{"id":4637,"date":"2025-04-11T08:30:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T08:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=4637"},"modified":"2025-04-04T08:49:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T08:49:55","slug":"the-records-of-adoption-and-care-experienced-people-preserving-life-stories-at-risk-of-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2025\/04\/11\/the-records-of-adoption-and-care-experienced-people-preserving-life-stories-at-risk-of-destruction\/","title":{"rendered":"The records of Adoption and Care-experienced people \u2013 preserving life stories at risk of destruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dorset Council has become one of the first local authorities to formally extend the retention period (i.e. the timeframe that documents are kept prior to review and potential destructions) for the records of adopted and care-experienced people.\u00a0 Until recently, adoption records have had a 100-year retention period after which they may be retained, or equally could be destroyed.\u00a0 With the centenary of the 1926 Adoption Act fast approaching there is a perceived risk that number of records could start to be lost.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In light of the above, a group of archivists from the Chief Archivists in Local Government Group (CALGG \u2013 part of the Archives and Records Association) formed a project board to start looking at the wider question of the records of people who had been in receipt of care or who had been adopted.\u00a0 It was important to take into account a wide range of views \u2013 those of archivists, records managers, data protection specialists and social care professionals \u2013 but perhaps most importantly, the views of the adopted and care-experienced people themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Whilst there was not uniform agreement, by far the greater majority view was that these records should be kept permanently as<\/span> the records represent both essential, sometimes traumatic personal histories key to individuals understanding their origins and formative years.\u00a0 The documents also form an important social record which reflects the approaches taken by government, local authorities and others to the care and protection of young people.\u00a0 Whilst it is acknowledged that there is no protection in law for the records, there could at least be a voluntary code which acknowledged their value and importance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The project was formed of two parts \u2013 consulting with stakeholders and surveying where the records themselves (both physical and digital) were actually held.\u00a0 The resulting evidence-gathering has led to the publication in March 2024 of this guidance document: <\/span>The records of adopted and care-experienced people \u2013 developing guidance for record-keepers and care professionals<\/span><\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0—<\/span><\/p>\n

The key recommendations from this work are that:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a01. <\/span>The records of care and adoption should be given equal weighting in terms of their retention periods \u2013 counter to the general practice of keeping care records for often far shorter time periods.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The records of care and adoption should be kept for at least 125 years (\u2018best practice\u2019) and ideally 150 years (\u2018exemplary practice\u2019).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0—<\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2024 Dorset Council\u2019s Children\u2019s Services directorate agreed to adopt the recommendations and the Council\u2019s retention schedules now reflect the 150-year retention period for these records.\u00a0 Dorset History Centre works closely with the Council\u2019s records management team to ensure an orderly transfer between \u2018active records\u2019 and \u2018archives\u2019.\u00a0 Historic adoption records are held digitally in the service\u2019s secure Preservica system.\u00a0 It should be stressed that adoption and care records are by their very nature highly confidential and can as a rule only be accessed by the subjects themselves or specific staff of Children\u2019s Services.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We hope that this work and the guidance which resulted will provide a new and evidence-based approach to how councils, charities and wider society view these critical documents and the light they cast on the deeply personal experiences some of our most vulnerable citizens.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dorset Council has become one of the first local authorities to formally extend the retention period (i.e. the timeframe that documents are kept prior to review and potential destructions) for the records of adopted and care-experienced people.\u00a0 Until recently, adoption records have had a 100-year retention period after which they may be retained, or equally… Read more The records of Adoption and Care-experienced people \u2013 preserving life stories at risk of destruction<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[672,673,82,671,670,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4637"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4647,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4637\/revisions\/4647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}