View report page

to anticipate the requirements of the Court and to make advance arrangements perhaps for a
placing which might be difficult to obtain at short notice. The special officers, by their qualities,
have mostly secured the confidence of the Justices in the Courts they attend with consequent
advantage to both sides.
The Adoption Work of Local Authorities.
This work is governed by the Adoption Act, 1958, and the Adoption Agencies Regulations,
1959. Adoptions can be arranged by the local authority for children in care, and also for children
not in care who are offered for placing. Many people offer adoptive homes and careful selection
is necessary. Most children in care who are adopted were originally placed with the foster
parents who later decide to adopt them.
The local authority's adoption work also includes (a) the duty to supervise the welfare of
all children placed for adoption in its area (Section 38); and (b) the duty, through the Children's
Officer's staff, to act on behalf of the Courts as "Guardian ad litem" in nearly all cases dealt
with by Juvenile or County Courts in the area, and to investigate and report to the Court on all
aspects of the adoption application (Section 9 (7).
Adoption of Children not in Care — Background.
The Adoption Act, 1958, gave children's authorities a new power to arrange adoption for
children not in their care. Before this, adoption placings were made by three kinds of "Agency"
(i) registered voluntary adoption societies; (ii) local authorities, but only for children in their
care; and (iii) parents dealing direct with adopters (known as "Direct placings"), or private
persons acting as intermediaries (known as "Third-party placings"). For many years concern
had been expressed about placings under heading (iii), especially the third-party cases. One
aim of the new power was that children's authorities might supplant the less desirable activities
of third-parties so that most placings would be undertaken only by recognised bodies. The power
to arrange adoption for children not in care is permissive and individual authorities are free to
use it or not, as they wish.
The Borough Council is an Adoption Agency and a Child Care Officer has been especially
appointed for adoption purposes as Adoptions Officer.
Adopters.
All adoption societies and authorities agree that, apart from special problems, there are
many more people wanting to adopt children than there are children suitable and available for
adoption. There has, therefore, been no need for publicity to attract adopters to this scheme.
Section 1, Children and Young Persons Act, 1963, also has an important potential bearing
on this service. It has become apparent that an important feature of the experimental scheme
has been the value of supportive case work as an alternative to adoption in suitable cases.
This, coupled with the development of general preventive work under Section I, could lead to
the use of an adoption service for children not in care, only if there were no clear alternative
preferable in the interests of the child.
(69)