Register chief puts onus on agencies

Ruth Fasht, director of the Adoption Register, has defended its
performance despite new figures showing that the children it puts
forward for adoption have a one in 35 chance of finding parents.

Eight months into being fully operational, only nine of the 317
children put forward by the register to adoption agencies to link
with parents on their books have resulted in a “match”.

Speaking at the Baaf Adoption and Fostering conference last month,
Fasht said the 317 children put forward were still “very good bets”
to match with prospective parents, but added that the register
should not be judged on how many matches were made.

“Our job is to generate viable links between potential adopters and
children who have so far been impossible to place,” Fasht said. “It
is up to agencies to turn links into matches.”