ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how much adoption has altered during the 70 or so years of its existence under English law. It also examines how the nature of the work has changed, how the organisation of adoption work has developed, how practice has altered, and, finally, how the law itself has been modified. When adoption was first introduced into England and Wales by the Adoption of Children Act 1926, it was remarkably unregulated. The Committee accordingly recommended that all local authorities should have a statutory duty to provide an adoption service as part of their general child care and family case work provision. There were also a substantial number who had had some form of contact with other birth relatives, and nearly as many had ongoing contact after the adoption order. The chapter focuses on four areas, namely, post-adoption contact, tracing parents, adoption allowances, and post-adoption support.
