It is the duty of every local authority to establish and maintain within their area a service designed to meet the needs, in relation to adoption, of—
and for that purpose to provide the requisite facilities, or secure that they are provided by appropriate voluntary organisations.
The facilities to be provided as part of the service maintained under subsection (1) include—
The facilities of the service maintained under subsection (1) shall be provided in conjunction with the local authority’s other social services and with appropriate voluntary organisations in their area, so that help may be given in a co-ordinated manner without duplication, omission or avoidable delay.
In this Part, references to adoption are to the adoption of children, wherever they may be habitually resident, effected under the law of any country or territory, whether within or outside the British Islands.
The services maintained by local authorities under subsection (1) may be collectively referred to as “the Adoption Service”, and a local authority or appropriate voluntary organisation may be referred to as an adoption agency.
In this Act “appropriate voluntary organisation” means a voluntary organisation which is an adoption society in respect of which a person is registered under Part II of the Care Standards Act 2000.