Government considers safeguards to protect the anonymity of
adopted children
The Government will examine whether the first names of adopted
children should be changed to prevent natural parents from
initiating contact on social networking sites.
Following the recent increase in online social networking, there
is a developing trend whereby some natural parents of adopted
children are using websites like Facebook to contact their teenage
children. Children who are adopted currently retain their first
names because this is a part of their identity, whilst their
surname changes to that of their adopted family.
The Government's ministerial adviser on adoption, Martin Narey,
will consider whether the first names of adopted children should be
changed upon adoption as well, in order to prevent uninvited
contact by natural parents. This will form a part of the
Government's examination into the issue of contact between adopted
children and their natural parents and is in addition to the
Government investigating ways in which the current long processing
delays in the placing of children with adopted families can be
reduced.
