Commentary on provisions of Act Section 15: Local authority adoption functions: joint arrangements
Section 15 inserts a new section 3ZA into the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Section 3 of the 2002 Act requires each local authority to maintain within their area an adoption service designed to meet the needs, in relation to adoption, of, and provide facilities for: 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. Local authorities may provide those facilities by securing their provision by other local authorities and registered adoption societies (defined in section 2(2) of the 2002 Act). Only local authorities and registered adoption societies may make arrangements for adoption (sections 92 and 94 of the 2002 Act).
	The new section 3ZA gives the Secretary of State a new power to direct one or more local authorities in England to make arrangements for any or all of their specified adoption functions to be carried out on their behalf by one of the local authorities named or by another adoption agency. The Secretary of State can either name which adoption agency should carry out these functions, or instruct the local authorities to determine who should carry out the functions. If the local authorities are instructed to determine who should carry out the functions, they may decide to set up a new voluntary adoption agency to do this. Alternatively, they may prefer to make arrangements for one of the local authorities named in the direction to do so on behalf of the others, or they may make arrangements with a different local authority or voluntary adoption agency. The section also enables the Secretary of State to give a direction to any local authorities to terminate these arrangements.
	In the direction, the Secretary of State can list which adoption functions the arrangements should relate to. The functions that can be specified in a direction are functions in relation to: the recruitment of persons as perspective adopters; the assessment of prospective adopters’ suitability to adopt a child; the approval of prospective adopters as suitable to adopt a child; decisions as to whether a particular child should be placed for adoption with a particular prospective adopter; and the provision of adoption support services, including carrying out an assessment of need. The functions that can be included in a direction given by the Secretary of State can be amended by regulations. In a direction, the Secretary of State can also make different provision for different purposes. For example, the Secretary of State can direct that arrangements should be made for specific functions to be carried out on the local authorities’ behalf in relation to a particular group of children, for example recruitment of adopters for disabled children.
	Section 13(3) removes section 3A of the 2002 Act and replaces it with a new section 3ZA. Section 3A was introduced to address the failure of the system to recruit enough adopters for the children waiting for adoption; consequently, the Secretary of State’s power under this section is limited to functions relating to prospective adopters. Section 3ZA is designed to be used in a different way, to direct local authorities to come together to make arrangements for one regional adoption agency to carry out a wide range of adoption functions on behalf of a number of local authorities. The functions that can be included under a section 3ZA direction are therefore wider than those under section 3A. In addition to functions relating to prospective adopters, they also include functions in relation to decisions about placing a particular child with a particular prospective adopter and the provision of adoption support services. A further important distinction between a direction under section 3A and a direction under section 3ZA, is that under section 3ZA, local authorities can be directed to determine for themselves who should carry out the specified functions on their behalf, which would give them a greater role in the restructuring of the system.