Adoption charity BAAF went through four chief executives in less than two years before collapsing because of cost overruns and poor financial controls, according a statement released by administrators.

Administrators Smith and Williamson produced the statement of proposals in advance of its meeting with the charity's creditors next month.

It highlights unsettled leadership at the British Association for Adoption and Fostering as an added burden behind the charity's failing. BAAF had had four chief executives since 2013, it said, the last of which was appointed in December 2014.

Two key projects ran over budget by almost £650,000, and the fundraising department missed targets by £222,000.

A contract contract with the Department for Education also incurred a deficit of £178,000 because the work required cost more than the DfE was prepared to pay.

“Staff were not prepared for the lack of consonance between the terms of the contract and what was actually expected in the real time,” the report said.

The charity also had a significant pension deficit.

Although the losses were acknowledged by trustees and senior managers, the administrator said that “only limited proposals for cost cutting and income generation seem to have been progressed” by the board. 

By early 2015 the charity faced a cash crisis and was unable to continue.

BAAF had previously operated successfully for 35 years, becoming a leader in the sector and providing leadership services to almost all those involved in adoption and fostering in the UK.

The report states: “There seems to have been a relaxed view regarding compliance with the reserves policy. The view expressed at the senior management team meeting in November 2014 was that ‘we haven’t had this for most of the last 10 years’.”

But the report says, there is no evidence that “this non-compliance with reserves policy was raised with or by the board”.

The charity was declared insolvent on 31 July with the loss of 71 jobs. Some of the charity's services were transferred to the charity Coram – with the BAAF’s London-based functions transferring to the nearby Coram Campus, according to a Coram spokeswoman.

Earlier this month, former BAAF staff complained they were unlikely to receive redundancy pay.