Blackburn with Darwen families are being asked this week to consider adoption.

Borough children's services boss Cllr Julie Gunn is using National Adoption Week, which runs from Monday to Sunday, to highlight the growing need for adoptive families.

The annual event stresses ‘the journey to a family is not always a traditional one’.

The campaign called ‘Adoption Journeys’ highlights that 66 per cent of people in the North West believe there is no such thing as a ‘normal’ family and 52 per cent come from a ‘non-traditional’ family structure themselves, highlighting to potential adopters the ‘village’ that makes every journey unique – from social workers and foster carers to birth families and grandparents.

It comes as the latest data shows there has been a 22 per cent increase in the number of children with a plan for adoption not yet matched with an adoptive family in England in 2023/24 compared to the previous year, meaning there are 780 more children not yet placed with a family than there are approved adopters waiting to be matched with a child.

With fewer potential adopters coming forward – believed to largely be a result of the cost-of-living crisis – this means nearly half (47 per cent) of all children face delays of more than 18 months to be placed with an adoptive family.

Cllr Gunn said: "National Adoption Week is a really important opportunity to highlight that we need adoptive families for a wide range of children, now more than ever, as the gap between the number of children needing adoption and the number of families who come forward to adopt is widening.

"We hope to show that adoptive families are not alone, that there is support available and that each family’s experience will be unique and special in their own way.

"If you could consider being that special, loving and safe family for a child please do get in touch with Adoption Now."