A register is planned of children and would-be parents

The Kilshaws "bought" the twins from a US internet agency after a bidding war with an American couple.

The children are now in care while British and American courts decide their future.

Health minister John Hutton said: "We have to be satisfied that people who bring children into this country for the purposes of adoption have been properly vetted and this law will hopefully ensure there are safeguards for these children."

Those who break the new rules could be jailed for three months, fined �5,000 or both.

Faster process

The Adoption and Children Bill, which had its first reading in the Commons on Thursday, centres on making the domestic adoption process quicker.

But it sets out that only approved adoption agencies and local councils may advertise for adoption, whether on the internet or traditional media.

A national adoption register for England and Wales to match adopters with children is hoped to be ready by July.

The government has also announced an extra �500,000 for adoption projects in the next year.

Stable families

Mr Hutton said children only got one chance to grow up and argued that a strong, stable family helped young people to thrive.

"We are committed to modernising the adoption process to help transform the lives of hundreds of children, and in doing so we believe that society will reap the benefits as well," he said

Mr Hutton said many children had suffered because of failures in the care system.

"Where they cannot return to their birth families, adoption can help give children in care the same life chances as any other child."

John Hutton Health minister

Seventy per cent of looked after children currently leave care without gaining any GSCE or GVNQ qualifications. They are also 60 times more likely to become homeless.

Mr Hutton branded those figures "appalling". Although progress was being made, more needed to be done, he said.

"We need to give looked after children the same life chances as any other child."

"Where they cannot return to their birth families, adoption can help give children in care the same life chances as any other child.

The bill also includes the right of appeal for those whose adoption applications have been turned down.

There is a backlog of children waiting to be adopted

There are measures too to improve post-adoption support and to make the ways by which adopted people can find out about the background to their adoptions more consistent.

The government regards this as the biggest overhaul of adoption law in 25 years.

The number of adoptions has begun to rise but local authorities and adoption agencies face a shortage of families coming forward to take children in care, particularly older children or siblings that need to stay together.

In the 1960s, 20,000 children were adopted each year, a figure several times larger than the current average.