Naomi Angell is a solicitor specialising in child protection, domestic and intercountry adoption cases. 

In the points I wish to make this evening, I am going to follow the theme of the evening and speak to three headlines drawn from my daily court and casework experience.

My first headline is 'Two years is too long'. 

I have the experience of stepping out of child protection cases representing the children concerned, with care orders and placement orders made at the final hearing after lengthy court proceedings.  The local authority care plan for the future of the youngest children in the family is adoption. 

Two years later, I step back in to that family's life with the birth of a new baby and new care proceedings, to represent that baby. I find that the youngest children have not yet been placed for adoption two years later and are still waiting.  They have moved foster carers on several occasions or have put down firm roots with the foster parents that they have now been with for most of their lives.

Same race and ethnicity placement of these children have been prioritised, despite there still being insufficient ethnic minority or heritage adopters for children in the care community.  Also finding a perfect match for children whose ethnic and racial heritage is becoming increasingly diverse in modern day Britain. Also inadequacies of the safety nets against drift and delay for these children, provided by the looked after review and independent reviewing officer systems, sadly risk the very delay and drift that can cause almost as much damage to these children as the reasons they were removed in to care in the first place. Sadly children's chances of a successful adoption placement decrease with every week that they remain in care and their problems risk increasing commensurately. 

My second headline is 'First encounters of the wrong kind'.

This is my typical client who comes to me for advice on the options for parenthood, after emerging from years of distressing and unsuccessful infertility treatment.  They have decided to draw a line in the sand and move on to look at other ways of having a family. 

Domestic adoption, adopting a child from our care system, is nearly always their starting point.  But at this stage, they know nothing about the adoption world and system. 

They pluck up courage, never easy, to make that first phone call to their local authority adoption unit but as reported to me by many clients, are likely to be asked as initial questions what sort of child they are interested in adopting and what their own ethnic and racial heritage is.  Knowing very little about the adoption system, they are very likely to say they would like to adopt a baby without too many problems, to replicate the child that they had hoped to have naturally.  They are unlikely to know at that stage that there are few babies available for adoption in modern day Britain, or that those available are likely to have been removed as tiny babies from birth parents with drug or alcohol problems.  These potential adopters are told that there are no children of the age that they are seeking and without the potential of challenging behavioural issues within that local authority's care community and that another issue is that the children waiting for adoption are of a different race and ethnicity and so could not appropriately be placed with them.  

This response is given before the family are given an opportunity to learn about adoption, to come to a local authority adoption information evening, to  hear about the children in the care system or to explore with experienced social work professionals their own life experiences that may equip them to offer a future to one of those children, maybe not in that authority but perhaps in another. 

It is my experience, both as a lawyer dealing with these cases and through having chaired the adoption panel of a national adoption agency, that families so frequently broaden the age and needs of children that they would offer a home to once they are given an opportunity to learn about the children, to reflect on a different type of family life from that that they had envisaged but one that they would like to step up to and meet the challenges of. 

The risk of how the system currently works is that many very good families are lost to domestic adoption and to the children at this very first point of contact with the adoption system.  It is often suggested to them, as a gesture of kindness, that they might consider intercountry adoption instead. 

My third headline is 'Love is not enough'

I believe that the ideal placement for a child is with a family who match their race and ethnicity but who can also meet the majority of the child's other needs.  I also believe that the worst outcome for a child is delay in finding a family for them. 

However, if these transracial and trans ethnic placements are to be given the best chance of success, there has to be proper preparation and assessment of prospective adopters and as with all adoptions proper and easily accessed post adoption support. It isn't enough to just increase the number of adoptions it is equally important to underpin them firmly so they have the very best chances of success. As the very worst outcome for a child who has already experienced many damaging life experiences is an adoption breakdown.

As far as adoption preparation is concerned, from chairing the adoption panel of a voluntary adoption agency which undertook many intercountry adoption assessments when the adoptions are most likely to be transracial,  I am aware of the very considerable wealth of experience that these voluntary agencies have of assessing families for transracial and trans ethnic placements.  For the children's sake, these families need to be able to meet the needs of a child of a different ethnicity to them, to nurture and support that child's difference and identity and to help a child deal with racism they may encounter in growing up.  The local authorities conducting adoption assessments in accordance with the new government guidance of adopters, whose heritage does not match that of the child, should look to the agencies who already have years of experience in doing these assessments and doing them successfully. 

I have talked about the present, I want to end by looking into the future with the future headlines I hope to see :-

1. 'Big increase in numbers of adoptions of children in care'

2. 'Adoption system is genuinely welcoming to  new adopters '

3. 'Low breakdown rate of new adoptions: the result of effective adoption preparation and post adoption support'

If you are considering adopting a child and would like further advice on the legal process please contat Naomi Angell. You can reach Naomi by:

• E-mailing Naomi
• Calling Naomi on 020 7485 8811
• Filling in our online enquiry form

The family department at Osbornes is recommeded and ranked by independent legal directories Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.  Our specialist famiy lawyers in London advise on all aspects of family law including divorce law.

Naomi is also ranked in Chambers and Partners, an independent legal directory as a recommended family law solicitor.