Charity is frontrunner to operate new British adoption register

A leading child and family services charity has been named as the preferred bidder to run the new Adoption Register for England and Wales, British health minister John Hutton announced today.

The organisation Norwood Ravenswood, which runs a voluntary adoption agency, are now frontrunners to operate the service due to be launched in July.

The Adoption Register will tackle delays in finding suitable adoptive families for children from across the country where a local family cannot be found, or the child needs to move away from the area, the British Department of Health (DoH) said in a statement.

Ruth Fasht of Norwood Ravenswood said: ‘‘We are delighted that the Department of Health and the National Assembly of Wales has given us preferred bidder status for the contract to run the adoption register.

‘‘This is an exciting project, which has the potential to help link up hundreds of looked after children with suitable prospective adoptive parents.’’

The charity was created by a merger in 1997 between Norwood Child Care, active in child care and family support for more than 200 years and the Ravenswood Foundation, a leading provider since 1953 of residential and day services to children and adults with learning disabilities.

Mr Hutton said: ‘‘The bid that Norwood Ravenswood submitted was particularly strong and met all the necessary specifications. I very much look forward to working with their team and hope we will be able to award them the contract to run the new Register shortly.

‘‘The adoption register is a key element of our new approach to adoption, which puts the focus on the needs of children at the heart of the adoption process.

‘‘The Social Services Inspectorate report Adopting Changes found that in the year ending March 1999 there were approximately 2,400 children waiting to be adopted.

‘‘As a society we have a responsibility to provide these children with the safety, stability and loving care a permanent new family can offer.

‘‘Children only get one chance to grow up and growing up in a stable, strong family provides the best opportunity for young people to thrive and develop.

‘‘The Register will help us speed up the time it takes for a child to be adopted through co-ordinating faster matches between children waiting to be adopted and approved adoptive families from across the country.

‘‘We are committed to a 40% increase in adoptions in children from care and the Adoption Register is vital to ensuring this new target is met.’’

The Register will provide a national infrastructure for adoption services, holding information on approved adoptive families and children for whom adoption is the plan, the DoH said.

It explained this information will be used to suggest to local authorities families for children where a local family is either not desirable or cannot be found within a reasonable period of time.

Councils will have to put details of all children waiting to be adopted and approved adoptive families onto the Register - ensuring that they have obtained the consent of the children and the families before doing so.