To receive a report from the Acting Director of Safeguarding.

Consideration was given to a report of the Acting Director of Safeguarding which sought to inform the Committee of Adoption Performance in Trafford and the role of Adoption Counts, the Regional Adoption Agency.

The author of the report was accompanied by the Head of Service of Adoption Counts who delivered a presentation on the work that the agency had undertaken so far. 

It was reported that in May 2015, the Government had launched a new policy for Adoption Services. By 2020, all Adoption Services would need to be delivered by a Regional Adoption Agency (RAA). Trafford together with Salford, Manchester, Cheshire East and Stockport formed Adoption Counts. The new structure for Adoption Services aimed to increase the number of children adopted, reduce the length of time to Children waited for to be adopted, and improve post adoption services. 

The hub went live in 2017 which provided; a centralised marketing function, a centralised team who received recruitment enquiries, a central register of children and carers, and a strategic plan for the delivery of Adoption Support across the region. It was explained to the Committee that the RAA was working with Trafford to embed partnership and accountability at all levels. This was being done through a strategic partnership board with members from all the local authorities who formed the RAA. Bi-annual meetings took place with authorities to share good practice, learning and challenges. Six-weekly operations groups were held to track the progress of every child both in the RAA and in the individual authority.

An Adoption Scorecard was used to measure the agencies performance in two areas; the time elapsed between the child entering care and moving with an adopting family, and the time elapsed between a local authority receiving a Court order to place a child and the child being matched with an adoptive family. Although Trafford was slightly over the thresholds, it was performing well compared to England average. It was reported that in 2018/19 to date, there had been 15 decisions to place a child for adoption, six placement orders had been granted, seven children had been matched with prospective adopters and four adoption orders had been granted.

Members sought and received clarification / commented on the following points:

-       Support services for adopters – It was explained that there was a system of universal support which included; coffee mornings, play groups, family fun days, informative evening seminars, and information concerning transition from nursery to primary school. Families who had greater difficulties could access targeted support via a referral/assessment system. The Adoption Support Fund was used for therapeutic intervention on children.

-       Issues affecting Hard to Place Children – It was explained that Hard to Place Children were children over four years of age, groups of siblings, children from black or minority ethnic communities and children with disabilities. Different strategies had been put in place to find families for these children. The strategies focused upon ensuring that potential adopters could meet the children in informal settings such as a picnic to present their real profile. It was also reported that very few adoptions broke down in Trafford.

-       Recruitment and assessment of prospective adopters and involvement of Elected Members in the performance management of this process – It was explained that an Elected Member was part of the Panel of experts who decided on the suitability of a family to adopt. Furthermore, reporting mechanisms were in place for the performance of the adoption services.

-       Adoptive families’ recruitment figures and targets – It was explained that although there was a predicted target of 100 adoptive families for 2018/19 only 69 had been approved to date. The Committee were informed that some families took longer to go through the process and there were a number of cases that had begun in 2018/19 that may not conclude until the following financial year.

-       Ensuring that children eligible for adoption benefitted from Pupil Premium – It was explained that the Virtual School Head had a statutory responsibility for managing Pupil Premium funding for the children they looked after and for allocating it to schools or alternative provisions.   

-       Introduction of Regional Adoption Agency and experience of adoptive families – It was explained that a survey was undertaken every year to identify any concerns adoptive families had in relation to the process.

RESOLVED: That the content of the report be noted.