services. They are not, for example, required to declare their child’s adoptee status to schools and access the extra support this declaration brings. ↩︎
One reply on “Adoption breakdown”
I can only hope this latest BBC expose has the same impact as the ITV Post Office Scandal Docu-Drama. My wife and I adopted 2 children and when we hit problems (no need to elaborate – the BBC Sounds podcast ‘Adoption – the blame game’ might very well be our case) we were treated very badly. One example of many is that one post-adoption support social worker asked us to sign a document that she said was a record of a meeting. She was very insistent that we didn’t need to read it. But we insisted that we would read it and, had we signed it, it would have probably formed the basis of prosecution as it was tantamount to a confession. It was lie after lie after lie. That was their idea of ‘post adoption support’. The Police whom we had to call many times were no better. One actually said we would be prosecuted for wasting police time as the verbal abuse and swearing we received no different to what we might experience on public transport these days and our daughter was ‘clearly not the problem’ and was a ‘delightful young lady’. At that point, we were on our own, save for a number of good friends who could see that we were in a living hell.
Things got worse however and the adoption with the elder of the two broke down in the most terrible way. We managed to see the adoption of the younger one through to post-18 so it was considered a ‘successful adoption’ despite the mental and physical scars we bear to this day.
If anyone is considering adopting, don’t do it. You’ll be thrown under the bus as soon as you ask for help.
People that should have helped seemed to enjoy making the situation worse. I hope one day I can proclaim I am a true believer in Karma.