The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) has received an extra special 30th birthday present from Ladbrokes. The gambling group has donated £100,000 to the charity to mark the landmark anniversary.

BAAF provides a variety of services to assist in helping to find safe and caring homes for hundreds of vulnerable children each year. The Ladbrokes within the Community Charitable Trust (LICCT) provides funds to charities, especially those that are involved in sports or leisure activities to the disadvantaged and handicapped. LICCT has provided more than £4 million to a variety of charities since it started in 2003. The latest donation of £100,000 will help to support the work of BAAF over the next 12 months.

Fundraising director for BAAF, Diane Gault, commented: "We are absolutely thrilled with the grant from LICCT, helping to make a massive difference to a tremendous number of disadvantaged children throughout the UK. We are a charity that relies on the kindness of others to enable us to continue to provide important services such as getting families for children and advising potential adopters and foster parents."

The Ladbrokes spokesman, Richard Royal, added: "Ladbrokes is well known as a provider of entertainment and leisure activities that many people enjoy but its wider impact can often be overlooked. Many of our shops act as community hubs and we do an awful lot of charitable and community work, supporting hundreds of charities throughout the UK, employing 14,000 people and making a contribution to the economy. I am touched by the amazing work that BAAF does and am delighted to present them with this grant."

BAAF believes

• Each child has a right to loving and secure family relationships, a right to be heard and rights as a citizen.

• Secure attachments to carers are essential to children’s mental health and psychological development.

• Every effort should be made to enable children to live in their own birth families and kinship network, providing this is consistent with the child’s welfare.

• Where it is not in the best interests of children to live within their family of origin, an alternative family should be found which can provide continuous care, stability and life-long commitment.

• Children have a right to have their needs understood, assessed and reviewed so that, where it is necessary for them to live away from home, their placements can be planned and their needs met.

• Adoption and fostering should meet the emotional, developmental and spiritual needs of children, including needs relating to their religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background and any special needs.