General Observations of Aberlour Chid Care Trust
Whilst Aberlour is neither an adoption agency nor an organisation primarily working in a capacity that would bring us under the auspices of the regulations outlined in the Act. We do, however, work on a regular basis and in a range of settings with children and young people who have been adopted and as such we welcome the opportunity to contribute to the implementation of this legislation. As Scotland’s children’s charity we are responding to this consultation out of a sense of our obligation to improving the lives of vulnerable children throughout our society.
As we work closely with Adoption UK, (based in offices located within our National Parenting Development Project), we would seek to associate ourselves with the substance of their response to this round of consultations and endorse the points contained there in. As the implementation of the Act is only relevant to our organisation in as much as it may impact on the lives of a number of our service users and their families, and through our shared aim to improve the lives and early life experiences of vulnerable children we offer these general observations on the tenets of the Act rather than specific responses to each of the subdivided consultation areas.
General observations
Consent of the child under the age of 12:
Subsection 1 and 2 of Clause 32 of the Act sets out that where a child is over the age of 12 they must consent to an adoption order before it is imposed and only when the court is satisfied that the child in question has the mental capacity to make such a decision. We feel that the issue of children’s rights and specifically the right to be heard under Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child have not been fully realised by this legislation.
As it stands the Act only provides for those over the age of 12 to be heard on, and give consent to, an adoption. In contrast, the UNCRC provides that all children have the right to be heard on matters which affect their lives. Adoption is one of the most important decisions that will be made about a child’s life and every child, regardless of age, should have the right to be heard on this issue. We believe that this should be rectified through guidance to adoption panels and agencies through the implementation of the Act.
We accept that having the right to be heard is not the same as the right to give consent to an adoption. However, a child’s right to consent should be based on a child’s maturity and no child should be denied this right on the basis of age alone. Whilst recognizing that there is no specific commitment to this end in the Act we would hope that subsequent guidance in the implementation around the legislation should direct adoption panels and agencies to seek the views of the child regardless of age.
Adoption support services
Adopted children and young people have the potential to be extremely vulnerable as by definition they have, for what ever reason, been separated from their birth parents. This can at any point lead to a range of emotionally destabilising issues. These can include feelings of insecurity, low self esteem, rejection and problems developing trusting relationships.
Like many of our partners, we were dismayed that the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act contains no real commitment to or focus on the issue of adoption support services. It was hoped that this critical issue might have been addressed in the legislation as the provision of accessible and appropriate support can prevent a problematic adoption placement from breaking down. As stated above, adopted young people are in many cases vulnerable and as such may require additional support that the families they are placed with may struggle to provide. The kind of support that adopted children and the families they are placed with require goes beyond mere social work intervention, there is a real need for further support from education and health services, to recognise the additional needs of those children who may be struggling on a number of fronts to the point where it is creating problems in their adopted placement. A young person’s difficulties in the classroom can have an impact on their home life, which may put stress on an unstable or problematic placement.
We support the call by Adoption UK for a swift resolution to the continuing lack of focus on the provision of Adoption support services.
Appeal process for unsuccessful applicants:
From the legislation itself and the supporting implementation documents it remains unclear as to the right of those would-be adoptive parents who have failed in their attempt to be registered as suitable adoptive candidates. Aberlour prioritises the protection needs of children seeking adoption and agrees that the selection criteria for potential adoptive parents should be rigorous and robust. We do however feel that appeal processes should be clearer so that perfectly adequate potential adoptive parents are not accidentally frozen out of the system due to a technicality or misrepresentation. In general we believe that the process of adoption should be as clear and as transparent as possible. We want to make it easy for people, who meet the criteria, to adopt, reducing unnecessary bureaucracy where possible.
Definition of a parent:
Defining the status of a birth parent is a very complex issue when it comes to adoption. In many cases, when an adopted child reaches adulthood they will seek to make contact with their birth parents if those parents are still living. This is a natural and healthy impulse which can however sometimes cause a degree of distress to the adopted family.
As such the question over non PRR parents is a difficult one and should be assessed on a case by case basis. Unquestionably however it is the view of Aberlour that unmarried fathers should be considered a parent in the implementation of the Act.
Conclusion
Aberlour Child Care Trust warmly welcome the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act as it represents a piece of legislation that will hopefully afford increasing numbers of vulnerable children the opportunity of finding a stable home that an adopted family can provide. We have a lot to be proud of in our adoption system in this country and with proper diligence to the interests and views of children regardless of age in this process, then this Act should serve to strengthen this system still further.