Children awaiting adoption in Essex are having to face long waits because of problems with criminal checks.

The backlog of cases at the Criminal Records Bureau, which carries out checks on individuals to ensure they are appropriate to have contact with children, has dealt a blow to the adoption service.

There are about 200 would-be adopters who are yet to be processed by the CRB.

Published Thursday October 24, 2002

Brought to you by the Evening Echo