The biographic and professional influences on adoption and fostering panel members' recommendation-making

In the UK, decisions to approve adoptive parents and foster carers and authorise adoptions rest with specialist panels. While their formal role and function are clear, there is concern that their composition and the biographies and background characteristics of members could introduce bias and influence the decisions made. This article examines the validity of these criticisms with findings from a study of eight agencies, 15 panels and 22 members. It was found that the panel system achieves its aims in terms of having a representative constitution and providing considered recommendations in a timely manner to senior managers, but that individual biography affects panel members in carrying out their role to an unexpectedly high degree, possibly leading to flawed decisions. Actions to remedy this problem, at both an individual and group level, are suggested.