Notification to local authorities is mandatory where adoption is not made through an adoption agency. The intending parents must give a prior notice of at least 3 months before the formally adopting a child. The maximum period for giving a notice is 2 years. Once a notice is served, the child becomes a protected child. A report prepared by the local authority has to be submitted before the Court of Law before making an adoption order. However, a protected child will be those excepting children in a children’s home, children in a residential school where they are given full time education, a child in a hospital, a child who is mentally ill.
