Regulation 1 Citation, commencement and interpretation

These Regulations may be cited as the Adoption Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 and shall come into operation on 4th November 1996.

In these Regulations—

• “the Order” means the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987;

• “adopters” means the persons who have adopted, or intend to adopt, a child or, where there is only one such person, that person;

• “adoption agency” means a Health and Social Services Board established under Article 16 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972^f1, an authorised HSS trust as defined in regulation 1 of the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989^f2 or an adoption society registered under Article 4 of the Order;

• “adoption panel” means a panel established in accordance with regulation 5 or regulation 5A of the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989;

• “child benefit” means child benefit under section 137 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “the Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992^f3;

• “disability living allowance” means disability living allowance under section 71 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “fostering allowance” means the amount of money paid by way of maintenance for a child placed with a foster parent pursuant to Article 27(2)(a) or Article 75(1)(a) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995^f4 (placement with foster parents and others by authorities and voluntary organisations);

• “incapacity benefit” means incapacity benefit under section 30A of the Contributions and Benefits Act^f5;

• “income support” means income support under section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “invalid care allowance” means invalid care allowance under section 70 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “jobseeker’s allowance” means jobseeker’s allowance under Article 3 of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995^f6;

• “maternity allowance” means maternity allowance under section 35 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “severe disablement allowance” means severe disablement allowance under section 68 of the Contributions and Benefits Act.