Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

My Lords, I, too, find the amendment difficult to support. I, too, sympathise with the very bad cold suffered by the noble Baroness—she has done valiantly to move the amendment. She said that the amendment would not fetter the ability of parents to reach agreement. My concern is that it actually pushes people into forms of agreement when they are at a point where they can reach agreement themselves. The danger is that we assume that there is one kind of agreement that is right for the child. As the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, said, we have to understand that people reach different kinds of agreement that work for them. That is the key. Far be it from any of us to put more barriers to people in very difficult situations reaching agreement without any intervention at all.