Adoption rate "collapses"

In an interview for The Guardian, Martin Narey, the outgoing Chief Executive of Barnado's, says the adoption rate has collapsed to "prejudice."

He says:

 "Only 70 babies were adopted last year compared with 4,000 in 1976. We need that figure to get back into the thousands so we need to quadruple it over the next few years – and quadruple it again."

The reason? Prejudice against white couples adopting black children.

He continued:

"The law is very clear. A child should not stay in care for an undue length of time while waiting for adoptive parents of the same ethnicity. But the reality is that black, Asian and mixed-race children wait three times longer than white children."