A new campaign to encourage people to adopt a child has been launched in the North-East of England.
The campaign is backed by councils in Durham, Darlington, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland. It is part of a pilot before a national rollout.
It will feature success stories from parents who have adopted children. These stories will be included in newspaper and radio adverts, as well as online.
The North-East was selected because there are currently 220 children in the area who are in need of a new home.
Adoption information service First4Adoption has also backed the pilot. Gemma Gordon-Johnson, the head of the service, said they hoped the campaign would “mark a new era in the recruitment of adopters”.
She added that there had been “important improvements in the adoption system” over the last few years which have made the process much easier for prospective parents. These improvements were designed to minimise delay and give prospective parents a greater role in the process, according to the government. They include eliminating ethnicity as a priority when seeking a home for a child, and allowing approved adopters to actively search for children in need of a home.
Despite these improvements, Gordon-Johnson said there was “still more to be done” if all the children who need homes are to get one.
The announcement of this pilot follows a £2 million adoption funding scheme which was launched in several areas in England back in June.
Interesting second name Gordon-Johnson maybe she has the answer to the following question
A child birth registered RJB only name ever registered and known
For Care procedure are Local Authorities legally allowed to set the name down as RBM no hyphen between BM, the B fathers surname the M mothers surname, a name no other agency recognises as any legal binding that they have to submit any evidence for a child they have in the name of RJB
After a Care Order is made in the name RBM still stands in the High Court London, Split case joined to gether in the name RBM no appeal allowed to change this name
Are the Local Authority legally allowed to split the case, change the childs name back to RJB for adoption proceedings, their legal argument being, they had a Full Care Order on the child?