ADOPTIONS across Dorset and the BCP council area have fallen by around a third – largely due to the pandemic, delays in court hearings and the ongoing reorganisation of both local councils.

The figures show a drop from 73 to 52 in the year to March 2021 – at a cost of more than £38,400 for each adoption.

Twenty-nine of these were from the BCP council area, and twenty-three were from the Dorset Council area.

The service, Aspire Adoption Agency, is jointly funded by both councils costing just over £2.1m a year – with it building up an overspend of £160,000 in the year, although Dorset councillors were told at a meeting this week that the deficit is now under control.

Dorset executive director of children’s service Theresa Leavy told a Dorset Council Cabinet meeting that the adoption agency continued to deliver adoption and some special guardianship services effectively during a difficult year although she said the delays in court hearings locally had been less severe than in other parts of the country.

She said there had also been some successes in the placement of a number of older children and those with complex needs.

“This is an effective partnership which works well,” she told councillors.

Dorset council leader Cllr Spencer Flower added his praise to the annual adoption report: “There has been good progress and we should be proud of what has been achieved here,” he said.

Some of the practices adopted to deal with Covid are likely to continue, including virtual meetings when requested by adopters or where cases need to be considered at short notice and where adopters are geographically remote.

Since late summer the service has generally returned to face to face meetings.

The £2,103,700 budget for the service is jointly funded by BCP which pays in 59% and Dorset Council which pays 41per cent.

Aspire was one of the first regional adoption agencies to be set up nationally and has been acting across Dorset since 2017 on behalf of local councils. It has been hosted since 2020 by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

Since it became operational in July 2017 the agency dealt with 210 children and by the end of March 2021 all but five remain in their new homes.

Of the most recent people recommended for approval most were heterosexual couples, seven were same sex couples and there were four single carers.

Aspire data for 2002-21 says that it took an average of 270 days (BCP) and 177 days (Dorset) between the council receiving court authority to place a child and the agency decision maker deciding on a match to an adoptive family. The England average is 178 days.

It took an average of 301 days (BCP) and 333 days (Dorset) between a child entering care and moving in with its adoptive family, better than the England average at 376 days.