JUST 57 children were adopted from care in Northern Ireland, almost half the number of the year before.
The Department of Health, which published the statistics, is working to modernise adoption legislation through the introduction of a new Adoption and Children Bill.
Most of the children adopted had been taken into care as babies at around an average of eight months old, but were not adopted until on average the age of three years 10 months.
The data, which relates to the year ending in March 2021, shows that this is "somewhat younger than in previous years".
The length of time in care, however, was "similar to the last three years".
However, the average length of time from a health and social care trust's "proposal that adoption was in the best interest for the child" and the final adoption order was two years and six months, "slightly longer than in recent years".
More than half the children (56 per cent) had been placed with `concurrent carers' who are approved as foster carers and adopters while their future was still being decided.
During this period social services work simultaneously with the birth parents and the prospective adopters.
Children adopted by concurrent carers were on average seven months younger at the time of adoption and spent five months less in care.
With most children adopted from the care system, the proposed new bill is designed to "improve planning and permanence for children in care".
It will largely replace the 1987 Order and amend the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.
