Homosexuals and the unemployed are being targeted to adopt and foster in a drive to cut the number of children in care.

The campaign, entitled "Never Thought I Could", is being run by Southwark council and aimed at groups not normally associated with adoption.

People up to 60 are also among those being sought to provide homes.

Billboards and posters will be plastered around the south London borough from this week with the slogan "Valued, wanted, needed".

A motorised billboard and 50 adverts on buses will support the drive.

Changing Rooms presenter Anna Ryder Richardson, (left) who was adopted, launched the scheme on Tuesday.

"Whether you are over or under 45, single or in a couple, in or out of work, gay or straight you can provide a loving home," she said.

Three images will be used in the campaign, including a single white woman, an older black couple and an unemployed man and a woman.

The majority of local London authorities already recruit gays and lesbians to adopt and foster. It is the first time that Southwark has made an active play for such sections of the community.

Jenny Lord, from the British Agency for Fostering and Adoption, said sexual orientation should not be a deciding factor in whether an individual's application is passed.

"We do not think that such a substantial section of the population should be excluded from the process when there are so many children in care," she said.

Vicky Naish, who sits on Southwark's social services committee, added: "When someone approaches us at Southwark to adopt or foster, we are only interested in one thing - what they can offer our children."

The council has between 60 and 70 children waiting to be adopted or on a long-term fostering list. There are an estimated 53,000 children in care nationwide.

Used courtesy of the London Evening Standard