CHILDREN and Families Minister Michelle Donelan, the MP for Chippenham, has met adopters and Adoption West staff in Trowbridge as part of National Adoption Week.

She spent an hour with the group at County Hall to learn more about the challenges of adopting a child and the difficulties some adopters and some adopted children face.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has just announced a further £650,000 investment into regional adoption agencies who will coordinate work to find more adopters across the country.

Miss Donelan said: "We are working hard to ensure that we can place children, with loving, stable backgrounds, in as many circumstances as we possibly can."

"Over the last few years we have got that wait time down by seven months, which is absolutely fantastic."

Alison Lewis, Adoption West service director, said they have 24 families who have completed their adoption assessment and preparation.

"Of these, three wish to adopt siblings. However, we do need many more people to make this choice."