Driven out – the very adopters vulnerable children need
March 16, 2026
EARLIER this month it was LGBTQ+ Adoption and Fostering Week. Across England and Wales, local councils, adoption agencies and government departments marked it with warm words and striking statistics. In Wales, LGBTQ+ fostering households have risen by 30 per cent in a year, according to figures released by Foster Wales during the campaign. At Adoption Matters in England, 40 per cent of approved adopters in 2025 identified as LGBTQ+, up from around 30 per cent the previous year. Ministers celebrated. The sector applauded. Hardly anyone asked the question that should have been front and centre throughout: what does the evidence say is best for the child?
The broader trajectory makes the question more urgent, not less. In 2013, roughly 1 in 31 adoptions in England went to same-sex couples. By 2023, that figure had risen to 1 in 5, a near-sevenfold increase in a decade – a figure Adoption England’s own strategy document now confirms. That shift may reflect a range of factors, including who applies to adopt. But it also reflects something else: a deliberate policy effort by adoption authorities to recruit and prioritise LGBTQ+ adopters as part of their strategy for expanding the pool of adoptive families.
