APPENDIX 21
Memorandum submitted by Beverley Prevatt
Goldstein, Black Ethnic Minority Community Organisations Network
(BECON)
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond
to the Select Committee on the Adoption and Children Bill 2001.
I applaud this Bill and consider it makes significant
strides in unifying, clarifying and in making innovations that
are to the benefit of children in need of adoption.
I particularly welcome Clause 1 providing that
the paramount consideration of a court or adoption agency in making
a decision relating to the adoption of a child must be the child's
welfare throughout his life. The matters which need to be considered
have been well thought out and are critical to the well-being
of the child. I particularly commend the inclusion of the need
to consider the effect of removal from existing family and of
"the need for adoption agencies and courts to have regard
to the child's religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural
and linguistic background".
However, I am concerned that the ability to
dispense with parental consent may be too wide. This may particularly
affect those sections of the community already experiencing disadvantage
and discrimination, for example, disabled parents, care leavers,
black minority ethnic parents. While clearly the child's welfare
must remain paramount, I would wish to see a form of words for
dispensing with consent, similar to that proposed by the Report
to Ministers in 1993"that the advantages to the child
of having a new family and having a new status are so significantly
greater than the advantages of any alternative option as to justify
overriding the wishes of the parents".
I also welcome the clarification that the duties
of the local authority extend to the provision of a service for
"natural parents" and "former guardians" of
children who have been adopted and to adopted persons. The inclusion
of siblings and other members of the extended family as potential
recipients of adoption support services and in the Adoption Contact
Register reflects the lessons learnt from research and the diversity
of family life in multi-ethnic Britain. The amendments to the
Children Act, Clauses 91-94, also reflect the research evidence
that children benefit form a range of permanent family arrangements,
of which adoption is one important option. The Special Guardianship
Orders are likely to be particularly significant in enabling children
from black minority ethnic groups and refugee groups to secure
permanent families that do not disrupt kinship lines and I would
welcome further development of these orders. The National Adoption
Register, like the clauses on reducing delay, is likely to benefit
all children who experience delays in being adopted but must be
complemented by increased and targeted recruitment activity, as
recommended in Adoption Changes, SSI 2000, so that they
may achieve appropriate as well as speedy placements.
My concern is less with what the Bill includes
than with what the Bill omits. I would strongly recommend that
the following are considered:
an improved system of adoption allowances
and of allowances for Residence Orders and Special Guardianship
Orders;
a more robust commitment to providing
post-adoption support, rather than merely assessing the need for
post adoption support and clarity as to the authority which provides
this support and the financing of this support; and
a duty on complementary services
to comply with the request for services, provided this is consistent
with their functions.
The importance of finance in enabling a diversity
of families to provide a permanent home for children and of post
adoption support has been endorsed by every inspection and research
report and is critical to reducing the damaging rate of delay,
change and disruption children currently experience.
This Bill has much to recommend it but would
benefit from inclusion of the above, further detailed consideration
of the complex Placement orders and the adoption of some safeguard
to dispensing with parental consent as proposed in Paragraph 1.
Thank you again for providing me with this opportunity
and I wish you every success in this endeavour. Please do not
hesitate to contact me at the BECON address if I can be of any
further assistance.
May 2001
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