Guidance published by the Department for Education last week says that local authorities must not stop children from being placed with families of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds and that no prospective parents must be turned away on the grounds of race, age or social background.
The guidance says local authorities should be making more use of voluntary adoption agencies with specialist expertise in finding families for difficult-to-place children.
Children's minister Tim Loughton has asked Ofsted to look at the current inspection regime for local authority adoption agencies to see how it can be strengthened and reduce delay in the system.
Mr Loughton said some local authorities were placing just 2 per cent of their children in care for adoption, compared with 16 per cent in other parts of the country.
'While there are many fantastic local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies, I want all the professionals involved in adoption to take note of the updated guidance,' he said. 'I want to see more children placed for adoption where this is in their best interests, particularly those who may have been overlooked, like older children, children from BME backgrounds and those with disabilities.'
Jonathan Pearce, chief executive of Adoption UK, said, 'Recruiting adopters is only the beginning of the process, and long-term and continuing support should be on the Government's agenda, in addition to getting new adopters through the 'front doors' of adoption agencies. After all, there's no point in having an open door if the rooms inside don't contain the support families need to parent adopted children traumatised by their early experiences of abuse and neglect within the birth family.'
