West Midlands councils told to treat e-cigarette users differently to smokers in adoption cases
Councils in the West Midlands are being told to treat users of e-cigarettes differently to smokers when considering applications for adoption.
Guidelines issued by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) are being updated with the organisations saying 'we will be recommending that agencies now consider e-cigarettes as different to tobacco cigarettes'.
Despite experts saying 'vaping' poses little or no threat to children in the home, authorities have been reluctant to place under-fives with users.
In Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall, people who wish to adopt a pre-school age child are ideally expected to have given up any kind of smoking for at least six months.
The policy in Staffordshire is to not place a child within a family home if someone in the household has smoked tobacco in the past 12 months.
If after 12 months of using an e-cigarette instead, the person does not return to tobacco then they can adopt.
Staffordshire County Council said the new BAAF position is in line with its own.
In a statement on its website BAAF said: "We are continuing to monitor research, discussing the issue regarding e-cigarettes and in light of the latest Public Health England report, which states that 'the hazards associated with use of products (e-cigarettes) currently on the market is likely to be extremely low, and certainly much lower than smoking' we are updating our recommendations.
"We will be recommending that agencies now consider e-cigarettes as different to tobacco cigarettes.
"Agencies should therefore recognise the low risk to children and not see the use of e-cigarettes as a reason to preclude foster carers or adopters purely on this basis. Each circumstance should be risk assessed on an individual basis.
"The welfare of children is our primary concern and the long term impact of e-cigarettes is unknown. E-cigarettes appear to have positive benefits for smokers when providing them with a route to abstinence and the risk to children from passive smoke is lessened. However, this needs to be balanced against the risk of providing a model for the child of smoking now, or in the future. We will continue to monitor research into e-cigarettes and will continue reviewing our recommendations in line with latest research."