This Practice Note covers the statutory provisions and welfare assessment that should be taken in relation to the placement of a relinquished child. The Practice Note introduces adoption agencies and the process of adoption for relinquished children, the statutory duties placed upon an adoption agency in considering whether adoption is in the best interests of the child together with its obligations to the parents of a relinquished child, including practical issues in relation to obtaining lawful consent to adoption and consequences of an adoption agency not complying with its duties.