Social services bosses have expressed fears that they will not be able to press ahead with Government targets to increase the speed and number of adoptions unless they get extra money.

The Association of Directors of Social Services says its welcomes the "well intentioned" Adoption and Children Act and particularly approves of efforts to simplify the rules on inter-country adoption.

But it warned that all aspects of the legislation should be given "the closest scrutiny possible" during its passage through Parliament.

ADSS President Moira Gibb said: "Children, families and adults who wish to adopt have been waiting a long time for adoption legislation to be brought up to date.

"We should all be grateful that the Government has chosen to being forward this White Paper, even at such a late stage in the parliamentary session. Nothing, however, should be rushed.

"Carrying out the new, and very welcome, responsibilities contained in this Bill will need a rigorous assessment of the costs."

These would include the cost of new adoption allowances, the cost of new, long-term specialist support, the cost of additional time spent with new parents and birth families, extra child care costs for single adopters and the cost of training and supervising additional adoption social workers.

She added: "We must also guard against the emotional cost of raising too many people's expectations too swiftly.

"There is still a desperate shortage of suitable adoptive parents for those older, highly vulnerable children who form the majority of children looked after by local authorities.

"Despite the creation, rightly, of new targets and increased through-put, social services departments must make sure that their attention isn't drawn too rigidly towards those children deemed to be 'easier' to adopt, at the expense of those who, despite being older, still have a right to a happy and fulfilling family life."

The leaders of the Local Government Association have also expressed similar fears about insufficient funding for the extra responsbilities facing adoption departments.

Councillor Rita Stringfellow, chair of the LGA's social affairs and health executive said: "Local government is committed to improving adoption services."

But she said that the much-publicised figure of £66m over three years, which the Government has earmarked for improving adoption services, is not new money but cash included in the Quality Protects programme and "which has largely been allocated by local councils".

"While new grants have been given through Quality Protects, this is against a historic background of underfunding of social services. There are also competing demands for the grant from other new legislation and improved standards." she said.

Councillor Stringfellow also stressed that the adoption process should be at child's pace and not at the system's.

"We must balance the need to minimise delay with the time required to allow safe assessments of families and preparation of children," she said.

She also welcomed the new sanctions on inter-country adoptions "for those who avoid child protection procedures when adopting children from overseas".

The national adoption register, which aims to speed up the matching process between waiting children and approved families was a "useful addition", she said.

But she warned that placing children regionally through the already-established regional consortia of agencies should be considered before placing a child nationally and possibly a long way from their place of birth.

"Most children benefit from stability, continuity of school and continuing contact with their birth families, including grandparents," she said.

"For some children there are good reasons to be placed away from their home area and for contact with their birth families to be cut.

"The Register will help children with complex needs which cannot be met locally in a timescale which suits them."

Councillor Stringfellow also praised plans to give adoptive families the right to assessment for post adoption support and to make post adoption support and allowances more widely available which would encourage more potential adopters to come forward and help prevent "devastating" adoption breakdowns.

See also

MPs debate Bill number 2
Call for grandparent rights
New Bill clears the first hurdle
NORCAP condemns Adoption Bill
Adoption Bill pledges support