You are right, of course, Bop, in saying that help needs to begin much earlier. The PP+ in England (at £2300 per year) is a potential boost for adopted and previously looked-after children, although there are still many problems with its implementation that mean it is not yet supporting the eligible cohort as it should be. In Scotland, there is the Care Experienced Children and Young People's Fund, which is, unfortunately, spoken of very little and many parents and schools are not aware of its existence or the ways it can be used to support care experienced children in school, including adopted children.
I think what I am impressed about with Scotland's approach is the holistic inclusion of all care-experienced children. In England, initiatives to support young people into further and higher education are mainly focused on 'care leavers' which excludes a huge swathe of young people who need support, including adopted and previously looked-after children as well as those who may have spent a considerable proportion of their childhood in care, but weren't actually in care at the point of turning 16 or 18. In the Barometer survey, although things were far from perfect in Scotland, parents of adopted children aged 16+ were more positive about their prospects and the support they were receiving than elsewhere in the UK and I think that's a reflection of better (though not perfect) national policies for this age group in Scotland than exist elsewhere.
Having said all of that, I was very disappointed to see that The Times in Scotland ran this story with a headline about how straight A students will miss out on university places because of this new initiative. It is very sad to see young people pitted against each other in that way and clear that we still have a long, long way to go.