ABSTRACT
The adoption order severs the legal relationship between the child and his birth family; the act of adoption mirrors the adoption union with a permanent or at least a long term separation. The adoption order may end the legal process but there is a recognition that services and aftercare for all those involved in adoption are vital. The 1992 Adoption Law Review included recommendations for birth parent support and counselling. It stated that ‘agencies should have a statutory duty to ensure parents of a child whom it is proposed to place for adoption, are offered full opportunities to receive advice and counselling’. The adoption of their children had a profound impact on birth mothers’ existence. Many perceived adoptions as an act of violence towards them and their children and so were deeply traumatised. Post-adoption contact can be either agreed during court proceedings or arranged between the local authority, the adoptive parents and the birth parents.
