Norwood is merging its adoption services with children's charity Coram.

The move has been made in response to new legislation intended to speed up the adoption process. This had created a problem for Norwood, chief executive Elaine Kerr explained. "Our team is very small and if we were to keep pace with the new legislation we would need a much larger number of people to respond appropriately. So we have taken the step of transferring our entire team to Coram so that the service can be maintained at its present level."

Ms Kerr added that there had been a steep decline in the number of Jewish children placed for adoption in recent years. "Between 2008 and 2013 we placed 44 children, but only six of these were Jewish. The fact that so few Jewish children need to be placed for adoption is a really good news story in our community."

She was confident that the merger would be beneficial to all parties. "Coram is an organisation that we've had a longstanding professional relationship with for many years. Given their exemplary record in the adoption sector, we are assured that they will continue to build on the excellent work of our adoption team of the last 23 years."

The merged service will be known as Coram Adoption incorporating Norwood.