Adoption: statutory guidance
The statutory adoption guidance explains the content of the different sets of regulations made under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the duties and responsibilities that the regulations place on adoption agencies.
The main chapters of this guidance are issued under section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. Local authorities are required to comply with the guidance unless local circumstances indicate exceptional reasons not to. The annexes to the guidance are intended as good practice guidance. Voluntary adoption agencies and adoption support agencies are not required to comply with the guidance, but they should nevertheless consider it as good practice.
Please note chapter 13 'Adoptions with a foreign element - prescribed fees' is now available to download. However, this document is not yet available in hard copy. We plan to make hard copies of chapter 13 available when we publish chapter 8 of the guidance and the practice guidance on suitability of adopters. We hope to publish these documents in the near future.
Adoption Guidance - Adoption and Children Act 2002 (2005)
A limited number of hard copies have been distributed to local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies.
National minimum standards
National
Minimum Standards for Voluntary Adoption Agencies and Local Authority Adoption
Service (2003)
These standards help the Commission for Social Care Inspection determine
whether adoption agencies are meeting the relevant regulatory
requirements. Adoption agencies and their staff may use the standards in
the self-assessment of their services, to provide a basis for the induction and
training of staff and to provide guidance on what is required when setting up
an adoption agency. Additional standards in respect of adoption support
services have been included in an addendum (available via the same link
above).
National
Minimum Standards for Adoption Support Agencies (England) (2005)
These standards will be used by the Commission for Social Care Inspection in
regulating adoption support agencies (ASAs), together with the regulations
applicable to ASAs. The standards may also be used by providers and staff of
ASAs in assessing their own services and may be used by service users as a
guide to what they should expect of an ASA. The standards establish the minimum
required rather than 'best possible' practice, and many ASAs will more
than meet the standards and aspire to exceed them.
This page was last updated on 02 July 2007
