 the spirit of promoting the health of the prospective adopter and practical strategies should be made available to support those who wish to stop. Adoption agencies, consortia and the Adoption Register 4.17. In trying to identify a suitable prospective adopter for a child, the agency should bear in mind that the most suitable family may be one that has been approved by another agency. It should make use of all its available resources such as other adoption agencies – both VAAs and local authorities - any consortium of agencies of which it is a member, and the Adoption Register, to help ensure there is no delay in children’s placement with adoptive families. 4.18. The Adoption Register holds information on a range of approved prospective adopters who are available and able to meet the needs of children, including black and minority ethnic (BME) children, as well as children who are older, disabled or in sibling groups. Keeping in touch with the Adoption Register is important, as is carefully considering all the potential matches they provide and responding swiftly to the Adoption Register, particularly when proposed links are accepted and the prospective adopters are matched with children. See chapters 2 and 3. 4.19. Where a local authority is aware that a particular prospective adopter approved by another adoption agency can best meet the needs of a child, they should negotiate with the agency about the possible placement of the child with that family. Unwillingness to pay an inter-agency fee should not be the reason for not placing the child. Indeed, Selwyn J’s research Adoption and the Inter-agency Fee provides clear evidence that effective use of VAAs has a positive impact on finding suitable and timely placements at a lower cost for local authorities. It shows that