APPENDIX 6
Memorandum submitted by the National Association
of Guardians ad Litem and Reporting Officers (NAGALRO)
This briefing should be read in conjunction
with NAGALRO's response to the White Paper.[2]
1. The Voice of the Child and the Welfare
Checklist Clause 1
The Bill aligns adoption law with the relevant
provisions of the Children Act 1989 to ensure that the child's
welfare is the paramount consideration in decisions relating to
adoption Clause 1(8)(c).
Though the Bill recommends the use of the welfare
checklist as one of the main tests before making an adoption order,
we are concerned that the child's voice is notable for its absence
in the wording of the Bill.
While welcoming this development, in situations
where dispensing with parental consent is under consideration,
we believe there should be a threshold test which would need to
be met before parents lose their legal relationship with their
child.
2. Special Guardianship Clause 94
Adoption provides security and permanence to
children, and at present the majority of children placed for adoption
are under 5 years of age. Older children also are placed for adoption
and this option should always be considered. However, although
for some children the new provision of special guardianship may
be appropriate there will continue to be a group of other children,
many of them older, who will continue to need a high level of
support and professional involvement within a foster placement.
With this proviso we welcome the proposal in
Section 94 to introduce special guardians but continue to have
some concerns because though the White Paper suggested there would
be financial support for children under Section 94, there is no
mention of this in the legislation. In many cases the absence
of additional financial support could deter foster carers or extended
family members from being willing or able to take on the extra
responsibilities of this role without additional financial support.
There would also need to be a duty for the Local Authority to
provide financial support for the education of a young person
in a similar way as exists at present for care leavers.
3. National Adoption Register Clause 96
We welcome the provision for a National Register
of children awaiting adoption and prospective adopters. It will
be more effective if there are not cross charging arrangements
that will deter some local authorities from making use of it,
as happens now with interagency placements.
4. Adoption Support Services Clauses 3 and
4
The Bill places a duty on local authorities
to provide adoption support services. We are concerned that whilst
children and families have a right to be assessed by the local
authorities, there is no obligation to provide the service. This
could result in families undergoing protracted assessments, an
acknowledgement and statement of need made, but no service provision
offered. Potential adoptive applicants need to know they can count
on support services being available across the country. The duty
to provide a multidisciplinary strategy is required to respond
to the complex needs of many of the children who will be deemed
suitable for adoption.
We welcome the duty to extend adoption services
to natural parents, former guardians and to adopted persons. We
regret that there is no commitment to a statutory intermediary
service for birth family members seeking contact with adopted
adults. The Department of Health has recently produced guidelines
for undertaking this area of work and we believe it should be
placed on a statutory footing.
5. Placement Orders Clauses 15-26
The Bill makes provision for the new measure
of placement for adoption with consent and placement orders to
replace the existing provision in the Adoption Act 1976 for freeing
orders. The legislation nowhere makes clear what role the Children's
Guardian will have if an application is made for a placement order.
There needs to be clear provision for a statement of the child's
wishes and feelings to be made known at this stage, by a Children's
Guardianotherwise how will the child's wishes and feelings
be known?
There is also the need to clarify the role of
the Children's Guardian in care proceedings where a placement
order is part of the care plan, following the making of an order.
There would be a need for the prospective applicants to be seen,
and for the child's wishes and feelings about the placement to
be made known as part of the commentary on the local authority's
care plan.
There is also concern about the potential for
delay in linking and placing a child before a court hearing is
obtained.
We are also concerned about interim parental
responsibility being held by prospective adopters as there are
situations of placement disruption, which could lead to complicated
legal proceedings with the potential of a three or four party
dispute.
6. Access to information Clause 49
Over the years the acknowledgement of the adopted
person's need to have information about the reasons and circumstances
leading to their adoption has been acknowledged. We are very concerned
at the implications of Clause 49 denying an adopted adult access
to their information about their birth family members unless there
is consent. Consent may not be available because it has not been
possible to trace or the parent is unwilling to allow their information
to be shared. Research has shown that adopted adults' sense of
wellbeing is greatly enhanced if they are able to access information
about their roots.
7. Adoption Allowances Clause 3(8)b
Clause 3(8)(b) makes some reference to "financial
support". If the Bill wishes to widen the pool of families
who are willing to consider adopting it is essential that there
is a review of the adoption allowance system and we would recommend
that national rates were introduced. Many low-income families
might come forward if there was an allowance that covered day-to-day
maintenance of a child. The system must be more than discretionary
and must be a national policy.
8. Summary
NAGALRO welcomes many of the provisions in the
Bill as a way of facilitating earlier adoption placements for
the many children, for whom adoption is the most appropriate plan,
and who still wait far too long. However, the voice of the child,
the rights of parents in relation to the consent issue, and the
need for any legislation to be fully supported by sufficient resources
to implement the provisions, must be incorporated into the final
legislation.
April 2001
2 Not printed. Back
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