Scotland's Adoption Register Regulations 2016

Date: 3rd June 2015
Category: Adoption

The Adoption Register Regulations will set out the key requirements for supplying, retaining and disclosing information to and from the Register. In order to allow the regulations to be drafted, Scottish Government would welcome comments on certain matters.

The Scottish Government has grant funded the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) to run the Adoption Register in Scotland since it was established in 2011.

From a technical perspective, the Register is a database which records and stores information that is information already held by adoption agencies. The Register uses that information to identify potential links between children with a plan for adoption and prospective adopters.

Through the Children and Young People Act 2014, the Scottish Government has placed Scotland's Adoption Register on a statutory footing. In placing the Register on a statutory footing, and requiring every adoption agency in Scotland to use it, the intention is to maximise opportunities for, and accelerate the process of, finding suitable adoption places for children for whom adoption has been identified as the most appropriate way forward.

In order to draft Regulations to accompany the Register which will set out the key requirements for supplying, retaining and disclosing information, comments are welcomed on certain aspects as contained throughout this document.

The consultation will run from 30 March 2015 until 22 June 2015.