Move north for BME adopters scheme
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
A service designed to encourage more black and minority ethnic families to adopt has expanded into Yorkshire and the Midlands.
The London-based NCH Black Families project has been working to rectify the shortage of black and minority ethnic adopters by offering them a service tailored to their needs. The children's charity NCH this week announced it was expanding the project to help families across Yorkshire and the Midlands.
Sue Cotton, adoption manager at NCH, said: "It is harder to recruit adopters from black and minority ethnic communities, partly because they think they aren't eligible to adopt and partly due to a reluctance to approach social services."
Since its launch in 2003 the London project has boosted the number of black and minority ethnic adopters. Cotton put this down to the specialist help it offers, including advisers who speak other languages, and it being easier for would-be adopters to discuss issues such as racism.
NCH is planning to expand into the north-west of England in the near future and hopes that the project will become self-funding in two to three years.
