Adoption rates in Blackburn with Darwen best in the country

More children in Blackburn with Darwen are finding their forever families than anywhere else in the country.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has been named as the best in the country in terms of children not able to live with their birth families leaving care and being adopted. Blackburn with Darwen performed best with 37% of children being adopted in 2014/15.

The Council scored highest out of 153 local authorities in the national data from Looked After Children. Blackburn with Darwen was also second in the rankings in the study last year.

Adoption is for children who can no longer, for various reasons, live within their birth family and need a permanent, loving home and adoption procedures are started only when all other options have been exhausted.

A further adoption boost is also taking place in the borough with a new partnership. Blackburn with Darwen Council is joining up with other local authorities to form a single adoption agency, further helping children to find their families.

Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside Councils, in partnership with Adoption Matters and Caritas Care Voluntary Adoption Agencies, have formed one of the first Regional Adoption Agencies.

The Regional Adoption Agency will bring together some of the region’s best performing adoption agencies from the statutory and voluntary sectors to form a single, regional agency which will deliver improved outcomes for children who need adoptive parents across six Local Authority areas.

This means that children will be able to be placed with families across the six regions, meaning their chances of finding their family are increased.

Councillor Maureen Bateson, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Member for Children’s Services, said:

We are so delighted with this news, and it is of course wonderful news for the families involved with adoption in the borough. The adoption team at the Council is absolutely dedicated to helping children in our care and their prospective families and improving their lives and the data shows this.

It is also great news about the Regional Adoption Agency and we will all be working together in partnership to help children find loving families. It is a really exciting opportunity to bring together expertise across the agencies. We always aim to put the needs of the child first and this will help us all to work together to quickly match children to their new family from a wider pool of suitable adopters.”