Adoption “parties” have begun in Scotland in a drive to increase the number of children in care being found permanent loving homes.

The initiative, which is based on similar schemes which started in the United States, sees youngsters meet couples and individuals hoping to adopt, at afternoon long activity events.

It is potentially controversial as there is a fear vulnerable children could be seen as “being put on parade”.

However, supporters say similar events in the US and in England, where they have also taking place, have been successful, particular with regard to children, regarded as “older or harder to place” and who may otherwise not find homes.

A pilot scheme is being run by Scotland’s Adoption Register, a government-backed project launched in April 2011 which allows links to be made between children and people approved to adopt across the country.

It also follows the Register’s introduction of “adoption exchange days” in 2012 where prospective parents can read about children who need homes, look at photographs of them as well as view their toys and drawings.

Robin Duncan, the Register’s manager, acknowledged that many people would be initially uneasy with the idea of adoption activity days, however he said considerable work goes into preparing the children and ensuring they understand the event part of a process to find them the right new family.

“Our experience is that it is possible to manage the process in a way that will protect children from feeling rejected,” he said.

“A lot of it is preparation. The risk is that a child is already vulnerable, goes along and knows that there are people there who are looking to adopt children and he or she doesn’t get chosen.

“So what you try to do as a social worker in advance is explain to the children why they were unable to stay with their own family, and why it is our job to find the right family for them.

“If the social workers do that, if they make the child feel it’s just one step in the process, and it is not the end of the process then the child is protected from a feeling of rejection.”

The Register ran one activity day in a west coast town this autumn, and plans to run two more similar events next year.

A total of 19 children and 23 prospective families attended the “play date” in October where youngsters could take part in face painting, cake-making and games.

“The idea is that whatever else happens, the children have a great day,” Duncan explained.

He said that activity days elsewhere had found that on average each led to the successful matching of around a quarter of the children present – a significantly higher proportion than other ways, including the exchange days.

Duncan said the higher rates are due to the prospective families meeting and seeing the children.

“If adopters simply read a profile the child’s story can seem bleak, but when they meet him or her they see that this child is fun and entertaining and someone they can engage with. They see the child in a very different way,” he added.

“Adoption activity days may not be the answer for everybody, but they will hopefully be part of a range of ways of finding families for children.”

Duncan added that 241 children had been adopted through the Register since April 2011, but that there were still considerably more children needed to be adopted in Scotland than there were people wishing to adopt.

“Adoption can be an intrusive, difficult and legalistic process, but it also brings fantastic rewards,” he said.

“It is a message we have to get out to people to encourage them to come forward.”

Fiona Aitken, development manager in Scotland, for Adoption UK, which represents adoptive parents and those wishing to adopt, said: “There are currently more children on the register than prospective adopters, and we are in support of any activity that can help to bring families together and speed up the adoption process, while keeping the needs of the child as a priority.

"The assessment and matching process is so important to get right, and activity days as a means to match traditionally harder to place children can hopefully benefit adoptive families in Scotland.”

Case study: Gowan Matthews and her husband Paul adopted five year old Leon in September last year.

They had wanted to adopt for a number of years but put off doing so as it never seemed like the right time in their lives.

However, after moving into a large house near Edinburgh, they decided to take the plunge.

“I said to my husband, it seems crazy to have this space and not to use it,” she told The Herald.

Gowan, 48, was worried she and Paul, 57, were getting too old to be considered as prospective adoptive parents.

Initially they planned to foster, but after making inquiries with the children’s charity Barnardo’s the couple, both actors, were told their age wasn’t a problem and they were later approved as adoptive parents to children over three.

Within months they had been matched with Leon, who they had spotted on the Children Waiting newsletter sent to prospective adopters.

“There was something about him but we didn’t want to raise our expectations that he would be matched with us,” she said.

“So we went along to one of the adoption exchange days. It was a very emotional situation reading about all these children who need a home.”

Leon arrived in their home in September last year and Gowan says she has never been happier.

“We just feel so lucky to have Leon. He is very much our son and we love him so much,” she said. “He is our number one.”