Prejudice that 'denies ethnic babies a home': Barnardo's chief blames councils for fall in adoptions

Prejudice that 'denies ethnic babies a home': Barnardo's chief blames councils for fall in adoptions

By KATE LOVEYS

Last updated at 11:02 AM on 24th January 2011

The number of babies adopted is falling as ‘prejudiced’ local authorities will not let white parents look after ethnic children, the head of Barnardo’s says.

Just 70 under the age of one were found homes last year – a mere 2 per cent of the total 3,200 children adopted.

In 1974, 5,174 babies were given to families – nearly 25 per cent of the total 22,502 adoptions.

The scandalous decline over 35 years is coupled with the fact that, according to the outgoing head of the children’s charity, Martin Narey – black, Asian and mixed-race children now wait three times longer than white ones to be placed.

Discrimination? Banardo's chief Martin Narey (left) believes that black, Asian and mixed-race children now wait three times longer than white ones to be adopted

He has accused local authorities and adoption agencies of a reluctance to allow white couples to adopt minorities.

This is due to prejudice that is ‘so entrenched’ it could result in the complete demise of adoptions, he said.

The decline in the adoption of babies leaves thousands of children languishing on waiting lists and denies thousands of couples the chance to give a child a loving home. It also highlights the failure of Labour’s policy to reverse the fall in adoption numbers by seeking fundamental reforms in the system.

As a result, many couples have resorted to adopting babies from abroad.

Part of the decline is due to changes in society, however.

Before the 1980s, for example, many women who had children out of wedlock were encouraged to put them up for adoption.

Last year a record 64,400 children were in care, while the number adopted reached a new low of 3,200.

And while 3,700 of them were under the age of one, just 70 were adopted.

The policy of thwarting the adoption of ethnic children by white couples has led to a rise in the average age of adoption to three years and nine months.

Some 70 per cent of children adopted are now between the ages of one and four, while in 1974 it was just 27 per cent.

Mr Narey, who leaves his post as chief of Barnardo’s after five years at the helm, said that, by law, ethnicity could not be used as a barrier to adoption. However, he said that in all too many cases it was.

‘The law is clear,’ he said. ‘A child should not stay in care for an undue length of time while waiting for adoptive parents of the same ethnicity.’

And citing 1974 adoption rates for babies, he said: ‘We need our figure to get back into the thousands so we need to quadruple it over the next few years – and quadruple it again.’

Mr Narey also accused social workers and local authorities for the overall decline in adoption figures.

He pointed to the cases of Shannon Matthews, the nine-year-old kidnapped by her mother in 2008 to make money, and Baby P, who died at the hands of his mother, her lover and a lodger in 2007.

‘Contrary to popular belief, being in care makes things better for children. Adoption transforms life chances,’ said Mr Narey.

Yesterday, Children’s Minister Tim Loughton, pledged to reverse the trend. ‘Ethnicity should not be a barrier to adoption if there are loving, stable and secure families ready and waiting to adopt children,’ he said.

Some 2,700 white children were adopted from care in the year to the end of March 2009, against 410 mixed race children and 90 black children, Education Department figures show.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349889/Councils-prejudice-denies-ethnic-babies-adoptive-home-says-Barnardos-chief.html#ixzz1Ebk1sv4s