Your personal information

As Wrexham County Borough Council (WCBC) is the host organisation for NWAS, further information about why WCBC uses your personal information; what you can do with your information, your rights as a data subject; and how we protect your information are detailed in the corporate privacy notice “Your personal information”.

Why do we use your personal information?

Our main activity is checking whether people who would like to adopt a child are suitable to be adopters. To do this we have to collect a lot of personal information about the potential adopters and the people who have been important in their lives. This is because the laws relating to adoption mean we must check people’s background history thoroughly. 

In addition to assessing adopters, we also work with a range of people affected by adoption and, at times, will need to obtain personal information from them. For example, we receive requests for post-adoption support and the ‘letterbox’ scheme. These do not require as much personal information as the adoption process itself, but will need us to obtain some limited personal information. 

We only use what we need

NWAS collects personal information about prospective adopters from themselves and from a range of people in their lives, such as friends, family, ex-partners and referees. Additional information is gathered from relevant organisations, depending on the prospective adopter’s circumstances, such as GPs, consultants and other local authorities where the applicants have lived. 

In the early stage of assessing suitability, most information comes from the person themselves and the sources they provide.

The process of assessment gradually requires more information and eventually by the time we are able to make a decision about a prospective adopter we will need to know about:

• Their personal and relationship history 
• Their family history 
• Their involvement in any criminal activity 
• Their full medical history 
• Their experience as a parent (if applicable) 
• The confidential views of key people in their lives about their potential to adopt successfully. 

We will also need to have a similar level of detail about anyone who lives with the prospective adopters. 

We advise prospective adopters to ensure that people they live with are aware of the kind of information that is required before they apply to adopt. 

How the law allows us to use your personal information

There are a number of legal reasons why NWAS needs to collect and use personal information about prospective adopters. The specific legislation is detailed below:

• The Adoption Act 1976 
• Adoption and Children Act 2002 
• The Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005 
• Adoption Agencies (Panel and Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2012 
• Adoption Support Services (Local Authority) ( Wales) Regulations 2005 and 2019
• The Adoption and Children Act 2002 (joint Adoption Arrangements) Wales Directions 2015 
• The Local Authority Adoption Services (Wales) Regulations 2019
• The Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulation 2020
• Social Services and Well-being Act Wales 2014
• Regulations and Inspections of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016

We also take into account any relevant subsequent guidance related to these laws. 

What is the purpose of processing your personal information?

• Delivery of a Regional Adoption Service
• Service Improvement
• Promotion of Adoption Services
• Training and development
• Management and supervision of staff
• Service Planning
• Service Users Consultation

Who sees the information NWAS collects and records?

The law requires that assessment information about prospective adopter(s) must be considered by an Adoption Panel. The Adoption Panel includes independent members as well as employed members. 

The panel includes an independent chair, independent members, adopters, adult adoptees, social workers and elected councillors.
 
The information seen by the Adoption Panel is heavily protected with special security measures used to make sure information cannot be seen by anyone else. There are very limited circumstances in which anyone else can access the information held about you and only where these circumstances are explained in relevant adoption legislation, such as care inspectors appointed by Care Inspectorate Wales or the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. 

Prospective adopters will have access to Part 1 of the Adoption Report. They do not have any right of access to Part 2 of that report as it contains the independent confidential references. 

Post approval panel, the task of family finding commences. When a potential link is identified, the completed report is securely shared with the adoption decision maker who will read the report and consider the link. The report is only used by the adoption agency for the purposes of considering that link. 

Other agencies we might share the information with are as follows:

• WCBC departments
• Councils
• Courts
• Independent Providers
• Schools
• Probation
• Third Sector Providers
• General Practitioners
• Health Trusts
• Mental Health Trusts
• Police
• Regulatory bodies
• National Adoption Service
• Adoption Registers (England, Scotland, Ireland)
• NSPCC

What you can do with your information

The law give you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how it us used by us. Our webpage on ‘Your personal information’ contains further details on how your personal information is handled.