ALTHOUGH there are 4,500 children in State care and more than 150 approved adopters waiting, fewer than 20 children are adopted annually, according to local think tank Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI).

The entity, in its most recently released study focused on non-kin adoptions of children who are wards of the State and their placement with approved adoptive parents, says it has found that “Jamaica’s low rate of adoption is not the result of cultural resistance or lack of demand, but of institutional failures that leave children in prolonged care during the most developmentally sensitive years of their lives.”

CaPRI, in the study titled Home Advantage Reforming Jamaica’s Adoption System, said these“delays erode cognitive, emotional, and social capacities that underpin later educational attainment, labour market participation, and social integration”.

“Some 4,500 children between aged zero to 16 are in the care of the State through children’s homes, foster care, or family reintegration programmes. It is frequently asserted that almost none of these children are legally available for adoption; however, the trajectories of the few who do reach adoption suggest otherwise. Based on cases reviewed by the Adoption Board, there appear to be many children in State care whose circumstances could meet the criteria for adoption but whose cases never progress to that stage,” the study, researched by Saramaria Virri, stated.

According to CaPRI, private children’s home managers corroborate this finding, reporting wards who have had no family contact for years yet are never considered for permanent placement.

Furthermore, the entity said, “Newborns relinquished at birth wait, on average, two years to be placed with adoptive families. Older children typically wait longer, and many who could have been adopted spend their entire childhood in residential care, despite a standing pool of approved adopters and clear evidence on the value of early permanency.”

The think tank, in asserting that adoption’s current marginal role in Jamaica’s child protection system is not accidental, said the situation is the result of a “prevailing institutional philosophy that adoption be considered only after prolonged and often unrealistic efforts at reunification have failed”.

“This approach, while rooted in a legitimate concern for family preservation, has the effect of deferring permanency for children even when reunification is unlikely, unsafe, or indeterminate. The result is a system oriented toward process rather than outcomes, that systematically undervalues the developmental costs of delay, and which subordinates the best interest of the child to other consideration,” it stated.

Said CaPRI: “Children entering State care are often disadvantaged, but adoption can be a powerful protective factor, allowing children placed early to recover substantial developmental ground.”

In the meantime, it expressed dissatisfaction that Jamaica’s adoption law, which was originally modelled on the United Kingdom’s 1958 Adoption Act, has remained unchanged since its passage. By contrast, the UK has revised its adoption legislation three times.

“There is broad consensus among policymakers and child protection officials that Jamaica’s Adoption Act is outdated and in need of reform. A formal review was undertaken in 2013, but as of January 2026 no changes have been enacted, despite periodic ministerial statements signalling imminent Cabinet consideration,” the study pointed out.

It further noted an anomaly caused by the fact that, while the Act established the Adoption Board as the sole legal authority responsible for all aspects of adoption, including approving applications, investigating prospective adopters, and matching children with adoptive families, by contrast The Child Care and Protection Act assigns child protection responsibilities to several entities, including the Office of the Children’s Advocate and the Office of the Children’s Registry.

Furthermore, CaPRI pointed out that with the establishment of the Child Development Agency (now the Child Protection and Family Services Agency or CPFSA), the practical administration of adoption matters was transferred from the board, making it so that the CPFSA now performs the core operational functions of both child protection and adoption, “a configuration which has material implications for adoption”.

“Although the original intention was to repeal the Adoption Act and replace it with a new framework within the agency, this reform never materialised. As a result, the board remains the sole legal authority for adoption — despite having no office, budget, dedicated staff, or operational role — while in practice the CPFSA administers adoption, exercising effective control over identifying children for placement, managing the adopter waiting list, conducting investigations, and facilitating matches,” CaPRI pointed out.

According to the think tank, in its current form, “the Adoption Board is largely redundant outside its Case Committee, which meets monthly to review adoption applications based on CPFSA casework”.

“Beyond this narrow function the board has no guaranteed access to information on adoption activity, including the number of children eligible for adoption or the criteria guiding decision-making,” CaPRI declared.

In making several wide-ranging recommendations, CaPRI, among other things, called for the strengthening of the CPFSA’s capacity for adoption and permanency case management, increased staffing levels across children’s officers, and adoption personnel to reduce caseloads to manageable levels closer to international standard ratios of 25–30 cases per social worker. It also suggested modernised case management systems through digitisation of files and the introduction of a dedicated permanency review function to track cases, flag delays, and ensure timely progression.

Said CaPRI: “The evidence in this report shows that staffing shortages and administrative overload — not legal barriers — are the primary causes of delay.”

Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, in addressing the CPFSA’s 2025 Educational Achievement Awards Ceremony two Fridays ago, said she is particularly keen on working to improve Jamaica’s adoption framework and laws to encourage people to foster and increase the availability of programmes for special needs children.

According to the Caribbean Policy Research Institute, many children who could have been adopted spend their entire childhood in residential care, despite a standing pool of approved adopters and clear evidence on the value of early permanency.