The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is run by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), was launched in 2004 to give adoption applicants in England the option of applying to an independent body to review an adoption agency's decision not to approve them as adopters or to withdraw approval.
The IRM has now been expanded to include consideration of fostering cases where a fostering service provider issues a "qualifying determination not to approve prospective foster carers or to withdraw or change the terms of an existing carer's approval".
It will also consider applications from people applying to receive information from adoption records in cases where the adoption agency has decided not to accept their application or to disclose or withhold information against the wishes of the person to whom it relates.
Barbara Hutchinson, executive director of BAAF, said the IRM had been set up to increase public confidence in the adoption assessment process and that it had been successful in doing so.
She added fostering agencies were struggling to recruit and retain foster carers, and the extension of the IRM's services would "increase the pool of foster carers and improve outcomes for children and young people".
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