Information on how many people or couples in each ethnic category in England have been assessed as suitable adoptive parents and are yet to adopt is not collected centrally.
Information on the number of looked-after children in each ethnic category in England is shown in the following table. The information is taken from Table A1 of the Statistical First Release (SFR 27/2007) entitled ‘Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2007’. The SFR is located at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000741/index.shtml.
Number Percentage 20034 20045 20055 20065 20075 20034 20045 20055 20065 20075 All children looked after at 31 March1, 2 61,200 61,200 61,000 60,300 60,000 100 100 100 100 100 Ethnic origin White White British 47,300 46,300 45,900 45,000 44,700 77 76 75 75 74 White Irish 580 520 500 440 400 1 1 1 1 1 Any other White background 1,800 1,900 1,800 1,600 1,500 3 3 3 3 3 Mixed White and Black Caribbean 2,000 2,000 2,000 1,900 1,900 3 3 3 3 3 White and Black African 400 410 440 430 440 1 1 1 1 1 White and Asian 750 720 720 750 770 1 1 1 1 1 Any other mixed background 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 3 3 3 3 3 Asian or Asian British Indian 300 300 280 300 290 0 0 0 0 0 Pakistani 510 520 580 610 660 1 1 1 1 1 Bangladeshi 200 230 270 280 280 0 0 0 0 0 Any other Asian background 320 460 650 880 1,000 1 1 1 1 2 Black or Black British Caribbean 1,600 1,700 1,600 1,600 1,600 3 3 3 3 3 African 1,800 2,300 2,400 2,400 2,300 3 4 4 4 4 Any other Black background 870 880 900 900 880 1 1 1 1 1 Other ethnic groups Chinese 80 120 120 120 130 0 0 0 0 0 Any other ethnic group 750 840 900 1,000 1,200 1 1 1 2 2 1 Source: SSDA903 return on children looked after. 2 Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. 3 Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials. 4 Figures are derived from the SSDA903 one third sample survey. 5 Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which, since 2003-04 has covered all children looked after.