Agreement to publicity and other consents
A guide to all the consents you need to feature a child in Be My Parent
Getting consent to publicity
Keeping birth parents informed
Involving the children
Getting consent to publicity
It is essential that at least one person or body with parental responsibility should consent to publicity. Be My Parent only accepts referrals for children where there is consent to publicity, either from the local authority, or the birth parents.
In some cases, if you do not have consent from the child's birth parents, you will need consent from the court to feature a child in Be My Parent. Find out whether this applies to your referral, and what legal consents are needed.
Please note that, since 2006, there has been a change in government advice regarding children being featured for adoption.
If you are making your referral using the Be My Parent (hard copy) referral form we will also need the signature of an authorised person on the form.
If referring a child through the online system please read carefully our service level agreement, which gives more information about permissions, as well as the level of service we expect from an agency when they refer a child. You should also read our general terms and conditions.
Regardless of how you make a referral if you confirm that you have the relevant consents and agreements (by ticking the relevant boxes when creating child profiles), you will be accepting responsibility for the referral, and any consequence of the referral. When you submit your referral, make sure you have had this authorised by your line manager, team manager, or budget holder. This is your responsibility and once we receive your referral, we will assume it has been cleared in your agency for publication.
Keeping birth parents informed
Good practice requires that birth parent/s, where possible, are consulted and kept informed - as well as, ideally, other significant members of the birth family. This is even more necessary for Be My Parent online, as there is a greater likelihood of family members discovering information about 'their' child on the web.
Involving the children
If the children you are featuring in Be My Parent are of sufficient age and understanding, they should sign the referral form (if using a hard copy) or a freestanding sheet, which you can scan and send to us as a JPEG. As part of the referral form, you will be asked about the degree of involvement that the child or children had with their profiles being put together, on a scale of 0 to 5 (with 5 being the most involvement).
Child's agreement to be featured in BMP (102 KB)
Last updated: 06 December 10
