Agenda item

The Adoption Team Manager, Barbara Arbon, was welcomed to the meeting to present the Annual Adoption Service Report for 2023-24 and information on service priorities (for copy of report and presentation see file of minutes).

The Panel noted that the annual report outlined the performance of the Adoption Service as a spoke of the Regional Adoption Agency, Adopt Coast to Coast. The Adoption Team Manager commented on the financial challenges over the past year including the cost of living crisis which had led to fewer adoption enquiries than in previous years.

Information was provided on the range of the work carried out by the service which included adopter recruitment, the matching of children with adopters, early permanence, adoption panels, post adoption support and access to adoption records. 

An area of focus during 2023/24 which was highlighted was the enhancement of keeping in touch arrangements for adopted children and their birth families to enable relationships with birth families to be maintained, when possible. The Team Leader referred to the valuable work carried out by the Adoption Support Worker to facilitate keeping in touch arrangements and she also thanked Courtny for sharing her lived experience which had helped to redesign the letters sent out by the team. The Panel heard that, at present, 76 children in our care had brothers or sisters who were adopted and there was a focus on work to establish whether their communications were ongoing.

With regard to performance, the Panel heard that during 2023-24, 15 families were approved for adoption, 41 matches were approved, 83 children had a plan for adoption and 713 children had keeping in touch arrangements in place.

Up-to-date figures were provided which were as follows; there were 59 enquiries from 1 April 2024 to the end of September 2024. 34 initial visits had taken place up to end of September, which compared with 39 initial visits, in total, during 2023-24.

Key priority areas going forward included supporting relationship-based practice between enquirers and social workers to build trusting relationships and prevent enquirer drop-off. The provision of high quality adoption support was also highlighted, including for those children who had experienced trauma, with funding available to develop a multi disciplinary therapeutic service.

The presentation concluded with examples of positive feedback received about the quality of work undertaken by the service. The Practice Lead also pointed out that survey work with adopters was used to inform and develop practice and drive improvements.

The Chair thanked the Team Manager for the informative presentation and she informed the Panel that questions previously raised by Courtny in relation to sibling adoption and contact will be included in the next update report to the Panel and that Courtny will be invited to the meeting, to participate in the discussions. 

The Chair referred to the request for more members to join the Adoption Panel and she commented that members may be hesitant about taking on the responsibility. As a member of the Adoption Panel, Councillor Adcock-Forster stressed that whilst it was a responsibility, it was also an extremely rewarding experience and he added that he would be happy to discuss his experience with any members who were considering joining the Panel.

Cory asked for the definition of RAA and the Team Manager explained that RAA was the acronym for the Regional Adoption Agency which consisted of multiple local authorities, working together, to approve adopters and match children. In response to a further question from Cory on the definition of early permanence, the Team Manager replied that early permanence occurred when a child in our care was placed with adopters who were also approved foster carers, who initially fostered the child with a view to becoming the child’s adopters, therefore the child was placed with their potential permanent family at the earliest opportunity.

Luke asked for further information about the matching process and the Team Manager clarified that the adoption assessment explored all avenues. Social workers compiled information on prospective adopters by developing an open and honest relationship to identify what needs they felt the prospective adopters could and could not meet. A child’s permanence report contained all the essential information required to plan the child’s future such as all the factual information on the child and the significant people in their life. All the information in relation to the prospective adopters and the child was considered by professionals and discussions took place with the child’s foster carers. The professionals would then visit the prospective adopters and all the information gathered would be shared with them. If this identified a possible match, the adopters and child would meet and interact at a ‘chemistry meeting’ which would then be taken forward if a match were established. The process was carried out at a pace which was appropriate for the child.

Cory asked how much involvement foster carers had in the matching process as, in his view, foster carers had the greatest amount of knowledge about the children they cared for. The Team Manager explained that foster carers’ views were essential to the process. Foster carers and adopters would spend time in each other’s homes and they would share information daily, which would include not only the positives but the negatives too.

The Head of the Virtual School highlighted that the member of the Virtual School team responsible for children who were previously looked after, was a member of the Adoption Panel and provided support for the education of children who were going through the adoption process. 

The Team Manager highlighted the importance of having that focus on education and she pointed out that each and every panel member brought their own insight, knowledge and experience which was invaluable as it enabled every match to be looked at through a number of different lenses.

Courtny commented that she had met with the Adoption Team Manager to discuss the questions she had raised on the adoption process at a previous meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel.  Courtny was happy that her questions had been answered and her suggestions for changes to the wording of letters to siblings had been accepted. She added that she had considered different aspects of the adoption process, including training and she felt that training should include looking at the process though the different perspectives of all those involved.  Courtny gave the example that siblings who were not adopted may feel that they were to blame and she informed the Panel that she was in the process of writing a script which could be developed into an animation, to be used in adoption training.

Councillor Deinali asked what efforts were taken to keep siblings, who were adopted separately, in close proximity, so that contact could be maintained, when it was appropriate to do so. The Team Manager replied that whilst efforts were made, the priority was to ensure children were placed with their best adoptive match. The Practice Lead commented on the role that the Adoption Panel played in terms of scrutiny and challenge as to how the service was promoting the importance of birth families and maintaining the child’s identity. Councillor Varty gave an example of how distance need not be a barrier to maintaining sibling relationships and she added that regular reviews were important, as relationships inevitably change over time.

In reply to a request from Luke, the Team Manager said she would be happy to help to extend the ‘Supply Packs’ project and she would pick this up in a conversation with Luke, following the meeting.

The Panel noted that Adoption Panels were held approximately every two weeks and the Team Manager would welcome any expressions of interest from members wishing to join the Panel. 

Resolved:

That the content of the report be noted and the priorities agreed.