THREE times more children were waiting for adoption in Essex last year than there were families willing to adopt them, new figures have reveal.

Children’s charity Coram described the need to recruit new adoptive families as urgent as there are now more than twice as many children waiting as there are approved adopters across England.

In December 2018, about 70 children in Essex were waiting to be placed with a family, however, only 20 families had been approved and were waiting to be matched with a child, according to data from the Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board.

Dr Carol Homden, chief executive of Coram, said: “There are thousands of children waiting for new, loving families to come forward and give them a permanent home.

“The key message is that we need more adopters from every walk of life to commit to adoption.”