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Section 3: Maintenance of Adoption Service

Adoption and Children Act 2002 · 2002 c. 38View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 1: Adoption — Chapter 2: The Adoption Service

Each local authority must continue to maintain within their area a service designed to meet the needs, in relation to adoption, of—

children who may be adopted, their parents and guardians,
persons wishing to adopt a child, and
adopted persons, their parents, natural parents and former guardians;

and for that purpose must provide the requisite facilities.

Those facilities must include making, and participating in, arrangements—

for the adoption of children, and
for the provision of adoption support services.

As part of the service, the arrangements made for the purposes of subsection (2)(b)—

must extend to the provision of adoption support services to persons who are within a description prescribed by regulations,
may extend to the provision of those services to other persons.

A local authority may provide any of the requisite facilities by securing their provision by—

registered adoption societies, or
other persons who are within a description prescribed by regulations of persons who may provide the facilities in question.

The facilities of the service must be provided in conjunction with the local authority’s other social services and with registered adoption societies in their area, so that help may be given in a co-ordinated manner without duplication, omission or avoidable delay.

The social services referred to in subsection (5) are the functions of a local authority which are social services functions within the meaning of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (c. 42) or for the purposes of the 2014 Act (which, in each case, include, in particular, those functions in so far as they relate to children).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.