adoption
1. The process by which a parent’s legal rights and duties in respect of an unmarried minor are transferred to another person or persons. Domestic adoption can take place only by means of an adoption order made by the Family Court or the High Court. After the adoption order the child’s natural (or other legal) parents are no longer considered in law to be the parents of the child, and the child is henceforth regarded as the legal child of the adoptive parents. Adoption is different from any other court order affecting children, such as a child arrangements order, because it extinguishes the parental responsibility held by anyone before the making of the order. There are special provisions covering the adoption of a child by the partner of the child’s parent.

The law on adoption is now contained in the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (as amended). Detailed procedural rules and accompanying practice directions for all proceedings involving adoption were issued by the Family Procedure Rule Committee in 2005.

Unlike previous legislation, the 2002 Act is based on an explicit statement that the paramount consideration in deciding whether or not a child should be adopted must be the welfare of that child throughout his or her life. The court must, when reaching its decision, take into account all relevant circumstances, including (if possible) the child’s wishes. The court should direct its mind not only to what the child might gain from adoption, but also to what the child might lose, for example, his or her links with existing wider family members. The court will be aided in reaching its decision by consulting experts, such as social workers or psychiatrists. It may also appoint a children’s guardian to act in the child’s best interests.

There are many provisions in the Adoption and Children Act designed to make sure that any adoption will be in the child’s best interests, which the courts have supplemented with a direction that adoption should be “a last resort” used where “nothing else will do” to secure the child’s best interests (Re B (Care Proceedings: Appeal) [2013] UKSC 33). For example, under the Act an adoption agency is expressly required, when placing a child, to have regard to the child’s age, sex, background, and any of the child’s characteristics it considers relevant. There are also rules as to who may adopt and who may be adopted. The 2002 Act breaks new ground in allowing, for the first time, unmarried couples, whether heterosexual or same sex, to adopt a child together (effective from December 2005). Under the Act, every local authority must set up and maintain an adoption service, and these are carefully controlled. Since 2003 adoption support services, including financial support as well as advice and counselling, are available to adoptive parents.

Normally a child cannot be adopted without the consent of each of his parents (with parental responsibility) or guardians, but a court may make an adoption order against the parents’ wishes if it considers it to be in the child’s best interests to do so. In the case of a child who is in local authority care under a care order, inter alia, the court may make a placement order without the parents’ consent. The court has an option of making a child arrangements order or special guardianship order instead of an adoption order, so that parental responsibility may be shared with the birth parents. It can also in principle make a contact order in addition to an adoption order, so that the child can continue to maintain links with his birth family (see post-adoption contact).

The Registrar General must keep a register containing details of all adoption orders, which any member of the public may consult. An adopted child over the age of 18 has a right to a copy of his original birth certificate, thereby enabling him to find out who his natural parents are, unless the circumstances are exceptional. Although natural parents can register their interest in contacting their children who have been adopted, they have no corresponding right to trace these adopted children. The Adoption Contact Register contains the names and addresses of all adopted persons who are over the age of 18, have a copy of their birth certificate, and wish to contact a relative, together with the details of relatives who wish to make contact with an adopted person. 2. Reliance by a court on a rule of international law that has not been expressly made part of the law of the land but is not inconsistent with it. 3. The decision of a local authority or similar body to bring into force in their area an Act of Parliament conferring powers on them at their option.

https://www.gov.uk/adoption-records/the-adoption-contact-register

• Introduction to the Adoption Contact Register from the GOV.UK website

https://corambaaf.org.uk/

• Website of CoramBAAF (British Association for Adoption and Fostering)

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