childcare-50years

adoption. In the near future, few people - whether domestic or
intercountry applicants - will formally apply to be considered as
adoptive parents without having had the chance to gain, through a
range of experiences, some insight into the challenges of adoption
today.
Stepparent/family adoptions
Stepparent adoptions fell in the 10 year period from 159 in 1987 to
67 in 1997 with a slight increase over ensuing years (Table 4). The
general downward trend, however, perhaps reflects the continuing
rapid decline in marriage rates; a further loosening of the ties
between marriage and parenting and a diminishing need on the part
of reconstituted families to 'seal off' relationships from the former
family unit. Although the numbers of family adoptions have fallen,
they have consistently remained a high proportion of adoption work
since the late 1970s, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of all
adoptions in the period 1 April 1999 - 31 March 2000 (Table 4). Many
of these adoptions are complex, have significant implications for the
parents and extended families with whom the legal ties are either
severed or created, and for the child, who receives a new legal
identity. Traditionally however, family adoptions have not been
afforded the professional attention they deserve, often being
allocated to workers who have no specialist knowledge in adoption.
The challenge for the future is to ensure that such adoptions are
viewed as a crucial part of the adoption service and are supported by
organisational structures that are conducive to the development of
appropriate professional expertise in this area of work.
Intercountry adoption
3
Since the widespread publicity in the early 1990s about the plight of
children in Romanian orphanages, the level of interest in intercountry
adoption has increased steadily in Northern Ireland.
The intercountry adoption service is unique in that the DHSSPS in
Northern Ireland has a role in endorsing all intercountry applications
which are then processed through the DoH in London. The DHSSPS
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