Babies are being taken from their parents and placed in care before all other options are exhausted so that local authorities can meet targets on adoption, a group of MPs claim.

They say that a sharp rise in the number of babies removed from families in the past ten years, then adopted a year or so later, is linked to pressure on local authorities to increase by 50 per cent the number of adoptions by 2006.

Local authorities have also been ordered to ensure that 95 per cent of children judged suitable for adoption are found new homes within a year.

It is far easier to find adoptive families for a baby than for an older child, which the MPs say at least partly explains the surge in removals.

The number of babies taken into care rose to 2,800 in 2005 from 1,600 in 1995. They are usually between one and four years old when adopted and adoptions for this age group has trebled from 810 in 1995 to 2,300 in 2005. The number of older children who have been removed from their parents in the period has also risen, but not nearly as sharply.

John Hemming, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, who has tabled a Commons motion on the issue, called it a national scandal. The early day motion says that MPs are concerned about the increasing numbers of babies being taken into care, “not for the safety of the infant, but because they are easy to get adopted”. It calls for “effective scrutiny of care proceedings to stop this”.

The big rise in the number of such cases is adding to the strain on the legal aid system. Ministers’ concern, which is shared by senior family judges, has led to the setting-up of a working party of Whitehall officials from several departments.

The allegations were challenged yesterday by David Holmes, chief executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering. “The rise in the numbers of young children coming into care may be explained by a variety of factors including a rise in parental substance misuse,” he said. “Whatever those reasons are, it is important to remember that children cannot be taken into care without legal procedures. It is a very serious decision and this is carefully scrutinised by an independent children’s guardian and by the court.”

The Department for Education and Skills, which oversees adoption, said: “Children should live with their parents wherever possible and, when necessary, families should be given extra support.”

Church backed

— 55 per cent of voters believe that Roman Catholic adoption agencies should be exempt from laws on placements with gays

— In a poll for the BBC, 52 per cent thought that on some issues religious beliefs were more important than trying to stop discrimination

— 58 per cent said children adopted by gay couples were as likely to have a good upbringing

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