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Health minister Jacqui Smith promised a transformation of the adoption process as she launched a national adoption register and final national adoption standards for England, writes Jonathan Pearce.

The adoption register, which will be run by charity Norwood Ravenswood, will link suitable adoptive families with children waiting to be adopted across England and Wales, and is a key part of the government's reform of the adoption process.

Under the standards - produced in conjunction with the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering - councils and agencies will have a duty to produce a "plan for permanence" at the four-month statutory review of looked-after children.

Local authorities have been set targets of ensuring that the average time taken to make an adoption decision about a looked after child should be a year and four months, and the average time from a decision to placement should be seven months. Where adoption has been identified, the adoption panel will make its recommendation within two months

Health minister Jacqui Smith said: 'The adoption register and national standards are key to transforming the adoption process.

'Once adoption has been identified as the best course of action we are determined that children are adopted as quickly as possible," she said.

The government wants to increase the rate of adoptions by 40 per cent, but also wants children's view to be heard and responded to, as well as ensuring consistent post-adoption support, Smith said.

Smith also announced plans for "two waves" of pilot councils and agencies to help develop the register's operation, while the government would be announcing an additional public service agreement target later in the year focusing on adoption timescales. A full timetable for implementation of the standards will also be announced then.

The launch also saw the publication for consultation of draft practice guidance for the implementation of the standards, plus draft national adoption standards for adopted adults and their birth siblings, which had been absent from the original consultation.

Felicity Collier, chief executive of BAAF, welcomed the launch of the adoption register, but sounded a note of caution about potential funding problems. "It is not a panacea, but we do think it will really help," she said.

Although the government last year announced funding of £66.5 million over three years, mainly through the Quality Protects initiative, Collier said there was "an absence of significant new funding".

"We hope there will be further announcements when the size of the problem becomes apparent from the adoption register's figures," she said.

Abridged National Adoption Standards for England:

A. The needs and wishes, welfare and safety of the looked after child are at the centre of the adoption process.

B. Prospective adopters will be welcomed, and treated, without prejudice, responded to promptly and given clear information.

C. Children will be matched with approved adopters who can offer them a stable and permanent home and receive post-adoptive help and support.

D. Birth parents and birth families will be treated fairly, openly and with respect throughout the adoption process.

E. Councils will provide a comprehensive adoption service, planned corporately and in collaboration with other agencies.

F. Each council and adoption agency will provide a high quality adoption service.