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ADOPTION POLICY REVIEW GROUP: CHOICES FOR CHILDREN IN FOSTERING AND ADOPTION

Summary of Questions

Legal Options for Children Providing Permanence and Stability

1. What are views on the range of options?
2. Should there be a less secretive and more open approach in adoption law and rules, while preserving necessary confidentiality?

3. Contact

4. What are views on the place of contact in permanence?
5. Should the law allow the possibility of contact conditions in all circumstances and all types of orders?

6. Freeing Orders

7. Should freeing be abolished?
8. If it is abolished, should there be any replacement pre-adoption order?

9. Role of the Hearing System in Permanence

10. What are views on the suggested ideas and what are other options?
11. What, if any, should be the role of safeguarders in advice hearings in permanence cases?

12. Medical Issues

13. What are views on the issues raised, (a) to (f)?

14. Court Processes in Adoption, including Grounds and Delays in Court

15. Should the welfare test in adoption cases stay the same?
16. Do the provisions about children's views need changing, and if so, how?
17. Do the provisions about consideration of race, religion, culture and language need changing, and if so, how?
18. Do the provisions about minimum necessary intervention need changing, and if so, how?
19. Should the grounds for dispensing with agreement be changed?
20. Should there be a ground based on a birth parent's inability to care?
21. Should conditions be allowed in all adoption and pre-adoption orders?
22. If so, should the test for contact conditions be 'exceptional circumstances' or something else?
23. Should there be a statutory mechanism for enforcement of conditions?
24. What are views on the suggestions about reducing delay and what are other options?

25. Revocation

26. Should there be a limited right to seek revocation of adoption?
27. If so, what should the grounds be?

28. Public Fostering

29. Would clarification of s.25 placements be helpful?
30. What are views on the suggestions about emergency and immediate placements?
31. Should the placement provisions for supervision requirements, in reg.15, be changed?
32. Should the arrangements with voluntary organisations be clarified, and if so, how?
33. Should reg.12(4) be amended?
34. Should there be regulations for 'looked after' children on overnight visits, and if so, what should they say?

35. Support in Non-adoptive Permanent Placements

36. Should there be changes to the support system for children 'looked after' on a permanent fostering basis?
37. Should there be changes to the support available to children who were 'looked after' and are then cared for on a s.11 order?

38. Support in Adoption Placements

39. Should the adoption support provisions in the 1978 Act be expanded?
40. Should the local authority agency where the person seeking adoption support lives be liable for support, whatever the age of the adoptee?
41. Should there be a duty on local authority agencies to assess for the need for adoption support?
42. Should adoption support contracts be mandatory in all agency adoptions?
43. Should s.22 of the 1995 Act (children 'in need') be extended to include some or all adopted children?
44. Should there be one adoption allowances scheme applying throughout Scotland?

45. Tracing and Access to Adoption Records

46. Should After-Adoption mediation and tracing services have a greater profile, with greater publicity for agencies and the public, including use of the DH Guidance?
47. Should there be a licensing of information and intermediate service provision, allowing organisations other than local authorities and adoption agencies to work in this area?
48. Should there be positive rights to information for birth relatives, while protecting the rights of adoptees?
49. Should there be positive rights to information for other parties, while protecting the rights of adoptees?
50. How could adoptees' rights best be protected?

51. Private Fostering

52. Should individual private foster carers be registered with local authorities or the Care Commission or not at all?
53. If there is registration, what method of assessment should be used?
54. If there is no registration, should there be clearer rules about the level of checks required?
55. Should there be a requirement on local authorities or the Care Commission to publish information about private fostering?

56. Birth Families in Adoption including Unmarried Fathers

57. Should unmarried fathers without responsibilities and rights be given more legal involvement in adoption and freeing cases? If so, what rights should they be given?
58. Should there be a legal duty on local authorities/agencies to assess family members for long term care, even if the end result is formally to exclude them?
59. If so, should there be rules about which relatives are included, and time-limits within which they come forward?
60. Should relatives be given a statutory right to enter the freeing or adoption court process to have their say on welfare?
61. What duties should be placed on local authorities/adoption agencies when mothers/parents wish to relinquish children?

62. Children Waiting for Permanence and Adoption

63. What are views on these issues?

64. Panels: Fostering, Adoption and Permanence

65. Should 'Carer' Panels deal with approval of all carers, foster and adoptive ones?
66. Should agencies continue to have adoption/permanence panels as part of the planning process for children?
67. Should children have a right to attend a panel looking at plans for them?
68. Should birth parents have a right to attend panels looking at plans for their children and matching them with adopters?
69. What are views on the proposals to amend the details of provisions for panels?

70. Foster Carers and Processes for Them

71. Should there be a list of prescribed offences, which would automatically bar applicants from approval or re-approval?
72. Should there be a statutory appeals system for applicants who are refused approval or re-approval? Should it be a national one?

73. Adopters and Processes for Them

74. Should there be a change in the law about who can adopt?
75. Should regulations or guidance include more details about information to be made available by agencies to those thinking of applying for assessment as adopters?
76. Should there be a list of prescribed offences, which would automatically bar applicants from approval?
77. Should there be a statutory appeals procedure for applicants who are refused approval as adopters? Should it be a national one?
78. Should there be clearer, stronger duties on agencies to pass on information when a child is placed?
79. Should there be a duty to provide information before a match is made? If so, how much information should be given?

80. Adoption Agencies

81. Acknowledging that the Executive's Phase I Response asked if there should be a national adoption service, and most respondents said 'No', are there further views on this matter?
82. Would new regulations and/or guidance help tighten up planing procedures and reduce unnecessary delays?
83. Should the timetables for adoption agencies in the 1996 Regs be reviewed?
84. Should there be regulations and/or guidance about the role of agency decision-makers?

85. Curators and Reporting Officers

86. Should an adoption curator always be appointed in every permanence case?
87. Should the system be centralised nationally?
88. Should adoption curators be paid for out of the legal aid fund?

89. Step-Parent Adoption

90. Should there be specific processes for step-parent adoptions?
91. Should an unmarried step-parent be able to adopt?
92. If so, should there be limits on which step-parents can adopt, such as the length of relationship?
93. What are views on step-parent agreements/orders and particularly the provisions in s.112 of the 2002 Act?

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