Education committee backs adoption reforms

Bill would allow same-sex and unmarried couples to adopt jointly

News, 29 June 2006

MSPs have backed proposals to reform the law of adoption, including the controversial measure to allow gay and unmarried couples to adopt.

The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill has been unanimously supported by Holyrood's Education Committee and will now proceed to the next parliamentary stage. At present, while the law allows gay and unmarried couples to raise children jointly, only one of them is regarded as the legal parent. The new bill would allow them to adopt together.

The bill also proposes better support for adopted children and their families.

Ministers are hoping that the new laws will increase the pool of people available for adoption. Presently, about 400 children a year are adopted, compared to 1,000 20 years ago. There are approximately 6,500 young people in the care of local authorities.

The Catholic bishops' conference of Scotland has reacted angrily to the proposals, saying that there is a lack of evidence that same-sex adoptions do not harm children.

However, the British Association for Adoption and Fostering Scotland said MSPs would be doing young people a disservice if they failed to bring in the changes.