Council bosses have defended their track record on adoption after children's minister Tim Loughton called on local authorities to speed up applications.

The Department for Education published performance tables today measuring how quickly every council places children for adoption.

According to government statistics, the average length of time for an adoption to take place is now two years and seven months and Mr Loughton said children are getting a ‘raw deal' from both councils and the family justice system.

‘Many social workers are doing an excellent job for the children and families they work with, but there is no excuse for the poor performance we are seeing laid bare today,' said Mr Loughton.

But the chairman of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, Cllr David Simmonds, said councils take their responsibilities towards children in care ‘extremely seriously'.

‘We acknowledge that there is a variation in performance across councils and recognise that at times the system has been risk averse, but we want to work with government to change that and remove barriers that delay decisions, including tackling the significant delays in the family courts,' said Cllr Simmonds.

The president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS), Matt Dunkley, said councils are increasingly successful in finding permanent homes for children and young people.

‘We agree that there are changes required to the adoption process to speed up the recruitment and matching of vulnerable children with potential adoptors, as well as the decision that children should be put  up for adoption, but not at the expense of depth and quality of decisions that risk adoption breakdown,' said Mr Dunkley.
 
Weblink to DfE performance tables: