With the news in September that nearly 4,000 children were adopted from care in the year to March 2013, the government is pressing local authorities to do more. They want more to be done to recruit more adopters. They want more children adopted.

In the same month the Court of Appeal in a land mark case have reminded courts that adoption must be the absolute last resort for children subject to care proceedings. Every effort has to be made to keep the children in their birth families. The case was one of several which made it clear that adoption should only be considered as the absolute last resort when there was no alternative.

The government are pushing through Parliament its Children and Families Bill with the promotion of adoption as a key goal.

With adoption so much in the news, specialist lawyers Ridley & Hall, recently awarded Yorkshire Law Firm 2013, have launched the Adoption Legal Centre.

Nigel Priestley Senior Partner at Ridley & Hall said, “Adoption is in the news. The Children and Family Bill is before Parliament. The government is promoting fostering for adoption. There has been heavy lobbying to amend the Bill to ensure that if adoption is considered for a child, the local authority must consider placing the child with kin.

Ridley & Hall is the country’s leading specialist firm for advising kinship carers. In addition we work with support organisations including Adoption UK and Fostering Network to advise both adopters and foster carers about their rights.

He went on “The vast majority of children who are adopted are placed after care proceedings. Many of these children carry the emotional and psychological scars caused by the parenting they have received before they were placed for adoption. Many adopters find themselves challenged and bewildered by the behaviour of the children they are caring for. Sadly too often they find that they struggle to get help from their local authority.”

“Sadly some adopters find that they then become involved in care proceedings because they simply cannot care for the damaged child placed with them. Tender loving care isn’t enough.

Ridley & Hall is uniquely placed to advise adopters, prospective adopters and foster carers. We are already at the forefront in helping kinship carers who want to care for the children looked after by the local authority. We have experts in community care and welfare benefits as well as members of the specialist Children Panel. This is the panel set up by the Law Society to ensure that practitioners in care proceedings have the necessary skills to advise carers in a this difficult area of work.

“The  law surrounding adoption can be a minefield for the unwary. The Adoption Legal Centre exists to help carers to navigate their way through it with specialist advisors.”

For further infomation contact Nigel Priestley on 01484 538 421 or e-mail or visit the Adoption Legal Centre website.