The Adoption Agencies (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005 (“the Principal Regulations”) which make provision relating to the exercise by adoption agencies (local authorities and registered adoption societies) of their functions in relation to adoption under the Adoption and Children Act 2002.

These Regulations insert new regulations 19A and 20A into the Principal Regulations. New regulation 19A requires adoption agencies to refer to the Adoption Register for Wales (within the required timescale) details of children whom the adoption agency has been authorised to place for adoption. New regulation 20A lists, for the purposes of that regulation, those persons authorised to witness the execution outside England and Wales of forms of consent to placement for adoption by parents and guardians and, as the case may be, to the making of a future adoption order.

A minor amendment is also made to regulation 20 of the Principal Regulations to clarify that an adoption agency must request the appointment of a Welsh family proceedings officer or an officer of CAFCASS to obtain consent from a parent or guardian to the placement or adoption of a child in their care only where the parent or guardian resides in England and Wales.

These Regulations substitute a new Part 4 (regulations 21 to 30G) in the Principal Regulations to provide for a two stage approval process for prospective adopters (the pre-assessment process – stage 1 and the assessment decision – stage 2). New regulations 21 to 27 (stage 1) apply where a person has notified an adoption agency that they want to adopt a child and the agency has notified that person that it has decided to proceed with the pre-assessment process in respect of them. New regulations 28 to 30G (stage 2) apply where, following the adoption agency’s decision that the prospective adopter may be suitable to adopt, the prospective adopter has notified the adoption agency within six months of that decision that they wish to proceed to stage 2 of the approval process.

New regulation 22 requires the adoption agency to prepare a written plan in consultation with the prospective adopter (“the prospective adopter stage one plan”) which is to include information about the role of the adoption agency and the prospective adopter in the stage one process.

New regulation 25 requires the adoption agency to obtain an enhanced criminal record certificate in respect of the prospective adopter and any other member of the prospective adopter’s household who is aged 18 or over.

New regulation 26 sets out the other pre-assessment information that an adoption agency must obtain and new regulation 27 provides that an adoption agency must decide in light of that information whether the prospective adopter may be suitable to adopt a child. That decision must be made within two months from the date on which the adoption agency notified the prospective adopter that they had decided to proceed with the pre-assessment process in accordance with new regulation 21, but the agency may delay making that decision where it is satisfied that there are good reasons for doing so or upon the request of the prospective adopter.

New regulation 29 requires the adoption agency to prepare a written plan in consultation with the prospective adopter (“the prospective adopter assessment plan”) which is to include information about the procedure for assessing the prospective adopter’s suitability to adopt a child under stage 2.

New regulation 30B provides that an adoption agency must decide whether a prospective adopter is suitable to adopt within four months of the date on which the agency received the prospective adopter’s notification that they wish to proceed with the assessment process. The agency may delay making that decision where the agency considers that there are exceptional circumstances which mean it cannot make that decision within that time or upon the request of the prospective adopter.

New regulation 30F and Schedule 4A provide that in certain cases Part 4 of the Principal Regulations applies subject to the modifications set out in Schedule 4A. Those cases are where an adoption agency is satisfied that a prospective adopter is an approved foster parent or has, at any time, previously adopted a child in England or Wales or overseas (having been approved in accordance with the Principal Regulations or the Adoptions with a Foreign Element Regulations 2005). In those cases the adoption agency must decide whether the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt within four months from the date on which the adoption agency notified the prospective adopter that they had decided to proceed with the pre-assessment process in accordance with new regulation 21.

New regulation 30G requires adoption agencies to refer (within the required timescale) details of approved prospective adopters to the Adoption Register for Wales.

New regulation 31 provides that an adoption agency must prepare a written plan in consultation with an approved prospective adopter (“the prospective adopter matching plan”) which is to include information about the duties of the agency in relation to placement and reviews. The exception is in a section 83 case (where a person intends to bring, or to cause another to bring, a child into the United Kingdom in circumstances where section 83 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (restrictions on bringing children into the United Kingdom) applies).

These Regulations make other consequential amendments to English and Welsh regulations which are set out in Schedule 1 and include amendments to the Adoptions with a Foreign Element Regulations 2005 and minor amendments to the Independent Review of Determinations (Adoption and Fostering) (Wales) Regulations 2010, which make provision for the review of certain determinations by adoption agencies and fostering service providers, to be carried out by an independent panel appointed by Welsh Ministers.

Schedule 2 contains amendments to the Welsh language text of the Principal Regulations which were not previously introduced by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Consequential Amendments and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2009 and the Child Arrangements Order (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Order 2014.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Department of Health and Social Services, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.