They're still waiting - 3,000 children in need of adoption

One of the UK’s leading voluntary adoption agencies is launching a new campaign to highlight the urgent need for new adopters. The new campaign from Adoption Focus, ‘They’re Still Waiting’ includes a short film featuring a child in a bedroom, with time passing and a suitcase packed, waiting for their forever home.

More than 3,000 children are currently in need of adoptive families, yet there are only around half that number of adopters available to care for them. ‘They’re Still Waiting’ is intended to remind potential adopters that behind every statistic is an individual child waiting for the stability, security and love of a permanent family.

According to Adoption Focus data submitted to Ofsted, for some children, the wait for a permanent family can exceed two years. The longest wait experienced to place a child was a remarkable four years and three months. Four years of Christmases, four years of birthdays and four years of wondering when the waiting will finally end. 

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. People will often rule themselves out of adopting before they have even spoken to us. This campaign really is to encourage anyone who has ever wondered whether adoption could be for them to take that first step and speak to us.” 

‘They’re Still Waiting’ follows on from the award-winning ‘The Long Wait’ campaign from 2025, which illustrated the length of time that children for adoption by digitally aging children them using AI technology.