The Voluntary Adoption Agencies and the Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2003

PART V MISCELLANEOUS

Amendments to the Adoption Agencies Regulations 1983

25.—(1) The Adoption Agencies Regulations 1983 shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

(2) In regulation 1(3) (interpretation)—

(a) at the appropriate place there shall be inserted the following definition—

““the 2000 Act” means the Care Standards Act 2000;”;

(b) in the definition of “adoption agency” for the words “an approved adoption society” there shall be substituted the words “an appropriate voluntary organisation”(1); and

(c) at the appropriate place there shall be inserted the following definition—

““registration authority” means, in relation to an agency, the registration authority which may exercise, in relation to that agency, functions to which section 36A of the Act applies;”.

(3) Regulations 2 and 3 shall be omitted.

(4) In regulation 6 (adoption agency arrangements for adoption work)—

(a) in paragraph (1) for the words “reviewed by the agency not less than once every three years” there shall be substituted the words “kept under review and, where appropriate, revised by the agency”; and

(b) paragraph (3) shall be omitted.

(5) In regulation 15 (access to case records and disclosure of information) in paragraph (1) after sub-paragraph (b) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(bb) the registration authority,”.

(6) In regulation 16 (transfer of case records)—

(a) for paragraph (2) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(2) An appropriate voluntary organisation which intends to cease to act or exist as such shall forthwith either transfer its case records to another adoption agency having first obtained the registration authority’s approval for such transfer, or transfer its case records—

(a) to the local authority in whose area the organisation’s principal office is situated; or

(b) in the case of an organisation that amalgamates with another approved voluntary organisation to form a new approved voluntary organisation, to the new organisation.”; and

(b) in paragraph (3) for the words “Secretary of State” there shall be substituted the words “registration authority”.

(1)

See section 1(5) of the 1976 Act inserted by section 116 of, and paragraph 5(3) of Schedule 4 to, the Act.