Oona King

A fortnight before my adopted daughter's arrival date, as I set up the cot in the baby's room and excitedly folded nappies and miniature clothes, I took a call from a social worker. Due to a previously overlooked piece of discretionary bureaucracy, she told me matter-of-factly that she might now delay the adoption by as much as a year. I was gripped by rage, horror and helplessness. That is the experience, for one reason or another, of too many prospective adopters. And at the same time vulnerable children languish in care – every extra week that they are separated from their “forever family” makes it harder for them to adjust throughout the rest of their lives.