1Duty of local authority to provide adoption service
(1)Each local authority must—
(a)to the extent that it already provides an adoption service in its area, continue to do so, and
(b)to the extent that it does not provide such a service in its area, provide such a service there.
(2)In this Act, “adoption service” means services designed to meet the needs, in relation to adoption, of persons mentioned in subsection (3).
(3)Those persons are—
(a)children who may be adopted
(b)persons who have been adopted,
(c)parents and guardians of children mentioned in paragraph (a),
(d)natural parents of persons who have been adopted,
(e)persons who, before the placing of a child for adoption or the adoption of a child, treated the child as their child,
(f)siblings (whether of the whole-blood or half-blood), natural grandparents and former guardians of—
(i)children mentioned in paragraph (a), or
(ii)persons mentioned in paragraph (b),
(g)persons who may adopt a child,
(h)persons who have adopted a child,
(i)in relation to persons mentioned in paragraph (g) or (h), children of, or children treated as children of, such persons, and
(j)any other persons who are—
(i)affected by the placing, or proposed placing, of a child for adoption, or
(ii)affected by an adoption.
(4)An adoption service includes, in particular, services consisting of or including—
(a)arrangements for assessing children who may be adopted,
(b)arrangements for assessing prospective adopters,
(c)arrangements for placing children for adoption,
(d)the provision of information about adoption to any of the persons mentioned in subsection (3), and
(e)adoption support services.
(5)In this Act, “adoption support services” means services consisting of or including the provision of—
(a)counselling to any of the persons mentioned in subsection (3),
(b)guidance about adoption to such persons,
(c)any other assistance in relation to the adoption process that the local authority providing an adoption service in a particular case considers appropriate in the circumstances of that case.