§ Mr. Roger KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give, for 1984 and each subsequent year for which figures are available, the number and age breakdown of children placed for adoption; how many of these children were placed for adoption while in local authority care; and how many of the latter were placed without parental consent.
§ Mrs. CurrieThe available information on placements for adoption is set out in the table, which shows children and young persons placed for adoption by the local authority during the year ending 31 March 1984, by age group, for both children in local authority care and other children. Comparable information is not available for later years. However, some information on placements for adoption is available for the year ending 31 March 1987 and provisional estimates show that about 900 children in local authority care were placed for adoption at that date.
No figures are collected centrally on the number of children placed for adoption from care without parental consent.
Children and young people placed for adoption by the local authority by whether child was in care and by age group during the year ended
31 March 1984, England and Wales
Children who were in the care of the local authority Other children Total Under one 831 517 1,348 1 to 4 434 103 537 5 to 9 270 71 341 10 to 15 112 16 128 16 and over 10 3 13 Age not known 106 49 155 TOTAL 1,763 759 2,522