The number of adoptions in Scotland has fallen by a quarter in the past five years.

There were 403 adoptions in 2000 - about 50 fewer than in the previous year and about 140 less than in 1996.

The average age of the children when they were adopted was about six and a half years.

Most of the children - 164 - fell into the five-11 age range while 142 were aged one to four years. There were 34 babies adopted and 62 children aged 12 to 17.

Just over half of all applications were made without using an agency, while applications made through a local authority accounted for 36 per cent of the total. The proportion of applications made via a voluntary agency has increased in recent years, and now stands at 12 per cent.

In 2000, only six applications were not granted. This follows the trend of recent years when at least 95 per cent of adoption applications have been granted.

In half of all cases, both adopters were unrelated to the child, while most of the remainder involved the natural mother and step-father.

The number of applications for the making of freeing orders has risen from 70 in 1996 to 116 in 2000. A freeing order relinquishes birth parents' legal responsibility for the child to allow the child to be adopted. In 2000, 97 per cent of freeing orders were granted, compared with 83 per cent in 1996.

Stephanie Stone, principal officer for adoption and fostering at Glasgow City Council told the Glasgow Herald that improved fertility treatment and more women choosing a career over a family may be behind the fall.

But popular misconceptions about who can adopt, such as age restrictions, could also be holding people back, she said. "People shouldn't listen to the grapevine. There are children there waiting to be adopted," she told the paper.

She also called for a national form of adoption allowances to be included in the current review of adoption in Scotland.

Meanwhile a spokesman for the Scottish Executive blamed the fall in the number of adoption on the lack of babies available for adoption and the fact that many children now available for adoption were older or had special needs.

He told the Glasgow Evening Times: "We're concerned about the continuing drop in the number of successful adoption applications."

In Glasgow, the city council received 93 inquiries in the past year but only 24 families actually applied and 29 children were adopted.

In the previous year there were more than 160 inquiries, with the council approving 32 families and 30 children being adopted.