It's so simple it's amazing it hasn't happened before

Ruth Fasht, director, National Adoption Register

Local authorities hold records of all adults in their area wanting to adopt, and children who need to be adopted, but the limited numbers often makes it hard to match them up.

From now on, they will send these details to the central database, which will do the matching.

Ministers predict it will be able to clear a huge backlog of families and children by the end of the year.

Ruth Fasht, the register's new director, said: "It's so simple it's amazing it hasn't happened before."

Standards

A wealth of information about both children and families is entered into the database, which matches them on criteria such as age, special needs, religion, ethnic and family background.

The government is also launching a fresh set of standards for local authorities and agencies involved in the adoption process.

This sets timescales within which the adoption should be completed, and promises that fair principles will be applied to all families.

Health minister Jacqui Smith said that more people - and a greater range of people, needed to be attracted in as potential adoptive parents.

She said: "The National Standards set out clearly the adoption service the Government believes children deserve.

"Children, prospective adopters, adoptive parents and birth families need to know what to expect, how long it will take and that no matter where they live they will receive a fair and consistent service."

In December the Prime Minister said he wanted the numbers of children being adopted to be increased by 40% by 2005.

Currently, 6,000 children and babies a year are formally adopted in the UK, compared with more than 20,000 in the 1960s.

There are 2,000 children waiting to be adopted who have waited more than six months, and 1,500 approved adopters who did not have children matched with them.

There are wide regional variations - in some areas, one in 10 of all children in care are adopted each year, whereas in some areas this falls to one in 200.

The new register will begin piloting in September this year.