come here for this purpose if he is satisfied that this is appropriate in all the circumstances of the case. The Home Office first needs to consider whether the intending adopters and the child they wish to adopt fulfil the requirements of the Immigration Rules relating to the admission of children for settlement, insofar as these are applicable. In particular we will wish to be satisfied that the proposed adoption involves a genuine transfer of parental responsibility on the grounds of the original parents' inability to look after the child, and that it is not one of convenience arranged simply to enable the child to gain entry to the United Kingdom. Applicants may obtain further advice on the immigration requirements from the Home Office or the entry clearance officer at the British High Commission, Embassy or Consulate in the child's country.
ADOPTION REQUIREMENTS
5. The Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS)** is the Department responsible for questions on adoption law. Appendix 2 lists some important points of United Kingdom law. The Home Office normally seeks the advice of the DHSS on any application to bring a child into the United Kingdom for adoption here, because adoption is such an important step in a child's life.
6. DHSS need to have most of the information that the adoption court will need later if the child is admitted. This information would normally be obtained by an adoption agency when considering whether to place a child with adopters. It is necessarily very personal and detailed, but it will be appreci- ated by prospective adopters that these procedures are aimed at protecting the long-term welfare of the child, as well as the interests of the adopters and the natural parents.
7. DHSS will usually ask your local authority to prepare a home study report. This means that a social worker will come to visit you in your home and make the usual adoption enquiries which are made about all adopters and are required by law (including police and health checks), so you must be living in the United Kingdom while the home study report is being prepared. The visits will provide an opportunity for you to discuss any matters that may be worrying you and assist you in considering your intention to adopt. It is also necessary for one of the intending adopters to be domiciled here.
ENTRY CLEARANCE PROCEDURE
8. An "entry clearance" can take the form of either a visa, or an entry certificate – both of which are placed in a person's passport or a letter of consent. The form of entry clearance depends upon the child's nationality. In all cases it states the purpose of the holder's journey to the United Kingdom. A child coming here for adoption must have one of these, and the following paragraphs set out the procedure for this.
9. As soon as you are able to provide the details of the child an application for entry clearance should be made on the child's behalf to the entry clearance officer at the British High Commission, Embassy or Consulate nearest to the child's home. The questionnaire which is at Appendix 3 should be completed and submitted with the entry clearance application to the entry clearance officer. To avoid delays, it is important that you ensure that so far as possible all the requested documents are attached to the questionnaire. The undertaking by intended adopters at Appenix 4 should also be signed and submitted with the other documents.
10. The entry clearance officer will make enquiries into the child's circumstances abroad and then refer the application to the Home Office. If the Home Secretary has no reason to believe that the application should be refused at this stage for immigration reasons, the papers will be passed to the DHSS to consider. They will first consider whether there are any obvious reasons why the proposed adoption would not safeguard and promote the welfare interests of the child throughout his childhood. If they are satisfied on this point, they will then arrange for the necessary enquiries to be made by your local authority (see paragraph 7 above) and then advise the Home Office whether they consider that there is any reason why an adoption order might not be made. This advice will assist the Home Office in deciding whether allowing the child into the country is appropriate in all the circumstances of the case.
**
or the Welsh Office for those living in Wales; the Scottish Office for those living in Scotland; the Department of Health and Social Services for those living in Northern Ireland.
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