I wonder if some of the difference between the UK and the rest of Europe is to do with the Second World War and the aftermath? Certainly we had cities being bombed, children evacuated, families disrupted because of war service, but that was nothing like the reality over very large parts of Europe. And, of course, there’s been ongoing devastation ever since in some parts.
That could lead to a different attitude of, say, keeping a family together as the top priority, as well as much more experience of providing children’s homes for orphans or displaced children.
I don't think so, icy - Ireland was neutral in WWII but, like many other European countries, has minimal domestic adoption because the consent of the birth parents is required.
Lean, but isn't it the case that many of those activity days are designed to get prospective adopters into the same room as 'hard to place' children (sibling groups, older children etc) whom they might have ruled out in the abstract, so they can get a sense of the real children behind the paper description?
I haven't any personal experience of it, admittedly, but from what I know of the adoption process via friends, it's far less like buying some consumer item than answering a set of very difficult direct questions that involve a lot of soul-searching and honestly, like 'Could you cope with a child with Disability X?' Disability X and Y? A child who's been sexually abused?' etc and agonising when a social worker mentions a possible match.