4/8/2008 | thousands of 'foster' children lost to care system |
Times, p18 |
Thousands of young children are at risk of neglect or abuse because the system set up to protect them in the wake of the death of Victoria Climbié is failing.
|
7/7/2008 | Social workers are urged to be flexible on ethnic adoptions |
The Times, p15 |
The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) is concerned that too many ethnic minority children are left in care homes or with temporary foster families while social workers try to find families to match their precise ethnic and religious background. It believes that the problem could be worsening as the ethnicity of children becomes more complex.
|
6/7/2008 | Love is not enough for black children who wait in care |
Observer |
The majority of children awaiting adoption in Britain are black, Asian or mixed-race while most available adopters are white. The issue of 'transracial' adoption is hugely controversial with experts divided on what is best for the young, vulnerable children
|
19/6/2008 | the children of the revolution |
Independent |
The battle for equality for gay and lesbian parents has come on leaps and bounds in the past 20 years, but the fight still goes on
|
17/6/2008 | Too posh to adopt? |
Guardian |
A BBC producer and his wife recently claimed they had not been allowed to adopt a British child because they were too white and too middle-class. Are they, and others like them, really victims of a huge injustice?
|
9/4/2008 | Fostering denied to 'smack couple' |
Daily Telegraph |
A couple have been prevented from fostering children after insisting on the right toismack their own daughter 'as a last resort'
|
8/4/2008 | Couple who smack their daughter as 'last resort' cannot be foster parents |
Daily Telegraph |
A couple have been prevented from fostering after insisting on the right to smack their own daughter 'as a last resort'
|
12/1/2008 | Shock for the married coupole who found out they were twins |
Daily Mail |
The harrowing story of twins who were separated at birth and married each other without realising they were brother and sister was revealed today.
|
3/11/2007 | Billion-dollar baby trade: The darker side of adoption |
Daily Mail |
No one can begrudge Foreign Secretary David Milliband the joy of adopting a second child from America. But as a Mail investigation reveales, there's a much darker side to adopting.
|
24/7/2007 | Who says lone men can’t adopt? |
The Time T2, p9-11 |
Last year 3,700 children were adopted from care. Many more, desperate for a family, were disappointed – but adoption agencies have begun to look farther afield. Unmarried heterosexual and gay couples can now adopt jointly, while another small but growing part of the adoptive parent network is single people. And while it’s true that most single adopters are female, there are some men, too.
David Holmes, chief executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), says: “It is a myth that single men can’t adopt. The number of single male adopters is small but growing. What children need most is security and stability, and in most cases this is more important than the gender of the carer.
“We know that single people can do just as well as couples, and we encourage adoption agencies to think about what single men and women have to offer. The national minimum standards for adoption state that people who are interested in becoming adoptive parents will be welcomed without prejudice.”
Three single men tell their story and the article gives details for the BAAF website, the BMP website and the Adoption Register website.
|
22/7/2007 | Mother: 'Social workers' were inhuman' |
The Telegraph |
Their baby was healthy and happy, and they have not been accused of harming her, but a professional couple are fighting to get their daughter back after social workers took her away. The child was removed earlier this year at the age of just four months.
Council officials claimed that she was "likely to suffer significant emotional and physical harm" because of her mother's history of mental illness. A judge who approved the decision to remove the girl from her parents, both of whom are well educated, found that the father had been "confrontational" towards social workers sent to monitor his family. Campaigners fear that it is the latest in a series of cases in which social workers appear to have broken up families without good reason. ……
The British Association for Adoption and Fostering has denied that social services take children into care to be adopted unnecessarily.
|
2/7/2007 | Will you be our mum and dad? |
The Sun, p24-2 |
These Brave, bright little lads need YOU. Dennis and Lamar are adorable, loving bundles of fun and energy, but neither had a lucky start in life. They are being cared for by wonderful foster parents, but The Sun is calling on our army of caring readers to adopt them and here we bring you their stories. The youngstes also feature on a new website - bemyparents.org.uk - created by BAAF to find families for the 4,000 uk children who need adoption each year.
|
22/6/2007 | Schools boost for care kids |
Daily Mirror |
White Paper launched by Education Secretary Alan Johnson sets out a £300 million plan over four years to help the 61,000 youngsters in care. David Holmes of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering said ‘This White Paper is of vital importance’.
|
26/4/2007 | Demand for under 18s to have veto on leaving care |
Community Care |
Campaigners have urged the governemnt to prioritise raising the leaving care age in the children in care white paper. Education secretary Alan Johnson confirmed last week that a white paper setting out reform of the care system will be published this year, following last Autumn's consultative green paper, Care Matters.
|
7/3/2007 | Could have been a lot worse |
The Guardian, p7 |
The harshness of life in care homes is chronicled in Phil Frampton's moving memoir. So why does he believe it is better than being fostered?
|
7/3/2007 | Tribunal finds Enterprise Rent-A-Car guilty of sex discrimination after sac |
Personnel Today |
A woman who was sacked for planning to adopt a child has won a landmark employment tribunal case.
|
30/1/2007 | Blair says no to Catholic opt-out on gay couples |
Community Care |
There will be no opt-out for Catholic adoption agencies on regulations outlawing discrimination against gay people, prime minister Tony Blair said yesterday.
|
27/1/2007 | Babies taken into care 'to meet targets for adoption' |
The Times |
Babies are being taken from their parents and placed in care before all other options are exhausted so that local authorities can meet targets on adoption, a group of MPs claim. The allegations were challenged yesterday by David Holmes, chief executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering.
|
26/1/2007 | Dominic Lawson: Don't be fooled: the Catholic Church is not bluffing over g |
The Independent |
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor was not simply being self-serving when he goes on to describe the extraordinary quality of the work provided by Catholic Adoption Agencies: if you talk to the British Association for Adoption & Fostering - an organisation which is fully in favour of adoption by same-sex couples - it will tell you that the Catholic Agencies have an outstanding record in providing homes for the most difficult children to place.
|
9/10/2006 | BAAF response to Green Paper on Looked After Children |
Care and Health |
BAAF welcomes the Green Paper on children in care that is being published today.
|
1/9/2006 | Letters: children should have equality |
Children Now (16-29 August),, p12 |
David Holmes discusses the governments decision to set national minimum allowances for foster carers at a higher level than originally proposed.
|
22/8/2006 | Letter: Children should have equality |
Children Now, p14 |
We are pleased the Government has set suggested national minimum allowances for foster carers at a higher level than originally proposed (Children Now, 2-15 August). It is an important step in ensuring foster carers have the resources they need to look after some of our most vulnerable children.
But these allowances are for the basics, to pay for the essential costs of looking after a child: food, clothes, transport, toys. They do not take into account the cost of birthdays, holidays or increased housing costs.
If we are serious about improving outcomes for looked-after children they must have the same opportunities as other children. This means a continuing and concerted effort to ensure that when children become the responsibility of the state they can and will get the best. David Holmes, chief executive, British Association for Adoption & Fostering
|
22/8/2006 | 7 |
Home inspection plans provoke |
Residential care experts have hit out at Government plans to reduce the frequency of children’s home inspections. David Holmes said: “Making inspections proportionate is probably alright if it means inspectors can concentrate on services that are failing. But the annual inspection is a safeguard. The risk of less frequent inspections is that standards will slip.”
|
2/8/2006 | Minimum allowance still 'far too low' |
Children Now (2-12 August), p8 |
Report on the national minimum allowances release last week. Features quotes from David Holmes.
|
17/7/2006 | It takes a village to raise a child - four page special on adoption and fos |
The Voice, p37-4 |
Mentions the new Perlita Harris book on transracial adoption and BAAF's operation of the new adoption search and reunion website.
|
12/7/2006 | Young people to be given access to family court files |
The Times, p22 |
Children whose futures are determined by the courts will eventually have access to the records of what happened, under plans outlined yesterday to end the secrecy of family proceedings. When such children reached 18 they would be allowed to see details of disputes between parents over contact, or of decisions to remove them from their families and place them in care. Article quotes Anthony Douglas.
|
2/6/2006 | How do we stop children from being looked after? |
Community Care 1-7 June, p16 |
Interview with David Holmes.
|
2/6/2006 | A model for better care |
Children Now 31 May - 6 June ( |
Article about switching to an outcomes model of care, featuring comments from Barbara Hutchinson.
|
26/5/2006 | Johnson vows ‘continuous reform’ in schools |
Independent, p19 |
Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, warned yesterday that Labour faced losing the next election if it failed to improve standards in schools. Article talks about looked after children.
|
23/5/2006 | Gay foster couple facing long jail terms for abuse |
Yorkshire Post |
David Holmes is quoted in the Yorkshire Post. He said it was important not to confuse the sexuality of the carers with committing sex crimes against children. But he added: "This is a dreadful case. The crimes this couple committed are a shocking betrayal of the vulnerable children involved."
|
18/5/2006 | Letters: A register for foster carers |
Children Now, p15 |
Letter from Barbara Hutchinson agreeing that foster carers should be registered with the GSCC.
|
18/5/2006 | Care case decision-making in the spotlight as trends point to regional inco |
Community Care, p18-1 |
What lies behind the recent sharp rise in applications for care orders in some parts of England? Article quotes Barbara Hutchinson, who warns against reading too much into the figures because percentage increases would be amplified if the initial figure was small and that as the figures are regional, they could be skewed by changes in one large authority.
|
18/5/2006 | Care case decision-making in the spotlight as trends point to regional inco |
Community Care,, p18-1 |
What lies behind the recent sharp rise in applications for care orders in some parts of England? Article quotes Barbara Hutchinson, who warns against reading too much into the figures because percentage increases would be amplified if the initial figure was small and that as the figures are regional, they could be skewed by changes in one large authority.
|
17/5/2006 | Taking care of the care business |
Society Guardian Online |
A new CSCI report highlights how a shortage of foster carers causes a lack of placement choice and can lead to low educational achievement by children in care. But that needn't be the case. Joanna Lyall finds some exceptions to the rule. Barbara Hutchinson quoted.
|
9/5/2006 | Parents with learning difficulties need support |
BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine Show |
Around half of parents with learning difficulties have their children removed from them. A new study, launched today, outlines the support needed to enable parents with learning difficulties and their children to stay together as a family.
|
4/5/2006 | Love and understanding |
The Independent, p2 |
With 10,000 homes needed to house all of the children in care, fostering agencies have their nets wide. With comments from Barbara Hutchinson.
|
3/4/2006 | Special report on Scotland's new bill |
Community Care |
An overhaul of adoption in Scotland is proposed in a new bill announced by education minister Peter Peacock this week. The bill is a “huge opportunity to benefit children,” said Barbara Hudson, director of Baaf Adoption and Fostering Scotland. Cathy Dewar, chief executive of the Scottish Adoption Association, called it a “milestone.”
Community Care
|
3/4/2006 | A job for professionals |
0-19 magazine |
Foster carers play a major role in helping looked-after children to achieve. But do they receive enough support themselves? Diana Gollop reports. Features comments from Andrea Warman.
|
27/3/2006 | My Mum: the mother's day issue |
The Independent on Sunday |
Interviews with parents and their children, including Larry Baker, a spokesperson for BAAF.
|
22/3/2006 | Ban on CRB checks puts children at risk |
Children Now |
Foster children could be at risk because the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has stopped vetting some people who care for them after discovering it was illegal. Government-backed guidelines state that it is best practice to carry out CRB checks on regular visitors to foster carers' households. Features comments from Andrea Warman
|
13/3/2006 | Councils will take children from smokers |
The Sunday Times |
One of Scotland’s biggest local authorities is threatening to remove foster children from smokers. New rules introduced by Dundee city council will ban smokers from adopting and fostering children under the age of five unless they agree to keep their homes smoke free. Features quotes from John Simmonds.
|
1/3/2006 | A trace of regret |
The Guardian (Society section, p1 |
The urge to search for birth parents is powerful in many people adopted as children. But as Esther Cameron recalls, it is a quest fraught with the danger of disappointment and sadness. Quotes Julia Feast.
|
25/1/2006 | Babies face year in care due to court delays |
The Sunday Telegraph |
Babies are remaining in care for more than a year before it is decided whether they should be returned to their parents or put up for adoption. Features quotes from Barbara Hutchinson.
|
25/1/2006 | Foster carers find time to study |
This is Local London |
Specifically aimed at foster carers, the e-learning course develops essential skills and has been developed in collaboration with the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).
|
3/1/2006 | Family won’t help me find my real mum |
The Sun, p33 |
A woman who is keen to trace her ‘real’ mother says her adoptive parents refuse to tell her about her birth parents. She asks Deidre how to go about tracing. Deidre gives BAAF’s website address.
|
23/12/2005 | Adoption website launched |
NTL website |
Britain's first adoption reunion website is hoping to help blood relatives find each other.
|
19/12/2005 | Mothers and sons reunited as website finds lost families |
The Independent on Sunday |
The agony of almost two million parents and children, legally "lost" to each other and kept apart by bureaucracy, is about to end. Britain's first "adoption reunion" website - aimed at helping to reunite adopted children with their birth parents, and vice versa - will be launched next week. Features quotes from Julia Fest and reference to BAAF.
|
18/11/2005 | 'Huge shortage' of foster carers |
BBC News Online |
Article about the launch of NAW and the billboard campaign.
|
16/11/2005 | A start in life |
The Guardian |
The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) celebrates its 25th anniversary this week. Its chief executive Felicity Collier looks back on the journey.
|
10/11/2005 | What a way to treat our children |
The Times |
Camilla Cavendish wrote her column about the number of moves children in care experience and talks about BAAF’s billboard campaign.
|
7/11/2005 | Children moved up to 20 times in wait for adoption |
The Times |
A one-page feature on the billboard campaign as above quoting Felicity and Samantha Block.
|
17/6/8 | Too posh to adopt? |
The Guardian |
ABB producer and his wife recently claimed they had not been allowed to adopt a British child because they were too white and too middle-class. Are they, and others like them, really victims of a huge injustice?
|
17/6/8 | Too posh to adopt? |
Guardian |
A BBC producer and his wife recently claimed they had not been allowed to adopt a British child because they were too white and too middle-class. Are they, and others like them, really victims of a huge injustice?
|
17/6/8 | Too posh to adopt? |
Guardian |
A BBC producer and his wife recently claimed they had not been allowed to adopt a British child because they were too white and too middle class. Are they, and others like them, really victims of a huge injustice?
|
10/2/8 | I had no choice but to give my baby away |
Sunday telepgraph |
Catherine Murray was having the time of her life. Eighteen years old, intelligent and attractive, she was revelling in her new-found freedom at university after being brought up in a strict but loving middle-class Catholic home in an affluent London suburb
|
12/1/8 | Court annuls marriage o couples who discovered they were twins |
The Times, p15 |
Twins who were separated at birth married each other without knowing that they were brother and sister, a peer has claimed.
The couple were adopted as babies by different families, and neither was told that they had a twin. They met, fell in love and got married before discovering that they were blood relatives
|
12/1/8 | Court annuls marriage of couple who discovered they were twins |
The Times, p15 |
Twins who were separated at birth married each other without knowing that they were brother and sister, a peer has claimed.
The couple were adopted as babies by different families, and neither was told that they had a twin. They met, fell in love and got married before discovering that they were blood relatives
|
12/1/8 | Court annuls marriage of couple who discovered they were twins |
The Times, p15 |
Twins who were separated at birth married each other without knowing that they were brother and sister, a peer has claimed.
The couple were adopted as babies by different families, and neither was told that they had a twin. They met, fell in love and got married before discovering that they were blood relatives
|
12/1/8 | Twins parted at birth went on to meet, marry - then find the truth |
The Times, p15 |
Twins who were separated at birth married each other without knowing that they were brother and sister, a peer has claimed.
The couple were adopted as babies by different families, and neither was told that they had a twin. They met, fell in love and got married before discovering that they were blood relatives.
|
3/11/7 | Billion-dollar baby trade: The darker side of adoption |
Daily Mail |
No one can begrudge Foreign Secretary David Milliband the joy of adopting a second child from America. But as a Mail investigation reveales, there's a much darker side to adopting.
|
27/3/6 | My Mum: the mother's day issue |
The Independent on Sunday |
Interviews with parents and their children, including Larry Baker, a spokesperson for BAAF.
|
22/3/6 | Ban on CRB checks puts children at risk |
Children Now |
Foster children could be at risk because the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has stopped vetting some people who care for them after discovering it was illegal. Government-backed guidelines state that it is best practice to carry out CRB checks on regular visitors to foster carers' households. Features comments from Andrea Warman
|
20/3/6 | The changing face of adoption |
The Voice, p4 |
Black and Asian parents need for BME children. Case study interview with quotes from Savita De Sousa.
|
16/3/6 | Distant placements - Wide variation on the 20-mile rule |
Children Now |
There is significant regional variation in the proportion of looked-after children who are placed more than 20 miles from home, according to a study by the Department for Education and Skills. With comments from John Simmonds.
|
24/8/5 | Tories want inquiry into 'child snatching' |
The Daily Mail, p18 |
Tory MPs last night demanded a Commons enquiry into the adoption system.The call came from three Conservatives on the powerful education committee in the wake of allegations that children are being unfairly removed from loving families.
|
24/8/5 | Adoption case parents attacked social workers |
The Guardian |
The biological parents in an adoption case that saw Essex council staff labelled "child snatchers" had attacked and made death threats against social services, it emerged today.
|
11/8/5 | When love is not enough |
The Guardian |
Social workers are not child snatchers; they separate families only as a last resort, writes Felicity Collier
|
25/7/5 | Report finds fostering shortfall |
BBC News Online |
Scottish fostering services need an additional £65.5m in funding next year, according to experts. A report, by the Fostering Network and the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), made detailed calculations to estimate the shortfall.
|
13/7/5 | Fostering salary |
The Times |
Foster carers should be paid a wage of up to £20,000 a year to provide full-time care for children and young people in local authority care, a report by the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering has recommended. It said this should be paid on top of an annual allowance of £6,000 to £12,600 for living costs.
|
10/6/5 | Controversial gay adoption plan |
The Courier |
MINISTERS ARE bracing themselves for a storm of protest over proposals to allow gay and unmarried couples to adopt.
|
5/6/5 | Discovering birth parents creates two happy families |
The Observer |
For decades many adopted adults have looked for their birth family in secret or avoided searching, such is the fear of hurting those who brought them up. But new research has found that 80 per cent of adoptive parents are pleased when their children seek their roots.
|
14/5/5 | The riddle of 300 young boys missing from London schools |
The Times |
THOUSANDS of young African children are going missing from schools in Britain every year, child welfare experts have said.
|
14/5/5 | London schools report 300 African boys disappeared |
The Independent |
Hundreds of African boys have disappeared from schools in London, police investigating the murder of the young boy whose torso was found in the river Thames have revealed.
|
13/5/5 | Missing African Boys 'May Highlight New Trafficking Trend' |
The Scotsman |
The disclosure that some 300 African boys disappeared from London schools in just three months has sparked fresh fears about the fate of vulnerable children promised a “better life” in Britain.
|
13/5/5 | Hundreds of African boys go missing in London |
The Guardian |
Hundreds of young African boys disappeared from schools in London over a three-month period in 2001, police revealed today, prompting experts to question the effectiveness of the government's child protection measures.
|
13/5/5 | Why does it take 300 missing Black children before anyone notices? |
Black information link |
POLICE HAVE only just discovered that 300 Black children a year are going missing. Experts say that if it was any other community the authorities would have already taken action.
|
11/4/5 | Your essential guide to fostering and adoption |
The Voice |
16 page supplement including an article by BAAF's Selame Kidane about refugee fostering.
|
30/3/5 | Act regulation fails to ensure support |
Children Now, p3 |
Regulations on adoption support services that will be introduced through the Adoption and Children Act 2002 could fail to ensure that adopted children receive essential help, campaigners have warned.
|
23/3/5 | Sector divided over plan to scrap CSCI for single inspection body |
Children Now, p2 |
Children's sector leaders are divided over plans to scrap the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and set up a single inspectorate for children's services.
|
23/3/5 | Voluntary agencies need more funding |
Children Now, p8 |
BAAF states that more ringfenced funding to support voluntary adoption agencies is needed, as details of inter-agency fees from April 2005 are published.
|
8/3/5 | The Point of contact |
Care & Health, p24 |
BAAF's Deputy Chief Executive, Barbara Hutchinson, discusses the importance of contact betwen children in foster care and their birth families.
|
8/3/5 | Delay is the price of getting adoption guidance right |
Care & Health, p12 |
Implementation of key provisions of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 have been delayed.
|
8/3/5 | Adoption: Public supports a web-based system |
Children Now, p15 |
More than two-thirds of the public support using the internet to find families for children waiting for adoption, a survey has revealed.
|
1/3/5 | Opening doors for children - finding new families for disabled children |
Flying Start Parenting Magazin, p62 |
Disabled children, like all children, need loving families around them in order to grow and develop.
|
23/2/5 | Documentary: Unwanted |
BBC digital radio channel 1Xtr |
No adoption is simple. And black children are losing out because most people want to adopt a white baby. The show will be broadcast at 5.30pm today and you can recieve it through your digital television. Alternatively, follow the link below to listen at any time.
|
3/2/5 | Top 20 most influential people in social care |
Community Care, p10 |
Community Care have compiled a list of the 20 most influential people in the social care sector which includes Chief Executive of BAAF Felicity Collier.
|
24/1/5 | Foster carers find time to study |
This is Local London |
Specifically aimed at foster carers, the e-learning course develops essential skills and has been developed in collaboration with the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).
|
20/1/5 | Call for foster carers to be given a "certificate of approval" |
Community Care, p9 |
Felicity Collier, Chief Executive of BAAF, has called for foster carers to be given a "certificate of approval" which would be valid throughout the UK and could lead to the establishment of a national register.
|
14/1/5 | Couple jailed for poisioning child they planned to adopt |
Community Care |
A couple were jailed at Worcester Crown Court for the manslaughter of a three-year-old boy they planned to adopt.
|
9/1/5 | Adoption - we can get it right |
The Sunday Express, p25 |
An article by BAAF Chief Executive Felicity Collier on the media coverage of David Miliband's adoption of a baby from the US.
|
7/1/5 | Agencies warn on adopting orphans |
The Guardian |
Felicity Collier, Chief Executive of BAAF, said it would be wrong to remove orphans from their home country for a "better life" abroad when their blood relatives might be looking for them.
|
7/1/5 | Baaf warns against adopting victims of the asian tsunami tragedy |
Community Care |
Baaf Adoption & Fostering has warned people not to try and adopt victims of the Asian tsunami tragedy to avoid fuelling the child trafficking industry.
|
BAAF does not necessarily endorse any of the publications listed and has no responsibility for the content of their websites.
