National Adoption Register and National Standards

According to Health Minister Jacqui Smith:

"The Adoption Register and the National Standards are key to transforming the adoption process. The Register is an extra resource for adoption agencies to use to help them identify matches for adoptive families and children. Once adoption has been identified as the best course of action, we are determined that children are adopted as quickly as possible and we are committed to increasing the rate of adoptions by 40 per cent. The Register is a vital part of meeting this target.

"The National Standards set out clearly the adoption service the Government believes children deserve. Children, prospective adopters, adoptive parents and birth families need to know what to expect, how long it will take and that no matter where they live they will receive a fair and consistent service. Most of all it is essential that children's needs are placed at the heart of the entire adoption process and this is why we consulted with children when developing these Standards."that Norwood Ravenswood, Europe's leading Jewish Child & Family Services Charity, which runs the voluntary adoption agency, Norwood Jewish Adoption Society, is the preferred bidder to run the new Adoption Register for England & Wales. The register is to be launched this July.

In a covering article entitled "Call to find families for life as adoption register set up" in The Guardian (8th August) concern was expressed that the governements target of increasing the number of children being adopted by 40% over the next three years would require a much greater focus upon the recruitment of adopters.

A recent national campaign, funded by the government, that attempted to recruit more foster carers had failed to provide anywhere near the numbers that had been hoped for. According to Kevin Jones our Chief Executive, "The national campaign that was recently aimed at recruiting more foster carers was unfortunately not a resounding success. There were a number of features to the overall strategy employed and the way it was organised which many here felt did not bode well. A similar campaign for adopters run along these kind of lines would quite frankly be likely to fail. Although there will no doubt be pressure for one."

"A whole new approach is needed. We need to approach the issue of the recruitment of the adopters we need, for older children, for sibling groups, for children with disabilities and particularly for children from ethnic minorities, in a much more determined, planned and imaginative fashion than has previously been the case."

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