Adoption

The government will unveil plans today to encourage more adoptions across the country.

Education secretary Michael Gove will announce new guidelines designed speed up the adoption process, which currently leaves nearly 4,000 children on waiting lists.

Under Mr Gove's plans, the government will step up efforts to encourage the adoption of ethnic minorities, older children and groups of siblings.

Parents will be able to adopt irrespective of their race and age. The government argues that there has been too much emphasis on children's ethnicity, which has made it unnecessarily difficult to adopt children from a different racial background.

It will now encourage social workers not to bar interracial adoptions. Currently, black and mixed race children spend the longest time on adoption waiting lists.

Mr Gove was himself adopted and is expected to discuss his experience at the launch.