Chamber and committees

Sections 9-11 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007(The Act), require local authorities to assess a person’s needs for adoption support services and then provide that support if it is deemed necessary. This applies to children, young people, adoptive and birth families and adult adoptees.

Adoption support services are defined in section 1 of The Act as the provision of counselling, guidance and any other assistance that the local authority considers appropriate in the circumstances of that case. The accompanying Guidance on the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 explains that support services provided by local authorities can include:

• support to groups of adopted children, adopters and birth children
• assistance, including mediation, in arrangements for contact between adopted children and their birth parents, siblings and other relatives
• services to meet the therapeutic needs of adopted children
• assistance to adopters such as training to meet special needs and respite care
• mediation and other services if there is a disruption in an adoption placement, or risk of one.

Local Authority adoption services, including the post adoption support they provide, are monitored through inspections by the Care Inspectorate, which has the role of looking at the quality of care in Scotland to ensure it meets high standards, and supporting services to make positive changes where improvement is needed.