This week is National Adoption Week . In addition to encouraging more people to come forward to adopt, it helps to highlight the importance of adoption for those children who, for whatever reason, cannot remain with their birth families.

We all know that the early years of a child’s life are hugely important. And as a Government, our ambition for children and youngsters is much the same as we all want for our own children: i.e.: “healthy happy bairns”.

That’s youngsters who are safe, loved, enjoy their childhood and achieve their potential. Youngsters who grow into responsible, caring adults, capable of making a positive contribution to society.

 National Adoption Week  is a time to celebrate the sterling work undertaken daily by the many agencies and individuals dedicated to providing safe, stable, nurturing and permanent homes for children who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in the care system. It’s also a time to reiterate our commitment to the lives of already vulnerable children, and to ensure the care system they experience has their interest at heart.

Of course, a number of steps have already been taken to achieve this essential goal and speed up and simplify the process around adoption. 

The introduction of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill (2009) saw important changes to the process, particularly in terms of introducing the Permanence Order – a new court order that can be used flexibly to deliver more permanent and stable environment for children and carers. 

We’ve also created Scotland’s first National Adoption Register which is already providing greater opportunities for placing children in stable and permanent families, and are now urging local authorities to sign up by the end of this year.

The recently launched Centre for Excellence for Looked after Children in Scotland (CELCIS) will also play a key role in supporting local authorities and agencies. Helping them review and improve practice locally and supporting parents and care professionals to strengthen the welfare of children in all care settings.

Overall, our aim is nothing less than a radical shift in care planning toward placing children quickly into settled, permanent homes. This offers children in care the best possible chance at forming secure attachments.

Although a lot of great work has been done already, we need to do more. It’s time to think radically, raise our ambitions and be decisive.

Encourage more people to adopt, while making it easier for them to do so. That way, we’ll help provide our young people with the safe, stable and permanent homes they deserve.

Angela Constance,
Minister for Children and Young People

Find out more about National Adoption Week through Adoption UK’s website.

National Adoption Week – A personal insight
Corinne Watt describes the joys, challenges and rewards of becoming an adopter.

We’d like to hear about your adoption experience. Get in touch and share your stories below.