{"id":19732,"date":"2013-01-11T08:13:31","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T07:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/adoption-hotspots-map-released-cut-waits-013739162.html"},"modified":"2013-01-11T08:13:31","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T07:13:31","slug":"adoption-hotspots-map-released-to-cut-waits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/adoption-hotspots-map-released-to-cut-waits\/","title":{"rendered":"Adoption: &#8216;Hotspots&#8217; Map Released To Cut Waits"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"first\">A map showing the parts of England where most children are in need of adoptive parents has been published.<\/p>\n<p>Education officials are concerned that prospective parents are often not being pointed to high-need areas if their own has few youngsters on its list.<\/p>\n<p>The map is going online on the same day as a Government-funded hotline is launched offering advice from existing adopters on negotiating the process.<\/p>\n<p>Children and families minister Edward Timpson said the initiatives should &#8220;arm would-be adopters with the information they need to approach any local area&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Rules allow people to apply to adopt from any part of the country.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Timpson added: &#8220;We know many potential adopters out there can provide children with loving, stable homes but simply don&#8217;t know where to start.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These new tools will give many more people support in taking the first steps to adopting a child and giving them the chance to succeed in life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But adoptive father Stevan Whitehead, from west London, told Sky News that the map is unlikely to have a big impact.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not going to make any significant difference because it&#8217;s not addressing the fundamental issues and problems in the overall adoption structure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We already know where all the children are. The problem is that local authorities are deterred from preparing sufficient adoptive parents,&#8221; said Mr Whitehead, who is a trustee for the charity <strong>Adopt A Better Way<\/strong> .<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>British Association of Social Workers<\/strong> branded the initiative a &#8220;gimmick aimed at &#8216;exposing&#8217; an apparent world of local authority failure to find good homes for children&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is welcome to help signpost potential adopters to services that could help them to eventually take a child into their lives, but talk of &#8216;hotspots&#8217;, areas where children are spending the longest time &#8216;waiting for new homes&#8217; is yet another example of this Government&#8217;s simplistic approach to an incredibly complex subject,&#8221; added BASW acting chief executive Bridget Robb.<\/p>\n<p>The First4Adoption hotline can be accessed on 0300 222 0022 between 10am and 6pm Monday to Friday and the <strong>map can be accessed on the Department for Education website<\/strong> .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pixel.quantserve.com\/pixel\/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A map showing the parts of England where most children are in need of adoptive parents has been published.<br \/>\nEducation officials are concerned that prospective parents are often not being pointed to high-need areas if their own has few youngsters on its&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}