Adoption
Adoption is the legal process which allows a child or a group of siblings who cannot remain with their birth family to become full, permanent members of their new family.
We are improving the procedures, services and support around adoption and permanence to ensure Scotland has a modern, responsive and child-centred adoption system.
Supporting adoptees and their families
We recognise that adoption plays an important role in providing permanent, loving and nurturing homes for care experienced children and young people.
We are committed to better supporting adopted children and their families by funding organisations and initiatives such as:
- Adoption UK in Scotland (AUKS), their PATHways programme and a national helpline
- trauma-informed care for their children and young people with the National Trauma Training Programme
- an annual national Adoption Week every autumn, to celebrate adoption and brings together adoptees, families and practitioners for support and learning.
We are also working to improve the adoption processes by funding:
- the Association for Fostering, Kinship, and Adoption (AFKA), which advises, trains, and supports practitioners to improve outcomes for children and families
- Scotland’s Adoption Register supports agencies in matching approved prospective adopters with children who are identified as needing an adoptive family
- The Adoption Contact Register for Scotland that facilitates contact between adoptees, birth parents and birth relatives
Adoption and The Promise
We are committed to keeping The Promise by 2030. The Promise is the conclusions to the Independent Care Review which ran from 2017 to 2020.
We published our Promise Implementation Plan in March 2023. This sets out our approach to 'a good childhood' which included support for all caregivers, including adoptive families.
More information about the Independent Care Review and The Promise can be found on the Promise Scotland website.
Adoption: more information
You can get information about adopting a child at the Citizens Advice Scotland website.
Information on the processes of adopting a child from Scotland (domestic adoption) and adopting from abroad (intercountry adoption) can be found on mygov.scot website.