In the year ending 31 March 2013 nearly 4,000 children were adopted from care, some 6% of the looked after children population.

Whilst adoption is right for a minority of children, it is the one care option that changes a child's legal status permanently and it is absolutely vital therefore that we get the matching and placement right.

Finding and matching a child with a ‘forever family' in a timely and appropriate manner is challenging particularly if the child is part of a sibling group or has a disability or long term health condition.

Over the past year we have seen some real progress in the adoption system. Streamlining the assessment process for potential adopters by removing unnecessary delays and putting them firmly in the driving seat has seen the number of approved adopters increase.

That is not to say that the process of being approved as an adopter is any less rigorous. Preventing adoption breakdown and keeping adoptive families together is also vital; the creation of the Adoption Support Fund should help provide support for families when they need it whether it is in the short, medium or long term.

As we continue to make progress with adoption reform, it is important that we know what is happening, when and why.

The creation of the Adoption Leadership Board will put the sector at the forefront of sustaining its own improvement.

Giving adoption agencies access to closer to real time data will be central to the board's work, bringing together local authority statistics and corresponding voluntary adoption agency figures.

This will be significantly quicker than the current publication of statistics.

Leadership from local government and the voluntary sector will be key to making progress in the future, the Leadership Board will ensure that those responsible for driving developments are at the forefront of embedding the reforms and reviewing the effectiveness of how well those reforms improve outcomes for some of our most vulnerable children.

The newly established Adoption Leadership Board made up of representatives from ADCS, Adoption UK, BAAF, LGA, Solace, First4Adoption and CVAA will work to support and challenge the adoption sector to recruit more adopters, strengthen service development and, in conjunction with others, consider the training and support needs of the adoption workforce.

Andrew Webb is president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS)