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Section 31: Recovery by parent etc. where child not placed or is a baby

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

Part 1: Adoption — Chapter 3: Placement for adoption and adoption orders

Subsection (2) applies where—

a child who is not for the time being placed for adoption is being provided with accommodation by an adoption agency, and
the agency would be authorised to place the child for adoption under section 19 if consent to placement under that section had not been withdrawn.

If any parent or guardian of the child informs the agency that he wishes the child to be returned to him, the agency must return the child to him within the period of seven days beginning with the request unless an application is, or has been, made for a placement order and the application has not been disposed of.

Subsection (4) applies where—

a child is placed for adoption by an adoption agency and either the child is less than six weeks old or the agency has at no time been authorised to place the child for adoption, and
any parent or guardian of the child informs the agency that he wishes the child to be returned to him,

unless an application is, or has been, made for a placement order and the application has not been disposed of.

The agency must give notice of the parent’s or guardian’s wish to the prospective adopters who must return the child to the agency within the period of seven days beginning with the day on which the notice is given.

A prospective adopter who fails to comply with subsection (4) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both.

As soon as a child is returned to an adoption agency under subsection (4), the agency must return the child to the parent or guardian in question.

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.