Parents' race no longer priority in adoption

New guidelines: Cabinet minister Michael Gove
12 April 2012

New measures aimed at getting thousands of children off adoption waiting lists and into a home with parents were announced today. The guidelines say they should be considered for adoption regardless of the parents' race or age.

New figures show the number of children being adopted in London has dropped 22 per cent in a year. Only 390 were placed permanently with families in the capital last year, compared with 500 in 2009.

In future, race should not be a "deal-breaker" if the prospective adopters show they will be good parents, the guidance states. Rules blocking over-45s from adopting will be scrapped.

The guidelines were launched by Education Secretary Michael Gove, who was adopted at the age of four months. Speaking of his own experiences, he said he "can never adequately repay" his adoptive parents and was lucky to get a "second chance".

Launching the guidelines, he said: "Thousands of children are in the care system waiting to be adopted. Every day they wait is a day they're denied the loving home all children deserve.

"But politically correct attitudes and ridiculous bureaucracy keep many of those children waiting far too long. Edicts which say children have to be adopted by families with the same ethnic background, and prevent other families adopting because they don't fit Left-wing prescriptions, are denying children the love they need.

"As a result children from ethnic minority backgrounds languish in care for longer than other kids and are denied the opportunities they deserve. This misguided nonsense punishes those who most need our help and that is why this Government is sweeping it away." On average, ethnic minority children wait three times longer than white ones to find a permanent home.

Nationally, the number of children placed for adoption fell 15 per cent between March 2009 and March last year. On average, black children took more than 50 per cent longer to be placed than children from other ethnic groups. Children aged over five were four times less likely to be adopted than children under five. Some councils do not consider some children from ethnic minority backgrounds, older ones and those with disabilities for adoption.

Current advice says social workers must give "due consideration to the child's religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background", but does not make clear whether race should take priority over other factors. The new rules will say barring adoption on ethnic grounds "is not child-centred and is unacceptable". But they will not change the law.

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