Alternatives to Adoption
Adoption is a serious business. It will change the life of the child who is adopted. Sometimes people think of adoption when they are only seeking to change the carer of the child: it may well be that if this is within the family, then adoption is not the best idea at all.
Children who are taken into care, for various reasons, may not be suitable for adoption. Every child has a right to a secure home, for people to look after him or her, but, sadly, some have been so neglected or abused that they themselves pose risks to another family who might adopt them. Long-term foster care, linked to therapeutic treatment, may be the best that can be offered.
There are those who are removed from home because of abuse or neglect, whose wider family steps in to look after them. Social Services will always be alert to this possibility. It may be that a Care Order, with the child officially fostered to grandparents or another family member, is the best solution.
Otherwise, and always the first thought, the simplest thing is to make a Residence Order in favour of the family member who will care for the child. It automatically gives that adult full parental responsibility, all the rights needed to make decisions about the child and his or her future.
This, too, is the simplest alternative for step-parents who would like to give the child a new name and embrace the child in their new family.