Tower Hamlets Council has launched a campaign to encourage more Muslim couples to become adoptive parents.

The Tower Hamlets Muslim Adoption Campaign is being supported by prominent figures from the Muslim community and a leading adoption organisation.

Starting today, for the next two months an advert will be shown on Bengali TV channels. It is aimed at Muslims within Tower Hamlets as well as those from across the country.

It features a Muslim couple who do not have children of their own. They look back at how empty their lives seemed before they adopted, before the advert shows them having fun in the park with their adopted daughter.

The advert is aimed at demonstrating how adopting a child can positively transform the adults’ lives as well as that of the child.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman said: “As a council we want to make sure that every child is given the best possible start in life. Sometimes this means a child needs to be found a new home and I want to make sure there are enough loving homes available to these children.

“I urge people from the Muslim community who are interested to contact our adoption team to find out more.”

The council believes it is important that adopted children are placed with families of the same ethnic background.

As the Muslim population increases, so too does the number of Muslim children who are in need of a new home, often because of abuse or neglect at their family home.

The number of Muslim couples coming forward to adopt isn’t keeping pace, so there are more Muslim children from Tower Hamlets waiting to be adopted than there are Muslim families available to adopt them.

Depending on the reasons for a child needing to be adopted in the first place, it is often also in the interests of the child’s safety and wellbeing to move away from their immediate community. This is why Tower Hamlets Council’s campaign is a national one.

Tower Hamlets’ Muslim Adoption Campaign is backed by a leading adoption organisation and prominent figures from the Muslim community.

Hafiz Mowlana Shamsul Hoque, the chair of Council of Mosques for Tower Hamlets, said: “Mosque Committee members and Imams will inform all worshippers about the issue of Muslim looked-after children and ask the Muslim community to come forward to work together with Tower Hamlets Council to find a solution.”

To find out more call 0800 279 9850 or www.fosteringandadoption.co.uk. Bengali-speaking advisers are available.