Adoption law is to be overhauled and modernised with the granting of Royal Assent to the Adoption and Children Act, the first piece of comprehensive adoption legislation for 26 years.
Health Minister Jacqui Smith said:
"Adoption should be about putting the needs of the child first in the search for a caring loving family. The Adoption and Children Act updates adoption law and provides the firm foundation for better practice.
"It will underpin our drive to speed up the adoption process and deliver our target for a 40% increase, and if possible a 50% increase, in the number of looked after children who are adopted.
"This Act will be of lasting significance to thousands of children and their new families. It creates an essential framework to safeguard the welfare of the child and support adoptive families, and it will help to ensure that the adoption service is fairer and more efficient."
The Act contains new and fundamental provisions that will change the face of adoption law. It will:
put the needs of the child at the centre of the adoption process by aligning adoption law with the Children Act 1989 to make the child's welfare the paramount consideration in all decisions to do with adoption;
encourage more people to adopt looked after children by helping to ensure that the support they need is available;
allow unmarried couples to be able to apply to adopt a child jointly, after they have been subject to a rigorous assessment process that will also apply to married couples and single people wishing to adopt;
establish a new independent review mechanism for prospective adopters who feel they have been turned down unfairly;
tighten up controls and safeguards on intercountry adoption;
help to cut harmful delays in the adoption process through an Adoption and Children Act Register to suggest links between children and approved adopters, and measures to speed up court cases;
provide for access to information held in adoption records so that adopted adults and their adult birth relatives may apply for information which could be disclosed if consent is given; and
place duty on local authorities to arrange advocacy services for looked after children in the context of complaints.
The Adoption and Children Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 19th October 2001. It completed its final Parliamentary stages in the House of Commons and House of Lords LAST week. It received Royal Assent on Thursday 7 November.
The Act's provisions include measures to:
place a duty on local authorities to maintain an adoption service, which must include making and participating in arrangements for the adoption of children and for the provision of adoption support services (to include financial support);
set out a new regulatory structure for adoption support agencies, requiring them to register under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000, to ensure that adoption support services are provided to a high standard;
enable Ministers to establish an independent review mechanism in relation to the assessment of prospective adopters and the disclosure of protected information by adoption agencies;
provide for restrictions on arranging adoptions and advertising children for adoption (through traditional media and electronically) other than through adoption agencies, and prohibits certain payments in connection with adoption;
make provision obliging courts to draw up timetables for resolving adoption cases without delay;
amend the Children Act 1989 to provide that an unmarried father acquires parental responsibility where he and the child's mother register the birth of their child together;
amend the Children Act 1989 to introduce a new special guardianship order, intended to provide permanence for children for whom adoption is not appropriate;
amend the Children Act 1989 to make provision in respect of local authorities' power to provide accommodation for children in need under section 17 of that Act;
amend the Children Act 1989 to provide that regulations may require a local authority to review the care plan of a looked after child;
amend the definition of "harm" in the Children Act 1989 to make clear that harm includes any impairment of the child's health or development as a result of witnessing the ill-treatment of another person; and
amend the Children Act 1989 to provide a right of access to assistance and representation for all looked after children in the context of complaints.
Copies of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 will soon be available on adoption-net.
Do you have a story for Adoption-net? If so, please contact us.
Top
Back to this week's news
©
adoption-net.co.uk 2000
This site has been designed with few graphics to make it quick to load and simple to navigate.
