New Adoption Laws in Britain

[Narsil]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4568234.stm

Unmarried and same-sex couples can now adopt together for the first time, as part of the biggest overhaul of adoption laws for 30 years.
Unmarried people in England and Wales could previously adopt children only individually, and their partner was not allowed the same parental rights.

The Adoption and Children Act also gives new rights to foster parents and those tracing children they gave up.

Support groups have welcomed the act, which was passed in 2002.

Under the act, foster parents can apply for "special guardianship" orders, enabling them to take continuous responsibility for children until their 18th birthday.

The law also makes new legal provision for parents who have given up their children for adoption.

They now have the right to try to trace them through an intermediary service.

The changes have won approval from adoption support groups.

Felicity Collier, chief executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), said the changes brought the law into the 21st century.

"It recognises the reality, which is that adoption is no longer about adopting babies relinquished by unmarried mothers, but much more about finding permanent families who are committed to children who are in public care."

She said many children had suffered difficulties, including neglect and abuse, in early life and the widest range of families was needed to come forward.

'Child's right'

It was hoped the new legislation would lead to more couples adopting and fostering, she added.

Ms Collier told the BBC some unmarried couples were previously put off adopting by the rules stopping both from having a legal responsibility.

"Every child has a right to a permanent legal relationship with both the people who are looking after them."

On the new rules governing parents wishing to trace the children they have given up for adoption, she said many people in previous generations had not had that opportunity.

She stressed that agencies would contact people who had been adopted to ask if they wanted to be contacted, and that no information on them would be given without their permission.

But she added: "There's a generation of unmarried mothers who actually have lived wanting to know desperately whether the child they gave up for adoption is alive or dead, to find out that they have done well, or just to pass on a message explaining the circumstances by which they made that decision."

This makes me feel better about life... because I'm not planning to actually get married.