The Black Adoption Project – creating better futures for Black adopted children in London

Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to adoptlondon.org.uk This website is run by Adopt London. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

the drop-down menus in the header navigation can’t be accessed by a keyboard
the accordions (expanders) on the FAQ page can’t be opened by a keyboard
the search field and button don’t receive focus and don’t have labels
some links are not descriptive and don’t say where they will take you
not enough contrast between the border around the form fields on the register for an event form and the background colour

You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the Non-accessible content section of this statement.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

email [email protected] or
call 0208 825 9674

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in seven working days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact’ page, call or email us for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: Colin James, Marketing Coordinator, email – [email protected]

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Adopt London is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Forms

The search field is missing a label and is relying on the placeholder text to fulfil this role. When form fields don’t have a properly associated text label, the function or purpose of that form control may not be presented to screen reader users.
The search button is also missing a label/link text. These issues fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2, labels or instructions and 2.4.4, Link purpose (in context).
The register for an event form has some accessibility issues.
There is not enough contrast between the border around the form fields and the background colour of the form. The minimum contrast ratio requirement is 3:1 – the ratio is currently 2.84:1. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (minimum).
Error messages are temporarily displayed and only appear one at a time. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1, Error identification.
The name, email and telephone form fields are missing autocomplete tokens. These tell your browser the purpose of the field and help give suggestions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5, Identify input purpose.
While the tokens are missing, modern browsers can detect the purpose of forms field and present suggestions to fill them in.

Navigation and accessing information

The drop-down menus in the site navigation bar cannot be accessed using a keyboard. The main links in the navigation bar can be accessed by a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1, Keyboard.
When a page is viewed at 175% zoom or higher, the header navigation collapses behind a burger menu, which can be opened using a keyboard alone, and all the drop-down menu links are visible. However, after you tab out of the menu, it doesn’t close nor does the page shift up, so you can’t see where they are on the page. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.7, Focus visible.
The intro text on the home page get covered up by the feature image to the right when the page is viewed between 110% and 250% zoom – this is dependent on the screen size of the laptop or monitor being used. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4, Resize text.
Viewing the homepage at 300% zoom hides the image and allows the intro text to be viewed.
The accordions (expanders) used on the FAQ page can only be opened using a mouse. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1, Keyboard.
A carousel is used to display content on the Want to Adopt and A children’s guide to adoption pages. The carousel is not accessible to keyboard only users unless they are using a screen reader. The carousel has left and right buttons to switch between the different panels, but the tab key bypasses them and moves to the next available interactive element. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1, Keyboard.
The following elements don’t receive keyboard focus – this means they don’t highlight when you tab to them:

- search field
- search button
- register for this event form fields
- select your borough drop down box
- event filter drop down box

This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.7, Focus visible.
The navigation landmark is used 4 times on all pages, but only one has a label, the main navigation in the header. The other 3 are in the footer and can’t be distinguished by assistive technologies. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1, Info and relationships and 2.4.1, Bypass blocks.

PDFs and other documents

The documents published on this website are not accessible. Accessibility issues include missing:

text alternatives for images
document structure properties such as headings and bookmarks
a default document language
titles or have non-descriptive titles

Text, links and tables

The FAQs page is missing a heading level 1 – the main heading on the page is marked up as a heading level 2. On other pages heading levels are skipped and go from a heading level 1 to level 3 or 4. These issues fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1, Info and relationships and 2.4.1, Bypass blocks.
The social media links in the header and footer are empty links. This means they don’t contain any text to tell assistive technology users what their purpose is for.
Some links are not descriptive enough and do not tell you where they will take you.
The footer links for the four Adopt London regions don’t accurately describe their purpose to screen reader users. The link name includes the telephone number for the region, however the link goes to the contact us page.
These three issues fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4, Link purpose (in context).

Am I ready to Adopt quiz and supporting content

Controls within the online quiz do not receive focus indication which makes it hard for keyboard only or dictation users to follow progress. WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible (AA)
Controls, radio buttons and questions do not have appropriate labels, legends or accessible names, making the quiz hard to complete for screen reader or dictation users. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 2.5.3 Label in Name (A), 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A), and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
Quiz pages are missing H1 top level headings. WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).
The quiz does not respond to text spacing adjustments on Windows. WCAG 1.4.12 Text Spacing (AA).
Some content across the quiz, email content and the handbook document does not have required colour contrast which may make it hard to read for some users. WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum (AA).
Images across the quiz, emails and handbook do not have appropriate text alternatives or are marked as decorative. All images are decorative so users are not missing out on content. WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A)
The introduction video in the quiz has captions all the way through. There is no audio equivalent for the final part of the video which directs users to adoptlondon.org.uk. WCAG 1.2.3 Audio-descriptions and Media alternatives (A).
In supporting emails, links are not always clearly identified with useful link text. WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (A).
Some supporting emails use tables for layout only which may cause some readability or reflow issues on certain devices. WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).
The document is missing various tags and bookmarks which contribute to navigation and structure. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (A), 2.4.2 Page Titled (A), 2.4.3 Focus Order (A), and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).

If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, please contact us using one of the routes described in the ‘Reporting accessibility problems with this website’ section of this statement.

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we have made no claims of disproportionate burden.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

3^rd party content

We link to documents and embed videos and podcasts created by third parties. For example, we link to PDFs on other adoption authority websites. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we endeavour to work with third parties to improve its accessibility.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We’re working with Hammersmith & Fulham Council (H&F) to help us monitor and fix usability and accessibility issues as they occur. H&F are also supporting us to embed accessibility into the way we do things to ensure the content we produce is accessible to most people. We have a plan in place to resolve the accessibility issues identified in this statement and to make the website more usable for all users. We are currently working on a project to improve the navigation of the website, which includes rectifying the identified accessibility issues. Updated February 2024.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17 March 2023. It was last reviewed on 23 March 2023. This website was last tested on 2 March 2023 by Hammersmith & Fulham Council who reviewed a representative sample of pages and documents. The Adopt quiz and supporting content was last tested on 17 March 2023 by All Able Ltd who reviewed all steps of the journey. Testing was composed of a mixture of manual, semi-automated and assistive technology testing.