Adoptions
The Registrar General recorded 418 adoptions during 2008 – 23 fewer than in 2007, and just over half the number recorded per year in the early 1990s, or around a quarter of the number recorded per year in the 1970s.
Twenty-eight per cent of the children adopted in 2008 were adopted by a step-parent and 67 per cent were adopted by non-relatives of the child. Only 14 per cent of children adopted in 2008 were aged under 2, nearly all being adopted by non-relatives. By contrast, only 13 per cent of the 85 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. A holder of a Gender Recognition Certificate is able to enjoy all the rights appropriate to a person of his or her acquired gender, including obtaining a new birth certificate showing his or her recognised legal gender.
The Registrar General for Scotland has set up a Gender Recognition Register in which the birth of a transsexual person whose acquired gender has been legally recognised is registered showing any new name(s) and the acquired gender. This enables the transsexual person to apply to the Registrar General for Scotland for a new birth certificate showing the new name(s) and the acquired gender. In 2008, there were 16 entries in the Gender Recognition Register, 14 fewer than in 2007. The Gender Recognition Register is not open to public scrutiny.