Improving the recruitment of adopters for children who wait the longest

Contents:

  1. Project timeline

There is a national shortage of adopters for children that:

  • are in sibling groups
  • are aged 5 or over
  • are of a minority ethnic heritage 
  • have multiple complex needs

These groups of children typically wait up to a year longer to be adopted, thereby reducing their life chances.

This project, led by Nottinghamshire County Council, will look into the development of data science methods to identify the common characteristics of parents who are willing to adopt. These insights will be used to inform a regional recruitment activity. If successful, this approach could be scaled nationally, and could also be used to recruit foster carers.

Project timeline

March 2023

The project is awarded £95,000 in funding through Round 6 of the Local Digital Fund to begin a discovery phase.