Amendments

Section 3, Security, Retention and Sharing of Records was updated in February 2026 in the light of the Records of Adopted and Care-experienced People - Good Practice Guidance for Record-keepers and Care Professionals (England and Wales) Guidance - published February 2024 which recommends that Adoption records where an Adoption Order is made should now have for "good practice" minimum retention of 125 years (date of birth + 125 years this was previously 100 years) or for "exemplary practice" for 150 years, or best practice would be permanent preservation/retention.

In August 2025, information was added in Section 3, Examples of Adoption Support Related Guidance to highlight that the DfE has extended the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund until at least March 2026, with a new fair access limit of £3000.

In February 2025, information on how to request information about an applicant from Ofsted was added to Section 3, Stage One-The Pre-Assessment Process. A link to the Disclosure and Barring Service Guidance Leaflets (GOV.UK) was added in the Related Guidance Section.

Section 4.2, Procedural Fairness was updated in February 2025 in line with case-law.

This chapter was updated in February 2025. A link to DBS guidance leaflets (GOV.UK) was added in Section 4.4, Concluding the Investigation.