Adoption Law Basics

What is adoption?

Adoption, you can think of really, as a legal transplant of a child moving from it's natural family into it's adoptive family.

What is parental responsibility?

Parental responsibility is all the rights, duties, powers, responsibility and authority which, by law, a parent has over a child. When a child is adopted, the birth parents lose parental responsibility, unless it's a step parent adoption when it's the mother adopting a child with a stepfather. That mother, obviously, keeps parental responsibility for the child, even into the adoption.

Who has parental responsibility?

Adoptive parents have parental responsibility over the child that they adopt.

Do you always have parental responsibility over your children?

A mother always has parental responsibility over the child that is born to her. A father who is married to the child's mother has parental responsibility. A father who is unmarried will have parental responsibility if the child is born after 1st of December 2003 and their name's on the birth certificate, but can otherwise acquire it by way of a parental responsibility agreement or parental responsibility order. Adoptive parents gain parental responsibility upon the adoption, or to be made at which point, unless it is the step parent.

What is a parental responsibility order?

A parental responsibility order is an order giving to, for example, the unmarried father to the child, all the rights, duties, powers, responsibility and authority which by law a parent has over a child.

Who is allowed to adopt a child?

Who is allowed to adopt a child? A single person can adopt a child or a couple in respect of sexual orientation or status, or indeed their sex. The person applying has got to be over twenty-one, unless it's a step-parent scenario where it's an eighteen year old or over. As far as a couple are concerned, they can be married, they can be in a civil partnership, or alternatively they can be what's known as an enduring family relationship. The person or persons applying for adoption actually have to be domiciled in the British Isles or habitually resident in the British Isles for at least a year prior to the adoption application being made.

What is a placement?

Placement is the process of putting the child or placing the child with the perspective adopters. It can happen in two ways, either by way of a placement order or alternatively with the consent of the birth parents with parental responsibility.

What is a care order?

A care order is an order placing a child in the care of the local authority. It does not necessarily mean that the child is living away from the natural parents, because the child can be placed back with them or indeed another member of their extended family. What it does though, is to give parental responsibility which is all the rights and duties, responsibilities and parent authority to the local authority itself. Some children who have been in care are adopted but not all adoptions relate to children who are or have been in care.

What is a reporting officer?

The reporting officer's job, really, is to witness the signature of the person giving their consent to the placement order, or indeed, the adoption itself.