Can I adopt or foster a baby?

The Be My Parent newspaper and website features children of all ages and backgrounds, from babies to teenagers - all looking for a family to adopt or foster them. You can look at some of the children's profiles without having to subscribe. To read more, search all the children and make enquiries, you will need to register your details and go on to subscribe.

However, there are very few healthy white single babies these days who need permanent families in the UK. Families wanting to care for children like these can face a long wait of maybe many years.

It is also only adopters who will be considered for babies and very young children. Although short-term foster carers can care for babies when they first become looked after, this is only on a temporary basis, before they go on to join an adoptive family. Permanent foster carers are only considered for older children or perhaps those with special needs or disabilities - but, even then, adoption will sometimes be the first choice.

Babies who do need families may be the ones who also need to grow up with their older brothers and sisters. They may be black or of mixed ethnicity, needing a family who can reflect that. Their future development may be uncertain, perhaps because of a hereditary health condition, or the possible effects of drug or alcohol misuse during pregnancy.

Older children, especially boys over the age of seven, groups of brothers and sisters, children who are disabled or have complex care needs, and children from a black minority ethnic background, including those of mixed ethnicity, often wait the longest for a family.

These children urgently need adoptive and permanent foster families to care for them.

For more information, see some of our features on adopting and fostering different types of children.

Last updated: 23 April 10

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