Contact: Sue Kocaman Ext: 7263 email: [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 The purpose of this report is to inform the Policy Review Committee of the level of service demands and Adoption activity between 1^st April 2004 and 31^st March 2005 as required by the Department of Health Local Authority Circular (98) 20 and the National Adoption Standards for England.

1.2 In addition, the National Adoption Standards for England (Department of Health 2000) and the Care Standards Act 2000, require that Policy Review Committee formally recommends the approval of, and that the Executive Member for Children's Services confirms approval of the Statement of Purpose of the adoption agency. (Appendix A)

2 Impact Assessment

2.1 In compiling this report account has been taken of the requirements of the Corporate Equalities Plan and Race Scheme. The Government's Regulations and Inspection arrangements specify requirement concerning racial (and other forms of) discrimination Compliance with the Act in terms of carrying out an Impact Assessment is confirmed, forming part of a programme of work in respect of all adoption policies and procedures.

3 Children Act 2004

3.1 The Children Act 2004 underpins the five key outcomes described in `Every Child Matters', and in doing so has set out new statutory responsibilities for local authorities. The annual report for adoption in Hampshire needs to be seen in this context, and all five outcomes for children are positively affected by the adoption service.

4 Consultation with Local Members

4.1 N/A

5 Statement of Purpose

5.1 Every Adoption Agency is required to publish a Statement of Purpose, which must accurately describe the facilities and services, and the organisational and management arrangements. The statement must be reviewed annually and formally approved by the Executive member for Social Care.

5.2 Adoption Agencies are inspected by the Commission for Social Care Inspection to ensure that they are complying with all Adoption Regulations and Standards. Hampshire's Adoption Agency is due to be inspected for the first time in November 2005.

6 Background

6.1 The Adoption Agency comprises of three permanence teams, an adoption recruitment team, an adoption support team and an advisory and panel service.

6.2 There are four Adoption Panels which meet to consider children's plans for adoption , the suitability of applicants as prospective adoptive parents, and proposed matches of children with families who can best meet their long term needs. These panels met on 46 occasions during the year.

6.3 In addition one full-day meeting of an Extraordinary Adoption Panel was held in April 2004 to deal solely with requests to change children's plans from adoption to long-term fostering.

6.4 A comparative summary of Panel activity in respect of children's plans for adoption and applicants approved as adopters is outlined overleaf in Table 1.

6.5 In the year 1^st April 2004 to 31^st March 2005 the number of children's plans for adoption recommended and agreed decreased by 26 compared with the previous twelve months, and the number of children placed for adoption dropped significantly by 32 from the figure of the previous year

6.6 The number of adoption orders made rose by 19 from the previous year. In the coming year the number of children adopted is expected to level out, without the same `peaks and troughs' which have been experienced over the last two or three years.

6.7 The number of domestic adoptive parents approved increased by 20 on the previous year.

6.8 Inter-country adoption matters are managed by Parents and Children Together (PACT) who are members of the Adoption Consortium to which Hampshire belongs.

6.9

Comparative summary of Panel Activity 1^st April 2004 - 31^st March 2005

2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005

Children's 43 72 78 52* (includes 1

Plans unborn)

Domestic 37 37 38 58

Adoptive

Applicants

Children 38 49 81 49

Placed

Adoption Orders 49 39 51 70

Made

Information below show the age range of the children whose plans for adoption were agreed and the age range of approval for prospective adopters.

6.10

Hampshire Adoption Panel Activity 01.04.2004 - 31.03.2005

Children's Adoption Plans Agreed

Age Range of Child

0-1 1-2 2-5 5-10 10+ Total

21* 8 19 4 0 52

(*includes an unborn child being relinquished at birth)

6.11

Prospective Adopters Agreed

Age Range of Child

0-1 1-2 2-5 5-10 10+ Total

8 11 36 3 0 58

These included:

0-1 years - 7 Specific approvals (6 for a child with sibling(s) already placed)

1-2 years - 2 Specific approvals

2-5 years - 4 Specific approvals

6.12 There are 19 children from previous years who have not yet been placed for adoption Whilst some of these children have been matched with prospective adopters, and others will be found families through the Consortium or the National Adoption Register, some children plans will be brought back to Adoption Panel to be changed to long term fostering.

6.13 Since April 2005 Adoption Allowances payable to Hampshire Foster Carers who apply to adopt a child in their care, have not been subject to a financial assessment. This increases the likelihood of some children who would otherwise not be able to achieve a permanent placement with a family outside of the Looked After system, being able to do so.

7 The Consortium

7.1 Hampshire remains a member of an adoption consortium with Surrey and Oxfordshire local authorities and Parents and Children Together PACT, a voluntary adoption agency. The Consortium is now in its third year and continues to meet on a regular basis every 2/3 months to share details of children from the three local authorities requiring adoptive placements and who have not been found placements within their own agency and to share details of approved adopters who have been approved over three months and who are still awaiting a placement.

7.2 During the year 1^st April 2004 - 31^st March 2005 Hampshire did not place any children with approved adopters from the consortium. A possible matching of one nine year old boy is being explored with approved adopters from Surrey which may result in a placement in the near future.

7.3 During that year Hampshire provided one set of approved adopters for one female child placed from Oxfordshire. The child was aged 21 months at the time of linking and had special needs.

7.4 Good professional relationships have been formed with the other members of the consortium and Hampshire continues to benefit from the opportunity to share policy and practice issues with the other agencies during the regular meetings.

8 The National Adoption Register for England and Wales

8.1 The Adoption Register is a data base holding information on children awaiting adoptive placements and approved adopters waiting to adopt. There have been some changes to the operation of the Register during the year.

8.2 On 1st December 2004 the contract for the operation of the Adoption Register for England and Wales was awarded to the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) who began a new targeted referral system offering agencies the flexibility of not having to refer every child with a plan to adoption or every approved adopter to the Register. Instead agencies are required to refer to the Register only when they are not actively considering a local match for a child or approved adopters. Actively considering is defined as `being in the process of exploring a potential match with identified, named prospective adopters' or `being in the process of exploring a potential match with an identified, named child(ren)'. Referrals to the Register are no longer made solely for statistical purposes.

8.2.1 For children, referrals can be made either at the point the best interest decision has been made to place them for adoption. If legal proceedings are ongoing at this stage, and the child is subject to an Interim Care Order referral to the Register can be made provided the necessary consents and the court's agreement have been obtained, or following a period of 3 months in which the agency has sought a local or consortium match.

8.2.2 For adopters, referrals can be made either at the point the family is approved for adoption, or following the 3 month holding period after approval

8.3 Adopters also have the option, three months after approval, of referring themselves to the Register.

9 Panel Membership .

9.1 Hampshire continues to meet the regulatory requirements in respect of panel membership including a good level of commitment from elected members, who are due to be confirmed in their roles today.

9.2 Panel members also participate in the training of social workers who are new to adoption and permanence work by contributing to a session within the Adoption Foundation Course.

10 Panel Training

10.1 Adoption Panel members were offered one full day's training which took place on 11 November and was on the subject of `Anti-Discrimination'. It was facilitated by an external independent trainer. The day received very positive feedback from those panel members attending.

11 The County Adoption Team

11.1 The County Adoption Team is now well established with a full time manager, one full-time senior practitioner, nine full-time equivalent social workers and one part-time (30 hours) social worker. At the current time two of these full-time social work posts are vacant, and the intention is to recruit staff who can offer practical hands on support for families who have sibling groups or children with complex needs placed with them.

11.2 In addition to the above social work staff, the team also has 3 part-time dedicated step-parent adoption social workers.

11.3 The County Adoption Team trained several groups of prospective adopters during the year, using the new BAAF 4 day training programme. The team also ran several open days and information days. The team is continuing to develop a specific training programme for foster carers wishing to adopt.

11.4 During the year 2003-2004 a total of 9 sets of foster carers were approved as adopters for 11 children already in placement with them. This figure has remained stable for the last three years but is expected to increase following the introduction of a new policy, not to financial assess foster carers in respect of an Adoption Allowance.

11.5 This is in line with new Adoption Regulations which come into force on 31 December 2005, under the Adoption and Children Act 2004.

11.6 As at 31 March 2005, 185 children were being supported in permanent placements by an Adoption Allowance being paid ( an increase of 13 on the previous year), and 83 children by way of a Residence or Custodianship Allowance being paid ( an increase of 28 from the previous year).

12 Permanence Teams

12.1 There are 3 permanence teams established as a result of the remodelling of children's services in September 2002. This service was established in order to ensure that planning for children's permanent placements took priority. There was a need to ensure that children were not `drifting' in care and that timely assessments and decisions were being made in line with National Adoption Standards to achieve permanence for children who were unable to return to the care of their birth parents through placement within the extended family or with friends or through `stranger' adoption.

12.2 The three teams are established under one operational service manager and have had a significant impact on the service in terms of the number of children's plans being presented to panel but also in terms of the increase in the number of children adopted during the year 2004-2005 (70) with a further 46 in placement as at 31 March representing an increase on the previous year of 9 children.

12.3 The three teams are developing positive working relationships with the Family Support teams within their districts to ensure that those plans for children who are to be placed for adoption are progressed quickly. One team, in the North of the County has never been fully staffed, but has benefited from recent recruitment incentives and has fewer vacancies than previous years.

13 Post-Adoption or Adoption Support

13.1 This service has continued to develop to ensure the availability of a comprehensive adoption service to all parties involved in the adoption process. Adoption is now recognized as a life-long process which does not stop on the making of an adoption order and which continues to be a much more `open' process than in the past with an emphasis on facilitating contact between adoptive families and birth families, either indirectly or, where appropriate, directly.

13.2 One of the Commissioning Officers (Post-Adoption) has moved temporarily into operational management to develop a specific team for adoption support services in response to the Adoption Support Regulations which came into force on 31^st October 2003.

13.3 The Adoption Support Team has 3 full time equivalent qualified Social Workers and one social services assistant. Further Regulations in respect of Adoption Support will come into force in December 2005.and will increase the responsibility of the adoption support service in respect of enabling contact to take place between all the parties involved in adoption, and ensuring that birth families have access to an independent counselling and support service.

13.4 New, additional Adoption Support Regulations are due to be introduced in the near future which will put additional responsibilities on the service to support all parties involved in adoption.

13.5 The following gives an idea of the range of services provided by the Adoption Support team.

13.5.1 Supporting adoptive families and their children; assisting birth relatives who wish to make contact with an adult who was adopted as a child; counselling adopted people who wish to trace their birth relatives; accessing information from Hampshire's Records to enable adopted people who now live elsewhere to trace their backgrounds and families; facilitating contact through the confidential information exchange.

13.5.2 The increased expectation of contact, either directly or indirectly, is an area which Hampshire will be required to develop further if it is to meet the requirements of the Adoption Support Services Regulations 2005, which come into force on 31 December 2005.

13.5.3 Currently the exchange service supports adoptive and birth families who wish to participate in this `letter-box' system. The system currently deals with some 235 adoptive families (representing 306 children) who regularly exchange a combination of letters, cards and photographs with birth family members. The numbers of families forming part of the exchange is likely to continue to rise, as it has continually done since it was established in 1994.

13.5.4 In addition, workshops are run on the following subjects each year:

13.6 A workshop for adoptive parents on how to explain adoption to their child takes place once a year and averages 12 people who are a mix of couples and single attendees.

13.7 An adoption link workshop is run twice a year with an average of 40 people attending. This workshop is for adopted adults and birth parents who may have had or are considering a reunion.

13.8 In February 2005 a new partnership agreement was signed with Adoption UK. This is a National charitable organisation which offers a range of supports to adopters including a regular newsletter. Hampshire Social Services pay one year's membership to Adoption UK for all its newly approved adopters, and Adoption UK will establish and run 16 support group meetings around the County and two annual events for adopters and their children, as required by new Regulations.

14 Future Developments

14.1 The adoption service continues to develop in response to the seven sets of new regulations which are all due to be in force by December 2005, as well as the Adoption and Children Act coming into force on the same date.

14.2 The adoption service is due to be inspected by the Commission for Social Care Inspection in November 2005 for the first time under the Care Standards Act..

14.3 Hampshire County Council has improved its performance in finding adoptive families for children who cannot return home to their birth families, and have successfully balanced the need to actively consider extended family and friends as alternative permanent carers for children, and the need to have a range of adopters available where this is not possible.

15 Recommendations

PRC is invited to advise that the Executive Member for Children's Services

15.1 Notes the contents of the annual report

14.2 Confirms approval of the Statement of Purpose.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

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Ref/Initials/5-Jul-05

Hampshire Adoption Agency Statement of Purpose Appendix A

15.1.1 Aims and Objectives

To ensure that children who are unable to safely remain with their birth parents, are found suitable and permanent families who are able to meet their social, emotional and educational needs, and care for them for the duration of their childhood and into adulthood.

Hampshire County Council is committed to ensuring that, wherever possible, and where it is consistent with the child's safety and welfare, children are permanently placed within their own extended family or kinship networks.

_ Children are placed with siblings

All children are respected as individuals and valued, so that the effects of racism and disability are countered and minimised.

In order to achieve good outcomes for children, the Adoption Service provides:

_ A Recruitment and Assessment Service to ensure that prospective adopters are trained, prepared, and supported to provide safe and happy homes for children.


_ An advisory service, which oversees the recruitment, training, management and administration of adoption panels.


_ A permanence service, which manages and tracks the plans of all children who cannot return home, to ensure that good quality permanent plans are made as quickly as possible.


_ An adoption support service to support children and adults throughout the adoption process.

15.1.2 Management Arrangements and Structure of the Service

The structure and location of the adoption and permanence staff are shown on the chart which is attached to this Statement of Purpose.

15.1.3 Complaints

Hampshire County Council Social Services Department has a complaints procedure which is available to all service users. Complaints are made, in the first instance to the social worker or team manager, and should they remain unresolved, can pass to the complaints officer who is responsible for ensuring that any complaint is dealt with to the standards required by law.

All service users are made aware of the complaints process and children are issued with their own "Children's Guide to Adoption", which contains information about how to complain.

In addition, complaints or representatives can be made to the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

15.1.4 Monitoring and Reviewing the Service

A report of adoption and permanence activity is presented annually to elected members through the Social Care Policy Review Committee which scrutinises and comments on all elements of the service, and, when satisfied, recommends approval of this Statement of purpose to the Executive Member for Social Care.

The Executive Member for Social Care, once satisfied that the adoption and permanence service is meeting the needs of Hampshire's looked-after children, confirms her approval of the Statement of Purpose.

This Statement of Purpose was last presented to Social Care Policy Review Committee on 14 November 2003 and approved by the Social Care Executive Member on 19 December 2003.

Strategic Service Manager - Sue Kocaman, Trafalgar House, Winchester SO23 8UQ Tel: 01962 847173

Strategic Service Manager: Sue Kocaman, Trafalgar House, Winchester SO23 8UQ Tel: 01962 847173

Community Therapists:

Elayna Truslove Karel Hartemink Catherine O'Brian
Beverley Price