Harrogate parents are breaking their silence after they were threatened and blamed by UK authorities, as 1,000 adopted children were returned to care.
Verity said she was at the breaking point with her adopted son, Liam, after she was threatened with knives and arrested by police over untrue allegations. Her husband, Ian, recounted that his wife said at one point to a social worker, "What if we just can't do this anymore?"
Adoptive Parents in the UK are Threatened and Blamed
He said that the social worker's response came out quickly, without a moment's hesitation, saying, "You'll be prosecuted for child abandonment." The couple is among 50 parents involved in a six-month investigation into why adoptive families in the UK are being broken apart, and their children returned to care.
The investigation uncovered a world where parents are being subjected to lies and are being blamed by authorities across the region. This comes as they also struggle to address the needs of traumatized children who are often the victims of abuse and neglect before they were removed from their birth families, according to BBC.
The parents talked about being threatened, harassed, and pushed into a mental health crisis by UK authorities. There was one adopted teenager who returned to care who said that if only there were more support, his family might still be together right now.
In its most extensive Freedom of Information request ever into adoptions that have broken down, the BBC found that more than 1,000 adopted children in the UK returned to care over the last five years.
One example is Victoria Bristow, who was devastated after she was forced to place her adopted son back into the care of social services in England. This decision came after years of struggling with little support, The Guardian reported.
The UK's Foster Care System
In the latest investigation, one couple said that the issue is a "national scandal" and added that "adoption as it stands" is "not fit for purpose." It was also discovered that almost a quarter of the adoptive parents involved said they were taken into police custody as a result of allegations of abuse by their children, which were later found to be false.
The current issue, along with many other factors, has resulted in prospective parents no longer queuing up to adopt children in care. There are now more children in care and fewer people waiting to adopt them in England.
There were 83,630 children in the care system in 2024, which was a 23% increase from a decade before that year. Data also showed that between 2013 and 2023, the number of "approved" families dropped by 60%, as per the Observer.
