There are new guidelines in the U.K. regarding adoption. Now, parents should be able to adopt a child of a different race to their own.
Adoption: (noun) the act of legally taking a child to be looked after as your own. Verb: adopt.
Officially, this has always been the policy, but has rarely happened, as efforts are made to place children with backgrounds 'similar' to their own.
Read through this article and see if you can fit the correct words into each gap.
Lesson by Caroline Devane
Warning: Two of the words are quite similar. Read the text carefully before you choose which word goes where.
White couples should be allowed to adopt black and ethnic minority children under new guidelines for social workers in England.
Local authorities will be warned not to _1_ placing a child with a suitable family of a different ethnicity.
Many children from ethnic minorities do not get adopted because social workers have been keen to place them with families of the same _2_
The move will be confirmed by Education Secretary Michael Gove on Tuesday.
The _3_ will not change but the new guidance will state that as long as _4_ adopters show that they are able to care for the child then race should not be a factor.
They will also say that preventing families from adopting children of a different ethnic group is "unacceptable". Each local _5_ will be closely monitored and those that persistently ignore the advice could have their adoption services contracted out to voluntary agencies.
Current _6_ states that social workers must give "due consideration to the child's religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background", but does not specify whether race should be regarded as outweighing other factors.
Children's minister Tim Loughton announced in November last year that the government would be _7_ its guidance on adoption.
Currently, single people, married couples and _8_ couples can all adopt. Adopters in England and Wales must be aged over 21 (18 if one of a couple is the birth parent). There is no upper age limit, but the placing authority must be _9_ anyone adopting a child will have the energy required and be in good enough health to offer a _10_ home.
Now match the words to their numbers in the text:
