GAY men and lesbian women in the Bolton area will be considered as adoptive parents by a new project trying to find homes for hard-to-place children.

And Cllr Cliff Morris, responsible for Bolton's Social Services, says that the official local view is that a person's sexuality would not automatically rule them out as prospective adoptive parents.

"Provided they went through all the rigorous checks and balances, including police checks, and were thought to be suitable then we would certainly consider them," he stated.

"In the case of older children, their wishes would also be taken into account."

Families That Last opened its offices in Chapel Street, Manchester in January as a joint project between the After Adoption agency and London-based agency Parents With Children.

Its brief is to work with local authorities on finding permanent homes for children in care in the North-west who are proving difficult to place. This could include children with special problems, with disabilities, and older children.

"We are not looking for people who fit a particular profile," explained project manager Gill Green.

"We will consider single people and married couples, single men and women, gay men and lesbian women." There is also no upper age limit, she said.

The project thoroughly vets all applicants, and, as Gill Green stated, offers "proper support throughout life for the child and its family."

While the possibility of placing children for adoption with gay or lesbian individuals and couples was "not new" it was "fairly unusual."

But, Gill Green stressed the importance of getting children out of care and into families of their own, and promised to look at every application made.

"We want to hear from all people in Bolton who would like to be considered as parents."

Funding

The project has initial funding from the Department of Health and some trusts, but it plans to be self-funding as local authorities contract its services.

The project plans to "advertise" the children throughout the region to encourage prospective parents to come forward.

Elliot Brown from the Bolton Home Project for Gay and Bisexual Men said that gay and lesbian carers were a "valuable and under-represented resource which could and should be tapped into."

Local authorities needed to recognise this, he added: "No child should be without a loving home. People should be considered on their potential to be a parent, not on the colour of their skin or their sexuality."

Jayne Mugglestone, employed by Bolton Community Trust to research the health needs of lesbians living in Bolton and Wigan, said that she had dealt with many lesbian women with children locally in the past three years. "And I've generally found that they make very good parents," she stated.

The Children's Society had recently changed its policy on allowing gay men and lesbian women to foster and adopt, she added.

At Barnardo's, a North-west spokesman said: "What matters for each child is a family or carer that can meet his or her particular needs, and provide a safe, caring home."

The charity believes that "a wide range of families or carers must be considered in order to provide as much choice as possible for individual children."

Added the spokesperson: "We do not, therefore, exclude anyone from consideration as an adopter or foster carer on the grounds of age, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, disability or employment status."

The Mothers' Union's view on gay and lesbian adoptive parents is that a child's needs "must be paramount" in making decisions about adoption and fostering.

"This has led us to believe that a child is best fostered or adopted by those able to provide both a mother and a father role model in parenting," a spokeswoman stated.

The family values' organisation with groups across the country -- including Bolton -- states that being brought up in a loving, stable family was important for children. This was "most likely to be found in the context of marriage -- the ideal."