teachers, the police or the NHS than it is to look into the deeper sickness in our society - a soul-lessness that then manifests in different ways through bankers, Etonian arrogance, benefit addicts, un-loved children, cruel farming... oh the list is endless. But it isn't just us is it - there's some thing horrid going down everywhere. Or maybe I'm just getting old. Can't tell. Adoption and Social Care in general has become a victim to performance culture, where bean counting and stats now govern how work is undertaken. Heads of service now feel compelled to work in this way because their services are damned by inspectors if they fail to meet targets. This negates from potentially good work being carried out and adds another layer of pressure on an already difficult job. let's lose some of the meaningless stats and move back to better accountability through better trained managers. The adoption process is long, difficult and invasive. Not all couples complete and as CongestionCharge stated above there is a misconception that it is just babies who need to be adopted. This is far from the truth. Most often children will be over 2, and will present with difficulties or disabilities. Add to this the time it takes to complete the process and the child will be 3 or 4 before the Order is granted. The process can be shortened, but there still need to be appropriate Checks before already vulnerable children are placed with their new families. And to