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Adopters Overlook Older Children in Favour of Younger According to Study

Research has revealed that children above the age of four are overlooked for adoption in favour of babies and toddlers.

The new research comes from Barnardo’s Scotland and found that babies and toddlers were far more likely to be adopted than older children. The stats were published in their report titled Too Old at Four?

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New Adoption Service to Aid Scots Families

A new adoption service is being created in the hope of improving links between children and foster families. Following the closure of the British Association for Adoption (BAAF) and Fostering, Children's Minister Aileen Campbell announced that The Adoption and Fostering Alliance Scotland (AFAS) will be stepping in to cover services.

The AFAS will handle the training, consultancy and a helpline for the public and professionals, as well as be responsible for the smooth transition from BAAF Scotland. The changes to the Scottish adoption operation comes following St Andrew's Children's Society being appointed to run Scotland's Adoption Register in July and a £75,000 investment in adoption services in Scotland.

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Leading UK Adoption Agency Closes

A major adoption and fostering charity in the UK has closed down with immediate effect after citing that it suffered as a result of“significant changes and economic conditions” which made it impossible for them to keep operating.

The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), had been aiding vulnerable children for more than 30 years, but closed at the start of August and is now being run by administrators.

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Council Services to Merge to Improve Adoption Rates In England

Councils in England are to merge services to improve adoption rates according to plans to be announced in the Queen’s speech. The move comes following as adoption is “happening at too small and localised a scale” according to the Department for Education.

The new bill will force authorities to merge local adoption services if they fail to do so themselves within two years.

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Post Adoption Contact: New Take On An Old Position?

The Child and Families Act 2014 (CFA) was enacted in March 2014 and has fundamentally changed the impetus of what Parliament see as important within family structure. Prior to April 2014, an order for a child arrangement, formerly known as a contact order, could only be made under section 8 of the Children Act 1989. However, Section 9 of the CFA has amended this with the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (ACA), with the insertion of section 51A and 51B. These provisions now provide the court with a specific power to make an order for post-adoption contact when the court is making an adoption order or when an adoption order has previously been issued.

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Adoption system criticised

A new independent report has criticised the 'hopelessly slow' current adoption system. The report, by former Barnardo's CEO Martin Narey, and commissioned by The Times, makes many recommendations for reform.

 

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Adoptions must always serve the best interests of the child

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has released an Issue Paper on the human rights perspective of adoption of children, calling for member states to ensure a better protection of children in the adoption process. According to the Commissioner, the realities of adoption still vary widely among European countries, in spite of international agreements, giving raise to serious human rights concerns.

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