Tories to review adoption rules

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The Conservatives are to look at easing inter-racial adoptions in England as part of plans to "remove race as a barrier to adoption".

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove says current rules mean black children wait longer for adoption.

The government changed adoption law in 2002, telling agencies to "give due consideration" to a child's "racial origin... and cultural background".

The Conservatives' review of adoption should report back within a year.

Dispel myths

Mr Gove has asked shadow children's minister Tim Loughton to look at how to get more children currently in care into adoption.

The shadow children's secretary, who was adopted, says that children in care are denied the best start in life and says black children are nearly four times more likely than white children to wait more than three years to be adopted.

He said: "Whilst adoption is a particularly good outcome for children in care, waiting for adoption may be a particularly bad one."

Children in care, he said were "less likely than other children to stay in education after the age of 16, three times as likely to find themselves unemployed a year later, and twice as likely to have been cautioned or convicted of an offence".

The government believes that placing a child with a family of similar ethnic origin and cultural heritage is most likely to meet the child's needs and would like more black people to come forward to adopt.

A spokesman for the Department of Children, Schools and Families told the BBC: "This week is National Adoption Week... A key objective is to dispel the myths about adoption and encourage prospective adopters from all ethnic backgrounds to come forward.

"However, local authorities working with voluntary adoption agencies need, through their own recruitment campaigns, to ensure that as far as possible there are sufficient adopters to meet the full range of needs of children awaiting adoption."