Case No. FD21P00367

(1) A placement order is an order made by the court authorising a local authority to place a child for adoption with any prospective adopters who may be chosen by the authority.(2) The court may not make a placement order in respect of a child unless—(a) the child is subject to a care order,(b) the court is satisfied that the conditions in section 31(2) of the 1989 Act (conditions for making a care order) are met, or(c) the child has no parent or guardian.(3) The court may only make a placement order if, in the case of each parent or guardian of the child, the court is satisfied—(a) that the parent or guardian has consented to the child being placed for adoption with any prospective adopters who may be chosen by the local authority and has not withdrawn the consent, or(b) that the parent’s or guardian’s consent should be dispensed with.This subsection is subject to section 52 (parental etc. consent).”19.When a placement order has been made for a child, the decision making process moves on to matching the child with prospective adoptive parent(s). Once a potential match is identified, the case is referred to the adoption agency’s ‘adoption panel’ which must consider the case and make a recommendation to the agency as to whether the child should be placed with particular adopters for adoption [AAR 2005, reg 18(1)]. When considering the case, the panel must, under reg 32, review and take into account the child’s permanence report prepared under reg 17 (which will include a summary of the medical information). The case will then pass to the agency decision maker who will make the actual placement decision but, in doing so, must take into account the adoption panel’s recommendation [reg 19].20.In due course, once a placement has taken place, the prospective adopters will apply for an adoption order. In preparation for the hearing of an adoption application, the adoption agency must file a report in compliance with FPR 2010, r 14.11 which must contain the information specified in FPR 2010, PD14C including ‘a summary, written by the agency’s medical adviser’ of ‘the child’s health, his current state of health and any need for health care which is anticipated and the date of his most recent medical examination’ [PD14C]. Separately, FPR 2010, r 14.12 requires that reports (made not more than 3 months earlier) on the health of the child and each applicant must be attached to the adoption application where the child was not placed for adoption by an adoption agency. Such a health report must contain the wide range of matters set out in FPR 2010, PD14D.21.Although not an issue for SCC, the court was told that in some other local authorities there has been a breach of the requirement to obtain a written report from a registered medical practitioner on the health of each prospective adopter [reg 26(b)] and for the agency to prepare a report that includes a summary, written by the agency’s medical adviser, of the state of each adopter’s health [reg 30(2)(b)]. The court was told that, where breaches have occurred, this has been due to reports being written by specialist nurses, rather than by a doctor or the agency medical adviser. The statutory guidance, at paragraphs 3.33 to 3.35 stresses the importance of there being a full assessment of the health of each adopter by a doctor. Given the long-term consequences of adoption, the firmness of the wording of this guidance is important with agencies being said to have a ‘duty to satisfy themselves that prospective adopters have a reasonable expectation of continuing to enjoy good health’ is both proportionate and fully understandable.22.Thereafter, it will be a matter for the court to determine whether or not to grant an adoption order.