Oona King has learnt the hard way about the failings of Britain’s adoption system and its inbuilt delays. She recalls with horror a meeting with the social worker who introduced her and her Italian husband to the case of baby Elia, who was a perfect match: of mixed race, like Oona, and with an Italian mother. “That social worker came and looked around the house and said: ‘We’ll have to go to find three more families and then I’ll come back . . .” Adoption panels, who give the final go-ahead, like to have a choice even if it is pretty clear who is the frontrunner.
“I just don’t get it,” says Ms King. “Social workers have it in their power to make lives happy. How much shopping around do they have to do? Every week is adding time ... very soon it is a year. There is a life hanging in the balance.”