Claims by the children’s minister that vulnerable children are not losing out following the closure of the statutory adoption register have been rejected by the charity that ran it. Nadhim Zahawi MP last month told the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee that the commercial system Link Maker is stepping into the breach.
It is now believed to be used by all local authorities. Meanwhile charity Coram, which had run the statutory register via CoramBAAF between 2016 and the March 2019 closure, believes Link Maker is not set up to fill the gap. According to Coram, without the register, which was supported by free specialist matching service Adoption Match, the hardest-to-match children may be deprived of the last hope of finding a family – a claim which Link Maker has said Coram has put in a “misleading” way.
Further details are available here.