Kevin Brennan MP misleading the British People

6.28.00pm GMT Mon 4th Feb 2008

John Hemming MP, Chairman of Justice for Families, has written a letter to the media claiming that Kevin Brennan's letter to the Times and Daily Mail is misleading in three ways.

Text of Letter Kevin Brennan MP's letter to your paper is misleading in three areas.

The key target for each local authority is known as the Best Value Performance Indicator no 163. This target has been agreed by the local authorities and government during most of the current decade. This target was calculated as the percentage of children adopted as a proportion of the number of children in care at the 31st March during that month. In 2006 this target was changed to include Special Guardianships (a form of lesser adoption). It is, therefore, misleading to claim that there is currently no target to encourage adoptions from care.

From 2006 to 2007 the number of adoptions went down by 400, but the number of Special Guardianships went up by 740. It is, therefore misleading to claim that the number of adoptions went down as one should include in the total Special Guardianships.

The third way in which the minister is misleading the public is in claiming that there never have been financial incentives for local authorities to get children adopted. There was £36 Million promised for certain councils that agreed a Local Public Service Agreement target. Furthermore each year there is special funding for adoption (this year about £35 Million) that is not available for keeping children with their birth families. There has also been pump priming grants for adoption. Councils have a clear financial incentive to get children adopted. This actually arguably makes the court decisions that rely upon the opinion of the Local Authorities or its agents unlawful in accordance with case law on biased witnesses.

The government need to recognise that the decision making process in public family law is frequently going wrong and greater accountability is needed.