THIS Christmas 33 adopted children in Wiltshire will be spending their first festive season with their new families.

The numbers of children being adopted has increased, but in line with national trends there has also been a recent increase in the number of children waiting to be adopted. Currently in Wiltshire there are 35 children with a court order to adopt.

Since August, Wiltshire Council has been running a campaign to raise the profile of adoption and to encourage more people to “help our children find a family”.

Cabinet member for children services Laura Mayes said: “It is great news that so many children will be spending Christmas with their new families for the first time.

“As well as the huge benefits adoption brings to children by allowing them to grow up in a loving environment and to enjoy special occasions like Christmas as part of a stable family, it is also immensely rewarding for the adopters.”

The news comes as a six monthly report into the performance of Wiltshire Council’s adoption service shows in six months from April to September 2013, 27 children were adopted.

The council is also on course to meet the target of 50 approved adopters for 2013/14. The report comes following the publication of the Department for Education’s scorecard which compares local performance with a national average.

Figures up to September 2013 show the average time between Wiltshire receiving a court order to place a child and deciding on a match to an adoptive family was 169 days compared to the national average of 210.

In Wiltshire the time from a child entering care to moving in with an adoptive family is 673 days, 26 days more than the national average of 647.