Adoption

Abstract

The adoption of a child has the effeect of severing all legal ties with the child’s natural parents and forging new links with his adoptive family. The making of an adoption order is therefore a more serious step, because of this finality, than the granting of custody or a committal to care. The court hearing an adoption application will require the fullest reports on all parties involved, and the social worker will from the outset play an inportant part in the process which will have such far-reaching effects. The importance of the social worker’s role cannot be exaggerated, nor can the necessity for him to be conversant with the legal procedures and rules. The choosing of substitute parents and the involvement in this sphere of human and legal relationships necessitates expertise in social work and thorough knowledge of the law which aims to protect the child whilst also recognising the rights, and occasionally plight, of the parent.