The Adoption and Children Act 2002: a level playing field for same-sex adopters?

Emma Hitchings School of Law University of Bristol and Tracey Sagar Department of Applied Social Sciences University of Swansea. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 (the 2002 Act) came into force fully on 30 December 2005. One of the features of the 2002 Act was the inclusion of same-sex couples as a category of potential adopter (s 144(4)(b). This was a last minute addition emerging from a drive to get children out of care homes and into families.

Various changes were made to the adoption process by the 2002 Act and this article analyses the results of a detailed study which looked at the effects of the 2002 Act on the adoption process from the perspective of five social workers. In particular the way in which the new legislation has (or has not) affected same-sex couples applying to adopt children is considered. The study showed that the adoption process remains discriminatory and generally problematic for same-sex adopters with certain issues demonstrating a misalignment between theory and practice. Same-sex couples are expected to fulfil additional assessment criteria and there are further obstacles at placement...

Read the full article here.