Cambridgeshire is one of only four councils in the country that meets targets for settling children into adoptive homes.

A three year study has shown that the average time between a child entering care and moving in with their adoptive family in Cambridgeshire is 482 days, compared with a national average of 593 days.

The county council works with Coram Cambridgeshire Adoption, a new independent agency, established in 2014 to speed up the adoption process for children.

Tracy Collins, Cambridgeshire County Council’s head of corporate parenting said: “This partnership has brought together both national and local expertise which has ensured that through good quality social work practice our children achieve early permanence though adoption.”

Sarah Byatt, managing director of Coram Cambridgeshire Adoption, said: “These results are testament to the ground-breaking partnership between Cambridgeshire and CCA, and a collaborative commitment to ensuring the best outcomes for children requiring adoption.”

• The average time between the county council receiving authority from a court to place a child and deciding on an adoptive match is 114 days, compared with a national average of 223 days. The performance threshold is 121 days.

• The number of children adopted from ethnic minority backgrounds is 14 per cent - well above the national average of nine per cent.

• The number of adopted children in Cambridgeshire aged five or over who were placed for adoption as a percentage of children aged five or over leaving care was seven per cent – above the national average of five per cent.