Adoption bill gets green light

The government is expected to publish adoption legislation today
(Thursday) to implement proposals from the white paper introduced
in December. The bill is likely to be pushed through before the
election.

Key measures include a national target to increase adoptions of
children in care by 40 per cent by 2005, national adoption
standards, an adoption register to match children with adoptive
parents across the country and a right to an independent review of
rejected adoption applications.

The Department of Health claims the bill will be the biggest
overhaul of adoption law for 25 years, modernising the legislative
framework and putting children at the heart of the adoption
process.

Draft standards for England and Wales were published for
consultation in December, with submissions due by 23 March.

“Last year there were 2,400 children waiting to be adopted. More
than 28,000 children have been in care continuously for more than
two years. Too often they are passed from pillar to post,” said
health secretary Alan Milburn at the launch of the white paper in
December.

Wardship proceedings in the case of the baby twins obtained over
the internet by Alan and Judith Kilshaw are to recommence on Monday
in Birmingham high court. According to a spokesman at the Lord
Chancellor’s Department, the official solicitor will make
representations in the three-day hearing over jurisdiction and the
legal complexities of the case. The twins are still in the care of
Flintshire social services, although last week a court in the USA
requested their return. Arkansas judge Mackie Pierce ruled the
Kilshaws’ adoption of the babies was illegal because none of the
parties satisfied the state’s laws on residency.