ABSTRACT
English adoption law is entirely statutory and is now in a transitional stage, still being currently based on the Adoption Act (AA) 1976, which came into force in 1988, since the Adoption and Children Act (ACA) 2002 received the royal assent in November 2002 and is not intended to come into force until 2004. Meanwhile the 1976 Act will remain of interest to students when the new Act finally comes into effect. So far immediately in force are only the usual enabling sections, ss 140-50 (facilitating subordinate legislation, interpretation and funding, etc) and ss 116 and 136 (making some minor preparatory amendments to the detail of the Children Act (CA) 1989, s 17 and s 93 of the Local Government Act 1988, in connection respectively with the local authority duty to provide accommodation for children in need, and with the provision of welfare grants).
