Adoption Service Annual Report and Statement of Purpose PDF 258 ...

APPROVAL OF ADOPTERS
Statutory Guidance Measure Baseline Performance
Adopters must be approved, 8
months from application to
recommendation by Adoption
Panel
8 months 32 adopters
approved to
adopt
15 completed within 8
months (47%)
9 completed between 9-11
months
8 took over 12 months
6 weeks from completion of
Adopters Report to Adoption
Panel
6 weeks none Timescale was achieved
Notifying Adopters of Decision
for Approval, within 24 hours of
the Panel recommendation
(National standards)
Statutory Guidance = 48 hours
Coventry – all adopters notified
of the Panel's recommendations
within 24 hours of attending
panel by Social Worker & Panel
Chair, and receive letter
24 hours 32 letters of
notification
17 sent out letters same
day or within 1 day
15 within 2-7 days
All adopters notified
verbally.
Progressing Plans for Adoption for Children
13.1 50 children were brought to Panel with a plan for adoption, 2 of which were
recommended as long-term fostering. Approximately half (24) of children's adoption
plans were presented to Adoption Panel within 2 months of the review recommending
adoption. Over three-quarters of children's plans (81%) for adoption were presented
to Adoption Panel within 4 months. This is a better outcome than 2010 – 2011 when
68% of children's plans were presented to Adoption Panel within 4 months of the
review.
13.2 Adoption Panel monitor the reasons for delay and the most common are delays in
receiving background medical information, time taken to transfer cases to the Looked
After Service Teams (this has been substantially helped by the co-working between
the Neighbourhood and Looked After Children Teams) and the complex needs of
children and sibling groups. The latter often require further work to establish whether
adoption is the right plan and whether siblings should be separated or not.
Sometimes family and friends come forward for assessment late in the process. All of
these reasons pertain to this group of children.
13.3 Of the 48 children placed with adopters, 27 (56%) were placed within 12 months of
the decision for adoption. The 21 that took longer were for a variety of reasons
including the complex needs of the child, children requiring therapy prior to
placement, breakdowns and financial issues. The specific challenges are included
below:
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