In the past six years both England and the USA have called for radical overhauls of their adoption systems. These include not only changes to service delivery but also increased monitoring and accountability in order to achieve national child welfare goals. Drawing upon a report examining international adoption policy and practice commissioned by the Cabinet Office for the Prime Minister's review of adoption, Julie Selwyn and Wendy Sturgess compare the problems identified in the two countries' looked after children systems and examine the early impact of the US legislation.
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