Happy ever after? New Lords Committee to investigate the adoption process

The Committee will be examining all aspects of Adoption Legislation, particularly the relevant sections of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the Children and Adoption Act 2006.  The Committee has also agreed that any draft legislation published by the Government whilst the Committee is conducting its inquiry will be considered as part of the process.

The Committee are publishing today publishing a Call for Evidence and invite any interested parties to submit evidence by 19 July.

Issues of particular interest to the Committee are expected to include:

• the impact of legislation on the adoption process;
• what causes delays in placing children with adoptive parents?
• how can the government increase the number of potential adopters?
• is post-adoption support adequate? Can more be done to support adoptive parents?
• inter-country adoptions; and
• how the adoption process is monitored.

Chairman of the Committee, Baroness Butler-Sloss, said:

“I am very pleased to be chairing this Committee, which will be investigating Adoption Legislation in England and Wales.  We still have far too many children in the care system who would be far better off being adopted and it is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed.

“Although we will not be examining individual cases as part of our inquiry, we will no doubt be hearing about issues and aspects of the adoption process which have affected thousands of people who have gone through the adoption process.

“The inquiry's aim is to explore the key issues in the adoption process and, to that end, the Committee would encourage anyone who has an interest to send us their evidence and contribute to the debate.”