Under the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005, Adoption Reviews must be held in relation to children where authority to place the child has been obtained by the local authority either through a Placement Order or the obtaining of witnessed parental consent to the placement. However, such children continue to be Looked After and so remain subject to Looked After Reviews under the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010 until placed for adoption.

The first Adoption Review should take place within three months after the local authority obtained authority to place the child for adoption. Where the timescales for the next Looked After Review requires that the next review should take place before this, then this will count as the child's first Adoption Review.