Easier adoptions for childless couples

Couples rather adopt babies than foster older children

The government is unveiling major changes to adoption rules aimed at speeding up the process and increasing by at least 50% the number of children adopted each year.

Adoption facts

50,000 children in local authority care

5,000 are suitable for adoption

Only 50% get matched with a family

1,300 couples waiting to adopt

Currently just over 2,000 children in local authority care are matched with families each year.

Plans are also afoot to abolish rules which can prevent a black child being placed with a mixed-race family.

Local authorities which fail to meet the new targets set out by the government could be stripped of their powers to handle adoptions.

At present it can take up to three years for a child to be adopted and there is a backlog of more than 2,000 youngsters waiting to be placed with families.

The adoption changes are understood to be driven by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who believes it offers a fresh start to children in care who would otherwise face a bleak future.

The law on adoption needs changing and it has been far too inflexible in the past

Tony Blair

Mr Blair wanted to shake up the whole adoption process and said there should be a register across England and Wales to match prospective parents with children needing homes.

Now the government has drawn up its proposals in a white paper, entitled Adoption - A New Approach, launched by Health Secretary Alan Milburn on Thursday.

Mr Milburn is expected to announce plans for an adoption and permanency taskforce.

Time limits

The taskforce will have powers to deal with those councils that appear least enthusiastic about adoption, some of which place as few as 1% of the children in care with adoptive families, compared with 14% in other areas.

In the 1960s 20,000 children were adopted each year, a figure several times larger than the current average.

The paper will include new targets for the number of children permanently placed and a limit on the length of time youngsters have to wait to be matched with adoptive parents.

There is a backlog of children waiting to be adopted

The changes will be overseen by the taskforce whose job it will be to apply constant pressure on local authorities to deliver improvements.

But local authority social services departments warn that most couples want to adopt babies, while many children in care are older and from troubled backgrounds.

On Wednesday, Mr Blair promised that the reforms would put right inflexibility in the adoption system that had stopped children having a "loving and decent home".

'Loving home'

During prime minister's questions, he said: "The law on adoption needs changing and it has been far too inflexible in the past.

"There have been children who, given the chance, could have a loving and decent home but have been prevented by the inflexibility of the system from getting it.

The government wants a register of children and would-be parents

"We will make sure in the white paper that that flexibility is given and I hope it will get a warm welcome on every side of the House."

NCH family placement adviser Linda Plummer said: "We want to see an adoption process where the best interests of the child takes precedence, starting with a more efficient and child-focused court system.

"Proper financial support for families who have adopted together with good post-adoption support will go a long way to improving the present ad hoc system.

"Adoption is not a cheap option so these changes will require extra money from the government to local authorities, to ensure they happen."