Groundbreaking new Adoption and Fostering Web Site Launched

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Tuesday 4 July 2000

The Derby Evening Telegraph, part of Northcliffe Newspapers, has announced the launch of Adoption-net.co.uk to coincide with the major Government announcement on reforming adoption and fostering in England and Wales. The site is managed by the Derby Evening Telegraph and works closely with Derbyshire County Council.

The idea for the site came from Derbyshire County Council's decision, in October 1999, to be the first local authority in Britain to use the Web to find families for six children it was struggling to place for adoption. These kinds of sites are commonplace in the USA where they are reportedly extremely powerful in attracting new families to adopt and foster the ever-growing number of children in care.

Adoption-net aims to be the first dedicated adoption site in Britain that carries the real photos of children needing to find permanent families (if profiles of children are carried on websites in the UK, they usually feature either no photo or use a photo of a model). In addition, the site will carry daily updated news and features on an adoption/fostering/child protection/child welfare/parenting theme and will include personal stories from people whose lives have been touched by adoption or fostering in some way.

Other information on the site includes: details about how to go about becoming an adopter or foster carer, legal rights (including a glossary of adoption and fostering jargon), child behaviour problems and, tracing families separated by adoption. There is also a comprehensive links section to external sites and a bulletin board to encourage interaction with visitors.

The Derby Evening Telegraph's Internet publishing operation is among the most successful in the UK regional press, with its nine individual sites attracting around 200,000 visits every week. Its sites cover news, sport (Derby County, Derby Storm and the county cricket club), education, recruitment, property and the county's ten MPs and six MEPs, and can all be found here.

Inquiries to:
Lisa Cherry-Downes
01332 291111 ext. 6021