CHILDREN across the town who are placed into care are waiting longer to be adopted than their peers across the country.

Figures released by the Department for Education reveal that over the last three years, children in Swindon who are looking for adoptive families are waiting an average of 800 days between their first day in care and moving in with their new parents. The figure is 161 days longer than the average for England, which is 639.

Graham Senior, family placement team manager for the council, said: “We are keen to get it right. Children need permanence and they need it as quickly as we can get it. We know we need to look at our own systems.

“The number of children we are placing is very small because we are a small authority. The number of adoptions from care in the table is 25 children, which isn’t very high. They are calculating our averages on a fairly small number of kids so it only takes one or two to take longer and your average changes drastically.

“I don’t want to wriggle out of the fact there are things we know we need to do, but it is not down to a lack of effort on the part of social workers.”

The table also shows that once Swindon’s family placement team has been given court authority to place a child into care, they take an average of 99 days to find a family, which is better than the average for England at 213 days.

“Once we have got the order in place we are acting very quickly. The difficulty is sometimes getting the order,” he said.

“The judge is aware of the need for speed. We are working very hard with the court to look at their time scales. There are lots of things that can slow the process down.”

The first ever local authority adoption scorecards, based on figures from 2009 to 2011, show there are delays throughout the adoption process across the country.

While 80 local authority areas have met the interim thresholds of 21 months from entering care to adoption and matching a child to a family within seven months of a court order being made, 72 did not meet one or both of these key measures – which will be lowered gradually to 14 months and four months respectively within four years.

Sandra Blake, from Haydon Wick, has been a foster carer for more than six years and adopted her daughter Norah after fostering her.

She said: “I probably looked after 20 different children in my first four years as a foster carer but I just felt the time was right to adopt.

“There is more stability for the child when you adopt and you can see what a difference it makes to their lives. The adoption process is long winded, but it was made very easy by the Family Placement Team, who provide a lot of support.”

A Swindon Council spokesman said: “We are disappointed we are not performing as well as we would hope in some areas of the Adoption Scorecard, particularly as our adoption service was judged as Outstanding by Ofsted during our last inspection.

“However, as with many other authorities, we have found that the family court process can significantly impact on the length of time it takes to place children with their adoptive families. We have therefore been working closely with the local courts to improve the whole process.

“We are pleased the Scorecard shows that, once a court order is made, children in Swindon are placed as quickly as possible which reflects the hard work and dedication of our adoption team.”

Anyone interested in becoming adoptive parents should phone the family placement team on 01793 465700.