Adoptions
The Registrar General recorded 455 adoptions during 2009. This is 37 more than in 2008, but half the number recorded per year in the late 1980s, and around a quarter of the number recorded per year in the early 1970s.
Of the children adopted in 2009, 24 per cent were adopted by a step-parent and 69 per cent were adopted by non-relatives of the child. Only 14 per cent of children adopted in 2009 were aged under 2, nearly all of whom were adopted by non-relatives. By contrast, only 14 per cent of the 77 adoptions of children aged 10 or over were by non-relatives.
Gender Recognition
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into force on 4 April 2005. The Act applies throughout the UK and enables transsexual people to apply to the Gender Recognition Panel to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate. Successful applicants are considered from the date of issue of the Certificate to be legally of their acquired gender.
The Registrar General for Scotland has set up a Gender Recognition Register in which is registered the birth of a transsexual person whose acquired gender has been legally recognised, showing any new name(s) and the acquired gender. This enables the transsexual person to enjoy all the rights appropriate to a person of his or her acquired gender and to apply to the Registrar General for Scotland for a new birth certificate showing these new details. In 2009, there were 18 entries in the Gender Recognition Register, 2 more than in 2008. The Gender Recognition Register is not open to public scrutiny.