Government to overhaul ‘too slow’ adoptions

Currently it can take more than a year for a potential candidate to be given approval, leaving thousands of children in care waiting months or even years for a family.

Children’s Minister Tim Loughton has asked a group of experts to draw up a new system to recruit and assess individuals as adoptive parents.

Government adviser Martin Narey, former chief executive of Barnardo’s, welcomed reform to a process which has driven couples to adopt from overseas.

According to the latest statistics, children wait an average of two years and seven months before being adopted. Potentially suitable adoptive parents are often turned away because they may not be the right ethnic match, are overweight or may have smoked.