News

A new study on adoption has called for local authorities to give greater consideration to placing children with other members of their family rather than having them adopted by non-relatives.

Plan for the Child report, by Nigel Lowe and Mervyn Murch of Cardiff Law School, says that continuing emphasis on adoption may be at the expense of considering placements with other relatives.

It also found that policies on the legal status of family carers among six local authorities examined in the study were vague, which affected the level of social services and financial support they received. In some authorities family members were automatically assessed as foster carers for the child, qualifying them for a foster carer's allowance, while in other areas they were encouraged to apply for a residence order.

The foster carer's allowance is generally greater than that received by those granted a residence order. Once a residence order is granted, parental responsibility, including financial support, shifts to the carer from social services.

"These factors tended to make a residence order an unattractive option for relatives," the report says.

Bob Broad, director of the children and families research unit at De Montfort University, Leicester, believes some local authorities aren't prepared or can't afford to give them proper financial support.

"We recommend that kinship-carers should receive either a carers grant, carers allowance or carers tax break from the Department for Work and Pensions," he said.

Plan for the Child, from BAAF Adopton &Fostering 020 7593 2000.