‘Only half ’ of adoptive parents are infertile
More would-be parents now want to look after children who have suffered abuse or neglect
ONLY around half of parents adopt because of fertility issues, a charity has claimed, saying that increasing numbers of people want to support children who have “had a tough start”.
For the first time, a British survey asked thousands of parents what motivated them to adopt. It found that, contrary to popular belief and what is thought of as “the status quo”, women struggling to get pregnant and expensive IVF treatment were not the only reasons.
Researchers at Adoption UK questioned 3,500 people about what their motivations for adopting were. In response to the statement: “I was unable to have birth children”, 58 per cent of respondents agreed with this, meaning that for 42 per cent of parents, infertility was not a primary motivating factor.
The charity told The Daily Telegraph this was because increasing numbers of parents were “strongly motivated to support a child who has had a tough start”. Around three-quarters of chil- dren who are adopted from care in the UK will have been removed from their parents because of abuse or neglect.
The charity added that these previously unreported figures eschewed the “dated, stereotypical view of adoptive parents” which was predominantly one of “a middle-aged, middle-class, heter- osexual married couple who came to adoption because of infertility issues”.
Women ineligible for NHS treatment can pay for IVF at a private clinic, and while prices vary, one cycle of treatment may cost more than £5,000.
Other data revealed that 24 per cent of parents agreed with the statement “adoption was my first choice for starting a family”. A further 17 per cent identified with the statement “there is a connection to adoption in my family”.
In November 2018 the Department for Education published data relating to the number of looked after children in England, including adoption.
The statistics for the year ending March 31 2018 revealed that 75,420 children were looked after, a 4 per cent increase on 2016 to 2017.
Alison Woodhead, 53, director of public affairs at Adoption UK, and a single-parent adopter, said that as the family status quo changes shape, so too does adoption.
“Although infertility still seems to be the primary motivating factor for creating a family through adoption, for growing numbers of families adoption is their first choice,” she said.
“And it’s likely that improvements in infertility treatments and societal changes will continue to change the traditional profile of adopters. These days a parent’s ability to take on a child who’s had a traumatic past is taken far more seriously than their age, marital status or sexual preference.
“Thousands of people a year choose adoption instead of having birth children, either because there’s already a connection to adoption in their family, or because they’re strongly motivated to support a child who has had a tough start. It’s also likely that concerns about sustainability and the footprint we leave on the world will start to play a greater part in people’s choices about starting a family.”
The full data will be published in Adoption UK’S inaugural Adoption Barometer, the most comprehensive survey into modern adoption across the UK, in July.