This bulletin presents annual statistics on adoptions which took place following court orders in England and Wales in 2012. Figures on adoption orders apply to adoptions by relatives and stepparents as well as adoptions from care.
Statistics on adoptions are derived from the Adopted Children Register (ACR) which is maintained by the General Register Office (GRO) and contains the particulars of every adoption order made by a court in England and Wales. Children born and adopted overseas can be registered in the ACR providing the adoptive parent(s) are habitually resident in England or Wales at the time of the adoption. Such adoptions are not included in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) adoption statistics.