Section 3: Adoption authority
This section provides that every Health and Social Care trust (HSC trust) is the adoption authority for its own area (subsection (1)), but regulations may provide that, in relation to prescribed functions or services under this Act, another HSC trust may be the adoption authority in relation to that area (subsection (2)). This provision enables the Department to specify that one HSC trust may manage and provide prescribed adoption services on behalf of another or other HSC trusts. An HSC trust is defined in the Act as a Health and Social Care trust established under Article 10 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, except for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, and references to an area of an HSC trust are to its operational area as specified under paragraph 3A of Schedule 3 to the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (subsection (3)). Subsection (4) provides that regulations may amend the definition of an HSC trust in subsection (3).
