New rules to ease tracing of adopted children

Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:00 AM

New plans unveiled today by the Government will help thousands of birth parents who gave their children up for adoption in the past to find them.

Under the scheme, a network of Adoption Support Agencies (ASA) will be set up to act as intermediaries between parents and children from September 2005.

More controversially, birth parents and children will be given a legal right to ask the agencies to make contact.

Minister for children Margaret Hodge has today published draft regulations under the Adoption and Children Act, which will be consulted upon for four months.

She declared: "This is a major shift in adoption law and recognises the need of many birth relatives - including the many thousands of young mothers who relinquished babies for adoption in the second half of the last century - to seek information about children from who they have been separated by adoption.

"This is a highly complex and emotive area and it is important that we strike the right balance. That is why we are consulting with stakeholders on setting out the detail. The aim is to introduce a workable scheme which balances the interests and wishes of all concerned and has the welfare of the adopted person at its centre."

The new regulations will extend the right to access to information set out in the Act to all those involved in adoptions prior to the Act superseding the Adoption of Children Act 1926 - some 875,000 cases.

Originally, it was believed that the demand for information from these cases would overwhelm the system, but the DfES gave in to strong pressure from adoption campaigners. Officials are expecting an immediate surge of 20,000 to 30,000 applications when the new rules come into force.

Under the proposed scheme, ASAs will attempt to identify and trace subjects and ask them if they wish to contacted.

Ms Hodge insisted that the privacy of those involved will be respected throughout.

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