Current adoption law in Scotland is contained in the Children Act (1975) and was last updated in 1995. The nature of society and the use of adoption have since changed considerably and this legal framework no longer meets the needs of the range of children who cannot be brought up by their birth families.
This report makes recommendations both to improve the existing system of adoption and to provide alternatives for other children who need a new long-term home, but for whom adoption is not appropriate. The report also makes recommendations to improve the process for finding these children new families - in local authorities, the children’s hearings and the courts - and to improve the support the children and their family need to make a success of their new home.