People in their 60s should be allowed to adopt children as young as five, a child services boss has said.
Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, the Government agency that represents children’s interests in family courts, said retirees should be encouraged to adopt to stem the huge rise of young people living in care.
He said adoption services have been ‘too restrictive’ and urged them to take a ‘more creative’ approach to finding adoptive parents.
Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, the Government agency that represents children’s interests in family courts, said retirees should be encouraged to adopt to stem the huge rise of young people living in care. (Pictured being awarded CBE by the Queen in 2008)
‘The population is ageing and a lot of retired people are still capable of childcare,’ said Mr Douglas, a former chairman of the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). ‘If you’re a healthy, active 60-year-old you might be perfectly acceptable to take on a five-year-old.
‘When the child is 18 you’ll be 73. I think 73 now is not exactly middle aged, but you’re not past it.’
Mr Douglas suggested older people should also considering fostering as a ‘retirement option’.
Figures for 2016/2017 put the number of children in care at 72,670, up three per cent from 70,440 the previous year – the biggest annual increase in seven years.
Yet the number of people adopting is falling, with just 4,690 children in care adopted in 2016 – down from 5,360 the previous year.
Last night campaigners for the elderly cautioned that adopting or fostering would be an ‘exhausting’ task for some older people. (Picture posed by models)
There is no legal upper age limit for those who want to apply to adopt or foster, only a lower one stating that you must be at least 21.
But most adoption agencies operate a maximum 45-year age difference rule between the parent and child.
Last night campaigners for the elderly cautioned that adopting or fostering would be an ‘exhausting’ task for some older people.
Dame Joan Bakewell, 84, previously the Government’s ‘pensioners’ tsar’, said that while adoption could be a ‘great opportunity’ for some over-60s, there would be too much of an age gap for them to adopt five-year-olds.
She said: ‘There are all sorts of difficulties and changes in the culture since they were young.’
Lara Crisp from Gransnet, a social networking site for grandparents, added: ‘Keeping up with a toddler when you’re a young parent is tough enough, but if you’re in your 70s and beyond it has the potential to have an impact on your health.’
A spokesman for Coram, a children’s charity which took over the BAAF’s responsibilities when it closed in 2015, said: ‘When you’re matching the adoption you’re thinking about who will be around long-term to see the child through to an age of independence.’
But Scott Casson-Rennie, engagement officer for charity Adoption UK, backed the idea of more older people adopting. He said: ‘There shouldn’t be a restriction on age. Some of these children thrive in families where there are older parents.’