by Kirsty Buchanan, Parlimentary Correspondent

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Health Secretary Alan Milburn yesterday unveiled plans for sweeping changes to adoption laws in a bid to increase the numbers of youngsters finding good homes.

Unveiling the consultation White Paper, Adoption - A New Approach, Mr Milburn said children had become the "innocent victims of a system which has failed to meet their needs".

The document outlines a raft of measures, said to be the biggest averhaul of adoption laws for 25 laws, and which aim to improve and speed up the process which Mr Milburn branded inflexible and too slow.

At present, the adoption process can take up to three years as there is a backlog of 2,000 youngsters waiting for a permanent home.

Key elements of the White Paper include a relaxation of rules which currently make it difficult for a black child to be placed with a mixed-race family.

At the moment, 89 per cent of adopters are white, while one in five children waiting to be adopted are from black or ethnic minority backgrounds. Black children wait five months longer on average than white youngsters to be adopted.

"No child should be denied loving adoptive parents solely on the grounds that the child and the parents do not share the same racial or cultural background," said the White Paper.

There will be no blanket bans on prospective parents because of their age, health or other factors, Mr Milburn said in a Commons statement yesterday.

But there are no plans to change the law which allows only married couples or individuals to adopt which means that couples who live together and homosexual partners will still not be able to adopt together.

A national adoption bureau was ruled out because of the importance of keeping a strong link between local adoption and local child protection services.

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White Paper - at a glance
Reaction from charities
Blair talks about adopted dad
Adoptive MPs welcome new laws