FEWER of the children in care in York are being adopted - despite government pressure for them to be found new homes.

But City of York Council said the dip was due to exceptional performances the year before, which left fewer children to be adopted.

Only eight per cent of youngsters in the city's care homes were expected to be adopted in the 12 months to March this year, a fall of six per cent on the previous year, according to Department of Health figures.

A total of ten children were placed for adoption in the year to 2001, compared with 20 in the previous year.

It means York falls short of the best-performing local authorities - such as Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire - where up to 16 per cent are adopted.

But Jim Crook, City of York Council's director of community services, said: "Our performance in placing children for adoption last year was exceptional and placed us second nationally out of 150 social services departments.

"Our projection for this year is more cautious because our previous success means that there are now fewer children waiting to be adopted.

"This is good news."

In North Yorkshire only four per cent of children in care - a total of 15 - were adopted last year.

But this represents an increase of three per cent on the total of five for 2000.

The Government wants to increase adoptions by 40 per cent, helped by a new national register to link families suitable to adopt with children waiting for a new home.

A report last year revealed there were 2,400 children in care in England ready for adoption - and 1,300 families approved as adopters.

But it takes an average of 16 months before a decision is made and a further seven months before a child is placed with new parents.

In the 1960s, 20,000 children were adopted every year in Britain. That figure had fallen to only 3,067 in England alone in 2000/1.

Updated: 13:46 Friday, January 25, 2002