News@www.adoption-net.co.uk
This story published June 21, 2001

New adoption laws pledged

The Government is to resurrect the first overhaul of adoption law for 25 years.

The Adoption and Children Bill, which got halfway through Parliament when it abandoned when the General Election was called in May, was among the Bills added to the Government's first timetable of legislation in yesterday's Queen's Speech.

Among its provisions are ensuring the interests of the child become paramount in adoption proceedings and the setting up of a national adoption register to help speed up the process of matching children to adoptive families. Courts will also be required to draw up timetables for adoption cases.

There are also provisions to encourage more people to adopt such as improved arrangements for support and an appeals system for people who feel they have been unfairly turned down as adoptive parents.

The Bill will also integrate adoption legislation with existing laws affecting children including the 1989 Children Act.

It will replace the outdated 1976 Adoption Act and follows a review of adoption services last July which found long delays, poor outcomes for children growing up in care and inconsistency in services.

Of the 52,000 children in care at any one time, 14 000 have been in care continuously for more than five years.

Only one in five children are placed for adoption within a year of being continuously looked after by councils. In 1999 one third of children had been waiting for a family for more than one year. The average length of time between placement and adoption is 14 months.

As part of the reform of adoption, the Government aims to increase the number of children adopted by as much as 50 per cent within the next four years.

In response to the the Queen's Speech, Felicity Collier, Chief Executive of the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering welcomed the Government's commitment to reforming adoption law.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reform adoption law and the new Bill represents a huge step forward in modernising the law to ensure that the welfare of looked after children comes first," she said.

There are currently 5,000 looked after children are currently waiting for suitable adoptive families.

"The future life chances of these children depends on the Government getting it right now," said Ms Collier.

"One of the most important outcomes for the Adoption and Children's Bill is restoring public confidence in adoption, so that more people will come forward to adopt the many children who are waiting for secure and permanent homes."