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The Adoption and Children Act 2002

This is the current legislation governing adoption.

The Adoption and Children Act 2002 received Royal Assent and therefore became law on 7th November 2002. However, the Act finally came into full effect on 30th December 2005.

The Act overhauls and modernises the legal framework for domestic and inter-country (overseas) adoption and in particular  replaces provisions of the outdated Adoption Act 1976.

It also puts adoption law in line with the existing provisions of the Children Act 1989 to ensure the child's welfare is the paramount consideration in all decisions relating to adoption.

There is now a duty placed on local authorities to maintain an adoption service and provide adoption support services.

The Act also  provides for adoption orders to be made in favour of single people, married couples and unmarried couples.

It introduces a new independent review mechanism for prospective adopters who feel they have been turned down unfairly and provides a new system for accessing  information held in adoption agency records or by the Register General about any adoptions which take place after the Act came into force.

It also established an Adoption and Children Act Register to suggest links between children and approved adopters.

The Act also introduced a new special guardianship order for children for whom adoption is not a suitable option but who cannot return to their birth families.

 

As far as overseas adoption is concerned the Act  provides additional restrictions on bringing a child into the UK for adoption and sets out  restrictions on arranging adoptions and advertising children for adoption.

It also brought in new court rules governing the making of adoption orders and measures requiring the courts to draw up timetables for adoption cases to be heard. Freeing orders are now replaced for "placement orders".

The Act went beyond just adoption issues and gave the unmarried father for the first time the right to acquire parental responsibility for his natural child where he and the child's mother register the birth of their child together. It also  introduced arrangements for step-fathers to acquire parental responsibility.

 

INFORMATION PROVIDED COURTESY OF COMPACTLAW LTD www.compactlaw.co.uk