Our legal consultants develop a range of practice notes, briefings and other resources to support our members in their work. They also support the exchange of ideas and good practice at our regular practice forums.

Explore our latest resources

Access to records

Access to records is a complex area that requires the ongoing efforts of practitioners, campaigners, and policymakers to ensure there is greater clarity, consistency, and supported access is available for care-experienced and adopted people seeking to understand their personal histories, the decisions made about them, revisit memories, and explore their identity and heritage.

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Adoption records

Adoption records document the legal process of adoption, including the transfer of parental responsibility from the birth parents to the adoptive parents. They typically include identifying information about the birth parents (names, addresses, phone numbers), the original birth certificate, and details about the adoption process.

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Children’s social care files

Children's social care files are maintained by children’s services to document the care and support provided to children and their families. This includes services provided to children in need, those on child protection plans, looked-after children, children subject to a care order, those in foster care, children’s homes, or supported accommodation.

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Latest blogs

Responses to consultations & inquiry submissions

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Join our new group

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Agency Decision Maker Group

This new group is a dedicated informal space for Agency Decision Makers to discuss, share and reflect on cases, practice and procedures with peers.

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Adoption & Fostering journal

Adoption & Fostering is the only quarterly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to adoption, fostering and kinship issues. Over the years, it has gained an international reputation as one of the world’s leading sources of knowledge for academics, practitioners and all those concerned with childcare practice and research.

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Read our latest legal notes

The legal notes from Volume 48 (Issue 1, March 2024) of our 'Adoption & Fostering' journal are now available. Members, remember to sign in to your website account for free access to all edition and issues of the journal.

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CoramBAAF Conversations

Our podcast series is dedicated to exploring topics related to adoption, fostering and kinship care. We invite children's social care professionals and experts by experience to join us to share best practices, their experiences and knowledge.

Alexandra Conroy- Harris

Using your legal department in social services

Listen to a discussion between our legal consultant, Alexandra Conroy- Harris, and our adoption consultant, Jane Poore, about how to use your legal department in social services.

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Augusta and Julia

Accessing care records

Listen to Augusta Itua, our legal consultant, in conversation with Dr Julia Feast OBE. They talk us through the current barriers and support available to care experienced people wanting to access their records.

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Watch our event recordings

Access to records for care-experienced and adopted people

This participatory session aims to shape forthcoming best practice guidance for managing care-experienced and adopted people’s records in England and Wales and improve the culture and processes involved.

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Somerset, the impact

Alexandra Conroy Harris, our legal consultant, presented the issues that were identified in the Somerset case, shared how local authorities can avoid these in the future, and what to do about cases currently in progress in this Exploring Expertise webinar from 15 March 2022.

Watch here

Browse our books

All Books

  • The Child's Legal Journey through Care

    The child's legal journey through care

    By: Shefali Shah

    This innovative guide demystifies the law by explaining its application to children’s rights, children’s possible routes through care, and the legal stages of Children Act proceedings. Written in a clear and simple manner, it sets out what practitioners should do to achieve the best outcomes for children while fulfilling what the law requires.

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  • CCL England

    Child care law England

    By: Alexandra Conroy Harris and Deborah Cullen

    This quick reference guide provides a quick introduction to the main legal provisions for the care of children in England. Designed to provide a basic framework, it presents a summary of the main statutes, regulations and court rules, with sections on all the main strands of law relating to parents, children and local authority responsibilities.

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  • Child care law Scotland cover

    Child care law Scotland

    By: Alexandra Plumtree

    This quick reference guide provides a quick introduction to the main legal provisions and principles affecting the law relating to child care in Scotland.

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  • Unlawful placements in kinship care cover

    Unlawful placements in kinship care

    By: CoramBAAF

    In many situations, the reality of the placement becoming unlawful speaks more to the limitations of the regulations themselves, than whether the placement is the best place for a child to live. In an effort to help practitioners navigate these challenges, we have published the following a practice note.

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Influence change

Our multidisciplinary groups and provide a platform to our members so we can advocate on their behalf to Government, and ensure that their voices are heard in the development of legislation, policy and practice.

Practice Forums

Share professional practice, knowledge and expertise in adoption with colleagues in your region.

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Special interest groups

The CoramBAAF Legal Group provides members with a forum to consider recent case law on aspects of adoption and fostering and child care practice.

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