An estimated 3,000 children are languishing in the adoption system due to a shortfall in the number of families who are registering to take care of them.

According to recent Adoption Focus data submitted to Ofsted, some children wait for a permanent family for over two years, while the longest wait experienced to place a child lasted four years and three months.

During this period, children are often placed with temporary foster families who are paid to look after them – with many moving between several households as social workers search for them to be placed in a stable home.

New data provided by Adoption England showed that the number of children with a placement order who had not moved in with an adoptive family increased from around 1,980 in 2021/22 to 3,010 in 2025/26.

By March 2026, these children had waited an average of 309 days since the order; since entering care, the average wait time was 646 days. Over this same period, adopter-family registrations fell by 15 per cent and approvals fell by 25 per cent.

One of the key issues facing the sector is the desire from many potential adopters to be matched with a baby or a young infant, amid concerns about the behaviour and emotional needs of older children.

In Aaron and Ben’s case, the decision to adopt was made quite soon after they married in 2017. As a teacher in a high school, Aaron had seen first-hand the number of children in the foster care system who were in need of a good home.

After meeting with social workers and passing their safeguarding checks, they were approved and matched with D*, who was just four-and-a-half years old at the time. Despite his young age, he was becoming “less desirable” for adopters, given that the majority of prospective families request to be matched with a baby.

Yet for Aaron and Ben, the connection with D was instant. They were captivated by his love of superheroes, his enjoyment of playing outside and his interest in science.

“He definitely has a certain factor – I don’t know what it is about him, everyone is drawn towards him,” Aaron said.

After meeting D with his foster parents on a couple of occasions, their match was approved and in May 2019, he came to live with them. In preparation for his arrival, Aaron and Ben decorated his bedroom and strived to encourage his interests, and surrounded him by loving grandparents and cousins, to ensure he felt part of a big family.

“The key message for me is that if you’re thinking about having a child, does it have to be a biological child?,” Aaron said. “There are so many sweet, lovely kids out there that I know are not getting the ‘I love you’ and hugs when they go home. You don’t have to adopt a baby, you need to consider the whole lot.”

In April, Adoption England, the Department for Education-funded body that supports the work of regional adoption agencies, said there were many complex factors behind the decline in the number of people coming forward to adopt since Covid.

These included economic uncertainty, cost of living, and fewer people choosing to have children or deciding to start a family later in life.

When asked about the difference adoption had made to their lives, he said: “It is night and day. I’m still involved with the adoption agency as we want to give back because of what they have given us with D. He is highly rewarding, he is inquisitive, and when someone says ‘isn’t he lovely’, it is just brings all the emotion back.

“A child needs security and love of a family – these kids who are not in a stable permanent home, they are not going to have their parents saying they’re proud of them.”

Anna Sharkey, CEO of Adoption Focus, said: “There are thousands of children across the country who are waiting for the sense of belonging and security that a permanent family can provide. For every child, two years is not simply a statistic.

“It is a huge part of their childhood. With our ‘They’re Still Waiting’ campaign, we want everyone to see each child behind those figures. There are memories waiting to be made, bedrooms waiting to be filled and, most significantly, children waiting for someone to say: you belong here.”