Half of councils failing adoption targets, controversial 'scorecards' show Tim Loughton, the Children's Minister said the figures starkly illustrated "unacceptable" delays in the adoption process and insisted: "This cannot go on." But social workers' representatives and council chiefs said the measures were "crude" and failed to take into account the complexity of different areas while the NSPCC voiced fears they could "skew" the system. Of 152 councils in England with adoption responsibilities, 72 failed to meet the key targets to place children in adoptive families within 21 months overall and within seven months of being cleared for adoption by the courts. Only four councils would currently meet new tougher targets, ordered by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, to place every child in care with a family within 14 months. In Hackney, east London, the average wait over the last three years was 1,017 days, closely followed by Merton in south London at 982 days and Liverpool at 914 days. By contrast, children taken into care in more affluent West Berkshire are placed with an adoptive family within just 414 days on average, while in Soliholl it is 422 days and 423 in Bournemouth. The average time taken in Merton is 446 days or 15 months longer than that in the neighbouring borough of Kingston and 10 months longer than in adjoining Sutton. Often backlogs in the family courts are to blame but the figures show that even after they have been approved for adoption, children in some areas still have to wait up to 20 times longer than in others. In Shropshire children approved for adoption were with their new families in two and a half weeks while in the East Riding of Yorkshire it took 325 days. Mr Loughton said: "These statistics illustrate all too starkly the magnitude of the challenge which we face. I make no apology for shining a light on the system to hold local areas to account. I have been clear that we won't hesitate to intervene where the worst delays are not tackled effectively. Martin Narey, the former Barnardo's chief executive and Government adoption adviser, said: "We now have a growing and serious backlog of children cleared for adoption by the courts but for whom there are too few potential adopters. These scorecards demonstrate the reality that if delays in almost every aspect of the adoption process are not tackled urgently, the list of those in need of the loving home every child deserves will continue to grow. But Nushra Mansuri, professional officer at British Association of Social Workers, said that although the scorecards take into account more factors than previous league tables they remain "too crude a measurement" and risk doing more harm than good. "If targets become the be all and end all of the adoption process there is the danger that that becomes an aim for local authorities, they feel that if they don't meet the target they will be so exposed," she said. We are talking about vulnerable children here and making the right decisions and the best decisions. The scorecards were also unanimously condemned by council leaders and social services chiefs. In a joint statement the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Children's Services and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives said: "Councils are passionate about helping children and take their responsibilities towards those in their care extremely seriously. The adoption scorecards have the potential to cause unnecessary and avoidable concern in communities where there shouldn't be any, and may put prospective adopters off. Children waiting for adoption will not benefit from government struggling to get its act together. And Tom Rahilly, Head of the NSPCC's Looked After Children programme, said: "We must always ensure decisions are based on what's best for the child. We support the Government's drive to improve adoption but these scorecards alone could risk skewing the focus onto just one aspect of the care system. Only a minority of children in care end up being adopted. The most common outcome is for them to return to their families where they may suffer further abuse. We must improve support for vulnerable children returning home from care and ensure that any risk to the child is always central to decisions about their lives. Yvette Stanley, director of children, schools and families at Merton Council said: "We are committed to improving and changing the way we work so we are able to find our children permanent families more quickly. Since 2010 we have met the government threshold and will continue to work to bring the number of days down still further. Our three year average was affected by 2008/09 when we saw a range of particularly complex cases. We share the government's determination to eliminate unnecessary delay in adoption and to make the adoption system in England the best in the world.