Bradford's Adoption and Fostering Unit has won national recognition by becoming the first in England to win a coveted Charter Mark award.

The Unit, which finds families for children, won the award for delivering a first class service.

The award is judged on how organisations deal with the public, the standards they set and the levels of innovation, consultation, improvement, effectiveness and satisfaction they achieve.

Councillor Kris Hopkins, Executive Member for Health and Housing, said: "This is a fantastic achievement for the Adoption and Fostering Unit. They have enhanced their work, to ensure they do the best for the children in our care.

"Charter Mark is the key to doing this. It has helped staff to focus on the public they deal with.

"In this case the public is those who want to adopt or foster a child. They are ordinary people doing something special. The Charter Mark award proves that not only do we give good service to them, but that we also go the extra mile to put the user first.

"The Unit has done a great deal of work to achieve the award and I want to commend their efforts. This highlights the work of a Council department that deals with difficult and sensitive issues and has decided to make sure they do so in the best possible way."

In order to apply for the Charter Mark the Unit measured themselves against the national Charter Mark criteria and submitted an application in the summer. In September they were scrutinised by the Charter Mark assessor who also spoke to the young people who are dealt with by the Unit.

Finally they received detailed feedback on how best to improve the quality of their services and make them more responsive to users needs.

The award will be presented by a Government minister at a national ceremony in London in February. The Adoption and Fostering Unit will then be able to use their Charter Mark certificate for three years.