Agenda item
Regional Adoption Agency
A presentation to be made at the meeting.
Minutes:
The Chair introduced this item and said a few years ago, central government had instructed local authorities to regionalise their adoption arrangements. Therefore, the adoption team at Tower Hamlets became part of the regional adoption agency called Adopt London East (ALE).
Mr Baldwin stated ALE had been in operation for about two years, with several areas including adoption moving to the regional agency. He introduced Ms Lissa Marie Minnis, the Service Manager for Fostering and Regulated Services and Ms Sue May, Team Manager at ALE, who gave a presentation to the sub-committee.
The key points from the presentation were:
- ALE was established in October 2019. At the beginning of the implementation phase there was a dip in performance however this has significantly improved.
- Explanation was provided regarding the categories A1 and A2. A1 referred to the time a child comes into care and the time it takes to place them with their adoptive family. A2 referred to the time from when a court order is received, which gives permission to place a child for adoption to the time the child is matched i.e. the time the agency decision maker has agreed that the adopters are suitable for the adoptive child.
- Tower Hamlets average is 138 days whereas the England average is 182 days. The target is 121 days. ALE had made significant progress over the past two years in relation to closing this gap.
- Explanation regarding performance figures was provided to the Sub-Committee. There had been an increase of two in relation to the number of children to be adopted for 2020/21.
- The number of adoptions per year had decreased but this was partially due to court delays during the pandemic and the slow pace of courts operating virtually during the first lockdown. Ms May provided an explanation for the court delays and said she had worked with East London courts to address the challenges faced. She said there was also an increase in the number of contested adoptions, and this had added to the delay, albeit it effected a small number of children.
- With respect to the number of approved adopter families, the figure for 2020/21 was thirteen. There had been a dip in the recruitment of suitable families which was due to the agency being set up. However, Ms Minnis added that the number of matches had gone up. They had worked in partnership with ALE and this year had placed 5 children under fostering for adoption regulations. She said this limited the number of unnecessary moves for the child, with the long-term goal of the child being adopted by the family who is fostering them.
- Historic figures showing the number of adopters was provided per borough. It was stated that figures are difficult to segregate as the agency worked on a regional basis. The number of adopters for 2020/21 had increased to 22 at the end of the financial year.
- Ms May stated the number of adopter approvals had taken longer than expected but this was the picture nationally as well as regionally. She said difficulties had been experienced in staffing the ‘recruitment and assessment’ team but this had been resolved. There were ten adopter assessments booked within the next two months and she was hopeful they had turned the curve regarding the number of adopter families available.
- Specific campaigns had been run to encourage more adopters from black communities, with children from black ethnicities waiting the longest for adoption.
- A breakdown showing the budget and contributions made by each local authority was provided. Ms Minnis stated there would be an increase in cost for Tower Hamlets, due to an increase in demand for adoption services.
In response to questions from members the following was noted:
- In reply to what had become harder and what had got easier since regionalisation, Ms Minnis said Covid-19 had impacted the relationship they were developing with ALE. She said they had heavily invested in the success of the Agency so were focussed on making it work. Ms Minnis said meetings had become more difficult with teams based in different offices, with low attendance despite meetings being virtual. She said the demand for adopters and finding families was a challenge, but issues were resolved quickly to ensure there was no slippage in service.
- Ms May said the relationships with the children social work teams was growing. ALE supported teams in preparation of their key decisions on whether a child should be placed for adoption. She said close relationships were forming. A challenge for the agency was to understand the different organisational cultures, systems and structures each local authority had. Overall, there was a positive attitude in wanting to do what’s best for the child and to work together to resolve issues.
- In response to if 22 adopter families was a low number of adoptees given the population of the east London boroughs, and if the families reflected the ethnic and religious mix required, Ms May responded saying 22 families was a relatively high number of families. She said ALE worked closely with other agencies in London and the voluntary sector and aimed to place children with families in London, as the child’s extended community is London based.
- Ms May cited housing cost to be one of the reasons why prospective adopters were insufficient in number. She said one of the requirements was to have a spare bedroom and whilst they had been flexible about this, this was nevertheless the requirement. She added other factors such as London’s young, transient population impacted on the ability to recruit adopters.
- Ms May said ALE was working with other stakeholders to develop training packages for social workers so to increase learning and widen the scope of adopters. She said they were working with American leaders in the field to see what can be done to increase capacity and recruit adopters particularly black adopters, for black children.
- Ms May stated there were many Asian adopters available and whilst there was a large Asian population in the region, there were very few children who required adoption from this community. She said this was a tremendous success of the Asian community.
- In response to what structures for accountability and oversight were in place, Ms May said the ALE reported to the partnership Board which comprised of the Directors who delegated their powers of decision down to Assistant Directors. She said the Board was attended by the Corporate Director for Children and Culture Mr Thomas and the Divisional Director for Children’s Mr Richard Baldwin. Ms May explained all decisions such as budget, staffing and performance were discussed with the board.
- With respect to Member involvement, Ms May said it would be through meetings of the sub-committee that oversight would be provided. She said the sub-committee would receive six monthly updates on performance as well as the annual report of the ALE, which was required by regulation. Ms Minnis added on a local level the Permanency summit scrutinised and tracked all permanency cases to ensure any dips or drifts in performance could be quickly challenged and resolved.
The Chair thanked the attendees for their contribution to the meeting and said their input had been invaluable, in helping members understand the work of the regional adoption agency.
The Chair summarised the main points of discussions as follows:
- Data from ALE had been impacted by Covid-19 and therefore it would be useful for the Sub-Committee to see data once normality had returned, in order to better understand the progress being made. The Chair said the sub-committee would appreciate a further report on this at a future meeting.
- Oversight and input from members was important and therefore the presence of members on adoption panels was crucial. It helped members to understand individual cases, colouring the data and contextualise the figures being provided.
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