Post-Adoption Contact Reform: Compounding the State-Ordered Termination of Parenthood?

The Children and Families Act 2014 pursues the twin policies of increasing the number of children adopted out of compulsory state care and reducing the scope for court-ordered contact between such children and their birth families. Building upon previous work by Dr. Kirsty Hughes and myself, this paper critically evaluates these reforms to post-adoption contact in view of the fact that adoption terminates the legal relationship of parent and child. Aspects of the analysis include the impact of the proposals on "open adoption" and child welfare in the light of the available empirical evidence, and their compatibility with both the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.This is the author's accepted version. The final version is published by CUP in The Cambridge Law Journal here: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9303450&fileId=S0008197314000439