About 30 children in Oxfordshire need homes at any one time

A new adoption officer has been brought in at the county council to make services there more "approachable".

About 30 children in the county need homes at any one time, and parents are especially needed for older children and those with disabilities.

Couples from ethnic minorities are also in demand so that children from similar backgrounds can be placed with them.

Helen Oliver, the adoption officer who joined the council earlier this month, said there are many myths about adoption and fostering that she hopes to tackle.

"We welcome interest from all sorts of people, married or single, working or unemployed, property owners or those living in rented accommodation," she said.

"You can be over 40. What is important to us is that people can offer our children a secure and loving home and give them a good start in life."

The county council says it tries to place children with foster parents within 20 miles of their birth family but many are being fostered outside of Oxfordshire at the moment.