Social workers have turned to the Internet to find families willing to adopt a brother and sister desperate to stay together.

All the usual channels have failed. So now Mark, nine, and six-year-old Katy can be seen at www.adoption.org.uk along with 21 other local children.

The initiative comes from Buckinghamshire County Council which looks after 20 Thame and Bicester area villages in the county. Elaine Dibben, the council's adoption adviser, said: "Mark and Katy have had unsettled beginnings but are responding well.

"They want to be together. They are still affected by the past and we need to find the right family to help them make the most of life.

"We're not just looking for traditional families an individual or a couple might be suitable."