Facts about adoption in Oxfordshire

**In Oxfordshire only 7.5 per cent of children in care are eligible for adoption because most are returned to their parents

**Children in care are four times more likely to be unemployed as adults, 60 times more likely to be homeless and constitute a quarter of the adult prison population. Forty per cent of girls have teenage pregnancies

**Half the adoptions in recent years are by step-parents

**Twenty per cent of initial placements end in return - five per cent of under fives, rising to 40 per cent of teenagers

**Only one in ten initial enquiries nationally is estimated to result in an approved adopter. At the moment predominantly childless, married couples, with an average age of 37, pass the intrusive examination. Anyone undergoing fertility treatment or with a relationship under two years has not been accepted

**The number of adoptions nationwide has fallen from 24,800 in 1968 to 3,962 last year

**A Government review found that 2,400 children planned for adoption were unplaced, yet 1,300 approved adopters were awaiting a placement

**Laws are being introduced this year to increase adoption placements from 2,700 to 3,780 a year by 2004

**The £66m package includes a new adoption register for England and Wales, rigorous national standards and the right to an independent review for a potential adopter if their application is rejected

**All children in care will be assessed for adoption within six months and if a local family cannot be found they will try to be matched with a family from elsewhere in the country

**Applications from foster parents to adopt children in their care will be processed in three months and potential parents will be told in six months if their application is successful. Adoptive allowances will go up to £100 a week.