ABSTRACT
Why have the workings of adoption panels received so little attention? At a time when the long-term placement of children has been so much in the spotlight this omission is both curious and troubling. While the Draft National Adoption Standards for England, Scotland and Wales (Department of Health, 2001) commented both on the renewed requirement to permit potential adoptive parents to attend adoption panels and, in Section F, on the streamlining of administrative procedures, there is little about how they function. Similarly, the BAAF Adoption and Fostering was quick to point out that, in the much-heralded Prime Minister’s Review on Adoption (BAAF Adoption and Fostering, 2001), factual information relating to panels is sometimes inaccurate. Not only is it untrue to call them ‘committees’ of the local authority, but also the minimum membership is seven not six and elected councillors are not independent members. While BAAF’s response argues that panels are under-resourced, there is no consideration of how panels should function nor of their suitability to match parents and children.
