Merton Council has hit back at the Government for presenting an "unrealistic" picture after its recent adoption record for children was branded the second worst in the country.

The first ever adoption scorecards for English councils was published this morning, in which it was revealed children in Merton must wait an average of nearly three years to be adopted.

Statistics taken between 2009 and 2011 shows 982 days is the average time it takes for a child to be put into care and eventually be adopted - 15 months longer than that in neighbouring Kingston-upon-Thames and 10 months longer than in Sutton.

That is more than twice as long as new minimum standards ordered by Michael Gove, the education secretary, who has said every child in case should be placed in a family within 14 months.

The only council to have a worse record, according to the figures, was Hackney Council in east London.

Tim Loughton, the children’s minister, said the figures showed “unacceptable” delays in the adoption process.

But the council’s director of children, schools of families, Yvette Stanley, said the figures for Merton were skewed because it has relatively low numbers of children eligible for adoption.

She said some complex cases, which took much longer than usual, were pushing up the average.

She said: "The government scorecards do not reflect the current reality of adoption in Merton.

“We have relatively low numbers of children eligible for adoption and those who are eligible often have complex needs, are older or are part of a sibling group and the sad reality is it takes longer to find a suitable match for these children.

“With very small numbers, the timescales for one or two complex cases increase the average time significantly.”

The Conservative leader of the opposition at Merton Council, Debbie Shears – herself a former cabinet member for education – agreed the statistics did not tell the whole story but insisted the council’s performance was not good enough.

Coun Shears said: “I support the Government in publishing the tables and putting a real focus on adoption and it is regrettable that Merton is placed low down in them.

“We will make sure the administration is keeping track of how it achieves the new national benchmark through the scrutiny process.

“Merton has tried to keep children within their own families but we are a small borough and the figures can be affected by complex adoption cases which take a lot longer.

“It is also no secret that, when the Baby P story broke, all local authorities focussed a great deal of attention on child protection, and maybe took their eye of the ball off of adoption.”

Ms Stanley added the council had reduced adoption times since 2010 and that future scorecards would show Merton is closer to the national average.

She said: “Our three-year average was affected by 2008/09 when we saw a range of particularly complex cases.”

“We are totally committed to improving and changing the way we work so we can find our children permanent families more quickly.

“Finding a loving family and home for our children in the quickest time possible remains our top priority."

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