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I thought they are stepping away from race matching and if there is no suitable match they will consider anyone whatever their race.

Sadly it doesn't seem that way in some LA's as I know of this gorgeous little girl who is having difficulty finding a family. It's a shame really.

Unless you know an awful lot about this Los background and history then there may well be a lot more to it than simply ethnicity. Maybe bps have stated a preference, for example, a religious upbringing or not. Without knowing the history then you don't really know why matching is proving difficult.

As far as I know (but I appreciate you are right that I don't know the full facts) there doesn't seem to be a good reason why she hasn't been placed yet, she's only 1 year old. I know a lot about this child but can't really write much about it, as I'd get my hands slapped, I suspect. I know the LA have been looking substantially further a field to find a family, 200 mile radius but no joy so far.

Than there is probably a sw with 'set' ideas. Or more is going on for the child like mental health birth parents, addictions, exposure, learning disabilities, etc.

We had a dual heritage couple on our adoption course who recently adopted a dual heritage baby, they only had to wait 6 months or so for an 8 month old baby so I assumed they got there so quickly due to the specialty nature of their matching.

Hi,We are a dual heritage couple (b/w) and we were linked very very quickly after approval both times.First time, a few years ago, it took 5 months to get linked. We thought that was a long time!(It still took over a year to MP but that's a different story).Second time, right now, we were linked on the same day as approval panel and will be at MP 6 weeks after AP.Can't get much quicker than that I think. So from our perspective, as adopters, we have no wait at all. But for the kiddies, clearly it's a different story Witch

I think muslim children really struggle to find parents The majorty of asisn children are of muslim background byt the majorty of asisn adopters are hindu or sikh And for some reason sw allow parents to didctate which religion the child is raised in You cant deny race but children HAVE No religion if you talking about a child over 10 then fair play but often children are being raised by Foster carers often who are not any religion and often the bio parents are not practising but its there power play

I don't know if there is a shortfall but hubby and I cover three different ethnicities between us and we were matched to children who have similarities to our ethnicity almost the second we were approved...It seems we were a rarity

Hi ChotimonkeyI agree you'd think that covering different ethnic minorities would give you a good chance of being matched quickly. Unfortunately most sw don't seem to realise that just because you're Indian doesn't mean that every Indian child will be the perfect match. There are so many cultural differences in the Indian culture and when looking for a match most don't really appreciate that at least in the fist instance approved adopters may wish to find as close as match as possible. Hopefully there will be some out there that appreciate this!Vanillapod

Vanillapod, are you saying that you only want children from a particular Indian background?That's the opposite of what everyone else is saying. Or have I misunderstood?

Hi FlosskirkWe are saying that ideally we do want children from a specific Indian background. When we started this process we were told there are very few Hindu adopters out there for the very few Hindu children, so it makes sense for us to hold out for those Hindu children as we'd be able to offer them first hand experience of the culture. I think it's much more about culture rather than religion. We've only been approved for 2 months so we may change our mind, but our SW told us that we should at least try and stick to finding our ideal match for at least 6 months otherwise in the future we may always be wondering "what if".I think most people that have posted on here seem to be saying that they were matched with children that matched their cultural background, I know this isn't always possible for children, and I don't disagree with children being placed with adopters that aren't of the same culture at all, it's just good to get a match if possible.x

I am single white mum to Simba who is White British/African. Ethnic matching is such a minefield in my view and needs a lot of thoughtbefore a trans racial or cultrural adoption is entered into.I am comfortable and confident in my ability to ensure that Simba knows and is proud of his African heritage because of my personal experience and knowledge. I wouldnt be comfortable with a child of African/Caribean or Asian origin. Not because I have any issues or problems with those cultures, simlpy that I just don't know enough and for me it would be too much to learn on top of everthing else.I can completely understand why Asian adopters want to hold out for a close ethnic/cultural match. think very few people set out deliberatley to adopt a child of a different ethnicity, I certainly didnt. And after all no-one would question a white couple for wanting a white child would they?

I think sometimes SWs take a very Eurocentric view on this. For example they might state Irish, Welsh and Scottish connections because that's what they know. However, they're happy to state Indian for example without any regard for regional/cultural differences in that country because they don't know any better.

"And after all no-one would question a white couple for wanting a white child would they?"I would be terrified of expressing that opinion in front of a social worker as it would be a red flag of racism to many!Having said that it is odd how social workers who promote integration seek to segregate cultures by ethnicity. But maybe that is too political for a public forum.

exactly why I said the whole thing is a minefield. But it is true, and I do wander how many black/asian adopters are asked if they would consider a white childthese are difficult questions to pose, and why I dont think we have a really honest debate about these isses, people are too scared that they will be perceived as racistagree with Tillymint, there is a very interesting post on the transracial adopters board about this at the moment