NORTH Wales children in need of a new home with adoptive parents will be able to find families more quickly thanks to a new consortium.

The Consortium includes the six North Wales local authorities plus the three Voluntary Adoption Agencies - St David's Children Society, Barnardo's and Adoption Matters.

According to the co-ordinator of the North Wales Adoption Consortium, Margaret Lysaght, there is now more choice and greater flexibility when placing children for adoption.

She said: 'There have been significant changes in adoption over the past 20 years.

'Gone are the days when newborn babies were relinquished by their birth parents. Many children placed today come via the care system, having been removed from their families for a whole range of reasons.

'Because of their abusive or neglectful early lives, they are left with lots of difficulties to overcome. Adopters today need skills and resilience to cope.'

Margaret has a range of experience both in local authority and the voluntary sector.

For the past four years she was employed by St David's Children Society and was responsible for setting up and running its adoption services in North Wales.

She has many years of experience in Family Placement with Clwyd Social Services and, when the authorities went unitary in 1996, she became adoption officer for Flintshire County Council.

She added: 'I'm very much looking forward to the challenge of this new role.

'The Consortium views the child's needs as paramount. I hope the Consortium will enable children from North Wales to be placed with the right adoptive families for them.

'Families can now be found in all areas across North Wales to enable the children's cultural needs to be met.'

The nine Consortium members are looking for people who feel they are up to the task of parenting these special children - some are placed alone, others may be part of a sibling group who need to stay together.

The plan may be for them to continue to have contact with their families, either directly or indirectly.

Adopters can be married or single and don't have to own their own home or have a well-paid job.

They may be childless or already have a family of their own. But what they do need is patience and understanding.

For a no-commitment enquiry for information, ring Freephone 0800 7830618 and leave your name and phone number, stating the area in which you live.

Last year more than 200 children were adopted from the care system in Wales.