Agenda item

Report of the Director of Children’s Services

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Children’s Services which presented the City Council’s Annual Adoption Report.

Each local authority in England was obliged by National Minimum Standards to formally approve the statement of purpose and children’s guides, and to review them at least annually. The Annual Report was presented to meet this obligation. Coventry City Council was currently in a partnership arrangement with Adoption Central England (ACE), a Regional Adoption Agency. This was a shared services arrangement hosted by Warwickshire County Council and ACE was responsible for recruiting and assessing adoptive families. It was also involved in matching children with adopters in partnership with the child’s social worker. ACE was also responsible for administering the Adoption Panel. Therefore, the annual report consisted of a report from Coventry City Council regarding children, a report from ACE regarding adopters and a report from ACE written by the Chair of the Adoption Panel.

Over the past 12 months, staffing had stabilised, and overall good progress had been made progressing permanence for children who had a care plan of adoption.

In partnership with ACE, the local authority planned to improve and develop its adoption practice in the following key areas:

·  Continue to develop collaborative working across Children’s Services for effective pre-birth, pre-proceedings and care proceedings to ensure timely permanence is achieved for all children.

·  Continue to reduce the length of time that children wait to be matched following the court granting a Placement Order

·  To pilot a new Child Permanence Report that Coventry Children’s Services have developed in conjunction with Warwickshire Children’s Services and ACE

·  Reduce the length of time that children wait between a child entering care and moving in with their adoptive family

·  To further increase and embed fostering for adoption

·  Work with ACE and other local authorities in the ACE group towards ACE achieving the Early Permanence Quality Mark, a standard of excellence demonstrating a commitment to delivering early permanence for children where adoption would be in their best interests.

Coventry had continued to have the highest number of children matched with families within the ACE region. Attendance of social workers and the family finder at bimonthly adoption clinics and bimonthly adoption “catch-ups” would ensure that all children where there was a plan of adoption, were kept under review to avoid any drift and delays.

Securing early permanency via foster for adopt had remained a priority, ensuring where possible that children secured permanency at the earliest opportunity, 9 children were successfully placed on this basis.

It was noted that some challenges remained, as there continued to be a national shortage of adopters, some children waited longer than others to be placed and there was an increase in fostering than adopting. However, it was equally important to note that care plans would not be changed if they were right for the children but would continue to ensure that the children were matched to the right family, even if it meant waiting longer.

With regard to the budget overspend, Members acknowledged that there was a pressure on budgets which was felt across all local authorities. The overspend was a mix of inflationary pressures and increased cost of interagency placements.

Work would continue to target certain communities and how they perceive adoption. In addition, open adoptions, which were available in Northern Ireland, were being trialled in England and Wales. This system would allow siblings who had been separated to maintain contact.

Members welcomed the report and paid tribute to the excellent work undertaken by everyone involved. The Cabinet Member indicated that it was important not to lose sight of the child at the centre of everything and to ensure that Coventry’s values were maintained.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member having considered the report and the contributions made at the meeting, endorses the work completed in this area of work.