that in a particular case complying with a timescale would not be in the child’s interests – the paramount consideration must always be the welfare of the child. Where the agency is unable to comply with a timescale or decides not to, it should record the reasons on the child’s case record. 4.2. The following timescales apply where the agency proposes to place a child with the prospective adopter, whether the prospective adopter is resident in the UK or abroad:  a proposed placement with a suitable prospective adopter should be identified and approved by the adoption panel within six months of the agency deciding that the child should be placed for adoption;  where a birth parent has requested that a child aged under six months be placed for adoption, a proposed placement with a suitable prospective adopter should be identified and approved by the panel within three months of the agency deciding that the child should be placed for adoption. Introduction 4.3. The agency should have begun trying to identify a suitable adoptive family before the agency’s decision was made that the child should be placed for adoption, and/or before consent to placement has been given or a placement order obtained, see chapter 2. However, in cases where parental consent is unlikely to be forthcoming, and especially where there is doubt about whether a placement order will be granted, it may not be appropriate to do more than make general enquiries about the likely availability of suitable prospective adopters before the agency is authorised to place the child for adoption. The intensity of the search increases once the decision has been made. 83 Matching considerations 4.4. Making a good match between a child and prospective adopter is a highly skilled task and is vital for both the child 