Almost a dozen children were waiting for a home after being awarded an adoption placement order in the Cumberland Council area as of March, new figures show.
It comes as the number of approved families waiting to adopt has fallen steadily since the coronavirus pandemic, with more children now waiting for a placement than homes available.
This week is National Adoption Week, an opportunity for charities and authorities to encourage people from all walks of life to consider adopting.
Adoption agency Coram also raised concerns about the supply of families willing to adopt and is calling for a more diverse range of families to consider adoption.
Coram and Department for Education figures show 10 children in the Cumberland Council area were waiting to be adopted by a family after a placement order had been issued as of the end of March 2024.
Across England, 2,580 children with a placement order were waiting to be matched with a home – the highest figure since December 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the number of families volunteering to adopt has steadily decreased from a pandemic peak in March 2022, falling by almost a third to 1,800 as of March.
At the end of every quarter since June last year, more children have been waiting with a placement order than families approved to adopt.
The figures also show 2,940 children nationally were placed with an adopting family in the year to March, but the time it takes for different children to find a placement varied greatly due to age and characteristics.
Of the children adopted last year, those aged five and over waited an average of three years and 220 days from entering care to being adopted.
This dropped to two years and 24 days for under-fives.
It took an average of three years and 139 days for a disabled child to be adopted last year, while ethnic minority children had to wait two years and 200 days, both higher than the average for all children of two years and 134 days.
In the Cumberland Council area, 22 children were adopted last year, waiting an average of two years and 292 days.
Cumbria Adoption has joined the nationwide ‘You Can Adopt’ campaign to increase understanding of modern adoption and show that ‘the journey to a family is not always a traditional one’.
Debbie and Allan adopted both their daughter and, later their son, through the Cumbria Adoption service.
The couple said it has been a life changing experience for them and agreed to share their story in the hope that more people may come forward.
Debbie said: “It’s just amazing what you can give to a child - love, empathy, support and safety.
“It is the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Allan agreed: “To be able to give a child a chance and to rebuild the child’s sense of themselves, their sense of wellbeing and watch them grow and develop and understand their place in the world, is just a unique experience.”
But both agree it is not without some challenges.
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Allan explained: “These children have been through a difficult start in life but they are children, still, and 98 per cent of the time they are fun, they are happy, engaged, normal children, but you’ve always got to recognise that there is something deep within that makes them special.”
Debbie added: “People believe that because a child is in a safe, loving environment that they are lucky but we are lucky to have these children in our lives.
"We are such proud, proud parents.”
While Cumbria Adoption need adopters for children of all ages, there is a particular need for adopters for children who tend to wait longest for a loving home, such as sibling groups, older children and children with additional or complex health needs.
Cumbria Adoption's service manager Ruth McHugh said: “Children who come to adoption do so because their birth families are unable to care for them.
"Many of them have experienced neglect and trauma; all of these children need a loving, stable home.
"They need support and love to help them overcome their troubled start in life, make sense of who they are and grow up to be safe and secure.
"Being an adoptive parent can be challenging but it also brings great rewards.
"I’d encourage people who are thinking about adopting a child to take that first step and contact us.”
You can find out more at cumbriaadoption.org.uk.
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