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HiI am a tad confused. I have seen the news item on the website, but I am not a paid up member of AUK at the moment and am presuming that members have had further info about the invitation to tender before todays press release. If so, members may be able to help my confusion - Why should we be interested in what it should be called unless AUK are considering tendering a bid to provide the service.No where does it state in the news item on the website that that is your intention.Some clarity please.

yes please tell us more about the remit and function of the adoption gatewaypersonally i don't like words like 'gateway' and 'roadmap'what about'adopting a child'don't want to get mixed up with adopting dolphins now do we

I struggled to work out which documents were new on the govt website. However I do think Adoption Information would be a more appropriate title and advice, support, child, uk, inter-country, prospective adopters could be added if considered necessary. I think the problem with the word gateway is that it doesn't tell you anything. When we were prospective adopters I was told about AUK as an organisation who published information on prospective children which I couldn't cope with, so didn't access any of the other support AUK offer. This is why it is important that the title is not a jargon term for insiders but a term that non-adopters/professionals can easily understand as they are the people who will benefit from such support.

Although "Gateway" sounds like jargon, for me it describes exactly the function it should have. That is, it should be the one and only route for prospective adopters to approach and enter the adoption system.Too many potentially good adopters are lost at the moment, due to a slow, unwelcoming, inaccurate, inappropriate or otherwise poor response from an agency. Many don't know they have a choice of agency. Also, many drop out of the process due to poor treatment, and this currently isn't picked up.A true "Gateway" would be an opportunity to keep track of all applicants as they go through the system, so that everyone matters. Patters of poor practice from some agencies could then start to be identified, with a view to improving consistency. If an applicant were turned down for spurious reasons, they would have somewhere to go back to and log this, instead of giving up and being lost resource.As it is, the new scheme appears to be tendered as simply another source of information which new applicants may or not find, or make use of. If this is all it turns out to be, I think it will be a huge missed opportunity.HE