BRIGHTON AND HOVE CITY COUNCIL

Transcription

1 BRIGHTON AND HOVE CITY COUNCIL Annual Adoption Agency Report Fostering and Adoption Service Moulsecoomb Hub South Hodshrove Lane BN2 4SE

2 Contents 1. Introduction Adoption and Permanence Service Adoption Scorecard Scorecard published January BHCC Adoption Agency Activity 2013/ Adoption Plans for Children Children Placed for Adoption Children with Adoption Orders Adoption Disruptions Adopters Referrals to Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) Step Parent Adoption Inter country adoption Adoption Support Services Support groups Post Adoption Contact Work with birth families of adopted adults Birth Records Counselling Adoption Allowances Adoption Reform Grant (ARG) Family and Friends Team Family & Friends Referrals and Assessments Carer Training and Support Family & Friends Duty Work Sept Financial Support SGO Support Work Complaints Appendix I

3 1. Introduction 1.1. This report will provide detail of adoption and permanence work undertaken within Children & Families Service from April 2013 to March 2014, including information on adoption activity, compliance with national adoption scorecard and national minimum adoption standards A key priority of the work within Children & Families is to ensure children can be brought up safely with their birth parents or within their wider family network if at all possible. If that is not possible then children are entitled to grow up within a family that can provide a legally secure and stable family placement through adoption or if that is not appropriate via another legal order that secures permanence such as special guardianship, or through a permanent foster placement. Adoption is actively considered for all children under the age of 9 years who are unable to return home or to the care of their wider birth families and who need a permanent home The work of Brighton and Hove City Council as an adoption agency is governed by the Adoption and Children Act 2002 [ACA 2002] which was fully implemented in December A full revision of the statutory adoption guidance was issued by the Department for Education in February Adoption and Permanence Service 2.1. Child in Care and Young People s Services, Fostering and Adoption, and Adoption and Fostering Agency Advisors are managed by Head of Service Andy Whippey The role of Agency Decision Maker transferred to Assistant Director, Helen Gulvin in April reflecting the change in legislation requiring Children s Plans for Adoption to be presented directly to the ADM rather than being considered by Adoption Panel first, as remains the case with adopter assessment and adopter/child matches Adoption Agency Advisor, Michael Wilson facilitates the effective running of the Adoption and Permanence Panel, and Agency Decision Making process for children, providing a quality assurance role in relation to reports being prepared for Panel and the Agency Decision Maker. The Agency Advisor provides specialist advice and training to staff and leads on policy and practice development within Children & Families in relation to adoption and permanence work The Adoption and Permanence Service continues to be managed by Karen Devine, Team Manager. This service comprises the Adoption and Permanence Team and the Family and Friends Team Adoption and Permanence team staff are supervised by 3 Practice Managers who each take lead responsibility for the following areas of work: Adoption Support provision; Permanence Planning and Family Finding; Adopter Recruitment and Preparation. The team comprises 11 full time equivalent (FTE) social workers, 3 social work resource officers (unqualified social workers) and a 16hr adoption support teacher. The team offers the full range of adoption work: adopter assessment, family finding for children with an adoption plan, post adoption support, support to adoptive families and birth parents with direct and indirect contact arrangements, birth records counselling, and step parent adoption assessments for court The Family and Friends Team comprises of 1.35 FTE Practice Managers, 5.4 FTE social workers and 1 social work resource officer. The team assesses and supports family and 3

4 friends foster carers and carers with special guardianship or residence orders, and offers support to carers and birth parents in ongoing direct and indirect contact arrangements Staff within the service provide consultation to children s social work teams on all aspects of practice relating to permanence planning or family and friends care. The service take a lead role in developing policy and practice in permanent family placement and ensuring social work staff within Children & Families are kept up to date on key changes to the legal and regulatory framework as well as providing updates on aspects of research work in this area. Staff deliver training in relation to adoption and permanence planning issues within the Children & Families core skills training programme Brighton and Hove has continued to be a member of Adoption South East Consortium. The Team Manager attends quarterly management meetings. We are currently reviewing our membership of this Consortium as it is not providing us with the range of families we need for our children. The Team Manager is exploring other consortia which could offer access to a wider pool of adopters and greater benefits of scale, covering a much wider geographical area The team manager represents BHCC at the British Agencies of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) South East Regional Adoption Agencies quarterly meetings. The team manager was elected by this group to represent South East Adoption Agencies at the national BAAF Social Work Practice Advisory Committee which provides an interface with other Local Authority and Voluntary Adoption Agencies across the country The Adoption Agency was last inspected in March The next inspection will be within the children in care inspection framework which has been implemented this year. It is anticipated that this will occur within Adoption Scorecard 3.1. The Government published its Action Plan for Adoption: Tackling Delay in March 2012 to increase the numbers and timeliness of children placed for adoption. A child s age is one of the strongest predicators of whether or not they will be adopted, with research suggesting that for every year of delay a child s chance of adoption reduces by almost 20% The National Adoption Scorecard measures Agency performance against a range of indicators, determined by the Department of Education and ranks these against other local authorities. It was designed to improve agency performance and timeliness of adoption for children Data for the scorecard is submitted by each agency through a quarterly return to the Department for Education. 4. Scorecard published January For children who have been adopted, the average time between a child entering care and moving in with her/his adoptive family: England 3 year average ( ) was 647 days BHCC 3 year average was 578 days BHCC performance was 69 days faster than the national average 4.1 The national threshold for this performance indicator is currently 608 days; hence the threshold is currently well met. The threshold figure however reduces to 547 days for the next scorecard ( ). This will be a challenging target to meet. 4

5 4.2 For children who have been adopted, the average time between receiving court authority to place a child and the local authority deciding on a match to an adoptive family: England 3 year average ( ) was 210 days BHCC 3 year average was 223 days BHCC took 13 days longer than the national average to decide on a match. The 13 children in this cohort who we failed to place within 210 days were all older children with complex needs 4.3 Whilst the national average for this performance indicator is 210 days the national threshold is currently set at 182 days. BHCC is therefore 41 days short of the current threshold. The threshold figure reduces to 152 days for the next scorecard This will be a challenging target to meet The 3 year England Average ( ) for children who wait less than 20 months between entering care and moving in with their adoptive family was 55%. BHCC 3 year average was 63%. Better than the national average The England 3 year average ( ) percentage of children leaving care who were adopted is 13%. BHCC 3 year average is 16%. Again better than the national average The England 3 year average time between a child entering care and moving in with her/his adoptive family is 545 days. The BHCC 3 year average is 470 days. Better than the national average The England 3 year average ( ) for percentage of adoptions of children from BME backgrounds is 7%. BHCC 3 year average is 12%. Again performance is better than the national average The England 3 year average ( ) for percentage of adoptions of children aged 5 years or over is 4 %. BHCC 3 year average is 5% The England 3 year average ( ) for length of care proceedings is 51 days. BHCC 3 year average is 50 days The England figure for proportion of adoptive families matched to a child during who waited more than 3 months from approval to being matched is 58%. BHCC figure is 41%. Better than the national average. 4.4 The scorecard demonstrates good BHCC performance across the board with delays solely attributable to the age and complexity of children rather than systemic or practice based delay. 5

6 5 BHCC Adoption Agency Activity 2013/ Adoption Plans for Children children were approved for adoption by the Agency Decision Maker during the year. Of these: 17 were boys and 20 girls 29 were of white British heritage 1 was white British/Slovenian 2 were white British/Italian 1 was white British/black Caribbean 2 were white British/mixed heritage 1 was white British/Irish traveller and 1 was white British/Irish Ethnicity 3% 5% 5% 3% 6% 78% wb wb/slovenian wb/italian wb/black Caribbean wb/mixed heritage wb/irish children were approved for long term fostering during the year children had a change of plan from adoption to long term fostering child had a change of plan from long term fostering to adoption Of the children approved for long term fostering: 4 were boys and 2 girls 1 child was white British/Italian 1 was Kuwaiti 1 was white British/Irish traveller and 3 were white British 6

7 5.2 Children Placed for Adoption children were matched for adoption and 42 placed for adoption during the year. This is a decrease on the previous year s figure of 48 children matched This should be seen in the context of the introduction and embedding of the new Public Law Outline from August 2014 which resulted in fewer proceedings being initiated and a greater emphasis on pre proceedings work. Alongside this the impact of Re B S case law (which reminds the court that adoption must only be considered where nothing else will do ) appears to be linked to a delay in securing adoption as a care plan for some children This reduction in securing adoption plans appears to be a national trend and is being monitored by the Adoption leadership Board Of the children matched for adoption 17 were boys and 27 girls: 32 of the children were matched as single children were matched as sibling pairs None of the children were considered to have a disability 13 of the children were of black or minority ethnic background (BME) which represents 29.5% of children placed 4 of the children were voluntarily relinquished by their birth parents The other 40 children were the subjects of Placement Orders of the children were matched with Brighton and Hove Adopters of these children were placed concurrently with carers who fostered the children whilst assessments were made of the birth parents, and adopted them when the care plan became adoption children were matched with adopters who had previously been their foster carers (not concurrency carers). Of these children 3 had been in the care of the foster carers who went on to adopt them since they first became looked after, and a sibling pair had moved from their first foster placement to foster carers who later adopted them of the children were matched with adopters approved by other local authorities of the children were matched with adopters approved by Voluntary Adoption Agencies. 7

8 Children placed for adoption with: 18% 25% 43% BHCC Adopters BHCC Concurrency Carers Former BHCC Foster Carer OLA VAA 10% 4% Of the 42 children placed for adoption 74 % were placed within 1 year of the Adoption Agency Decision (26% were placed within 6 months of this Decision). Of these: 9% were placed between 1 year and 18 months 14% between 18months and 2 years 2% (1 child) took over 2 years to place. This was a child with disabilities, of BME background in the 3-4 age group Of the 6 children who took between 18months and 2 years to place for adoption: 2 were in a sibling group 5 in the 5-7year age group 1 child was over the age of 8 years at placement There is a national shortage of adopters for children of BME background, children with disabilities, older children and sibling groups which is why it takes longer to find families for these children It is a requirement that all children have a pre adoption medical prior to their plan for adoption being considered by ADM. The Agency Medical Advisor, Dr Sian Bennett, meets with prospective adopters prior to Panel when a match is being considered, to provide adopters with the opportunity to discuss any aspect of the child s development or medical history The Agency Medical Advisor reports that her team have completed reports on over 40 babies under 12 months of age, and children overall during the year. This demonstrates the amount of work that is undertaken in preparation for permanence planning which may not result in an adoption plan. 8

9 5.3 Children with Adoption Orders There were 38 children left care via adoption during 2013/ were boys and 24 were girls The children range in age from 6 months to 9 years. The ages of the children at the point of adoption order were: 4 children were aged between 0 1 years 8 children were aged between 1 2 years 5 children were aged between 2 5 years 11 children were aged over 5 years None of the children are registered as disabled. 7 of the children were from a BME background which represents 18.4% of the children adopted during the year. 5.4 Adoption Disruptions There were no disruptions of an adoptive placement pre adoption order during 2013/14. 6 Adopters 6.1 BHCC approved 34 adoptive families in which represented a 13% increase on the previous year assessments were discontinued with the agreement of the applicants. 6.3 Of the 34 approved adoptive households: 33 were White/British or White/European 1 mixed heritage 6.4 The service has continued to profile the need for more Black and mixed heritage adopters and foster carers to meet the needs of the children in our care. 6.5 The Adoption service retains capacity to provide concurrent placements for the small number of children for whom this is an appropriate care plan and is developing its capacity to offer Fostering for Adoption (FFA) to children where this is an appropriate placement option. The profile of concurrency and FFA is featured at adopter recruitment events. Experienced concurrent carers attend these events to share their experiences with a view to encouraging others to actively consider concurrency or FFA as their route to adoption. 6.6 Of the 34 households approved as adopters in 2013/14, 7 (21%) identified as LGBT. 6.7 BHCC implemented the new 2 staged adopter recruitment process in July 2014 which the Government introduced in order to increase the number of adopters and improve the timeliness of adopter approval. The agency met the timescales of all applicants in relation to 9

10 the sending out of written information and inviting prospective adopters to information sessions. 6.8 Of the 34 adopter approvals 10 were assessed and approved under the new process, 24 under the old process. 6.9 Of the 24 approvals managed under the old process: (25%) were completed within 6 months 11 (46%) were completed between 6-12 months (the average 8.9 months) 6 (25%) were completed within months (the average 14.7 months) 1 approval took 20 months. This assessment was recommended by the assessing team to Panel but Panel did not support the recommendation and ADM did not approve the prospective adopters. The prospective adopters appealed to the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM). IRM recommended their approval and ADM subsequently approved them. Referral to the IRM accounts for the delay Of the 10 adopter approvals under the new 2 staged process: 5 (50%) were completed within 6 months 5 (50%) were completed within 6-12 months (taking on average 7.6 months) Average time for all 10 assessments was 6.1 months The government performance indicator for prospective adopter approval is to complete 51% from Registration of Interest to Agency Decision in 6 months. Given the considerable work entailed in establishing the new 2 staged adopter assessment process, including development of the learning materials for adopters; increasing Information sessions to monthly; and doubling the number of preparation to adopt groups offered per year to 6 (bimonthly), Agency performance in terms of adopter assessment should be seen as good. It is envisaged that as the new processes are now embedded we will be able to focus more concertedly on assessment timeliness. 7. Referrals to Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) prospective adopter applicants were referred to the IRM following a negative Agency Decision of the applicants had been recommended by the assessing team but did not attract a positive recommendation from Panel or ADM The other 2 applicants had not been recommended either by the assessing team, Panel or ADM All 3 received a positive recommendation from the IRM The ADM subsequently approved 1 of the 3 applicants as prospective adopters. 10

11 8. Step Parent Adoption 8.1. There were 10 step parent adoptions completed in 2013/14 with a further 2 in the process of assessment as of 31 st March 2014, 3 assessments were discontinued. 9. Inter country adoption 9.1. Since 2005 BHCC has managed its Inter country Adoption (ICA) responsibilities via a contract with Parents and Children Together [PACT], a voluntary adoption agency, as numbers of ICA work in Brighton and Hove is very low it is hard to develop the necessary expertise in this highly regulated area of work The contract provides for the preparation, assessment and approval of inter country adopters. PACT has considerable specialist experience in this area of work and provides a dedicated service to people from Brighton & Hove that wish to adopt from abroad Brighton & Hove pay for PACT to provide the initial information and follow up to prospective applicants. Once applicants decide to proceed they are required to meet the costs of the assessment themselves PACT have provided the following information for : Enquiry Calls 16 Duty Calls 11 Info Packs 15 Initial Interviews 1 Applications /ROI 1 Approved and Awaiting linking 1 Children Placed There have been no children placed for adoption from overseas within Brighton and Hove in 2013/ Adoption Support Services There is a legal duty to provide adoption support services to adoptive families, adopted children and adults, and birth families under the Adoption Support Services Regulations Every Adoption Agency is required to have a manager perform the duties of Adoption Support Service Advisor. In BHCC this responsibility is met by the Practice Manager with lead responsibility for adoption support The development of Adoption Support has been a priority area for the Government and continues to be an area of growth and development within BHCC Adoption service. All staff within the service are involved in adoption support work either directly offering support and interventions to families or offering advice and guidance via a social work Duty system. The nature of support requested varies considerably but frequently includes requests for advice on strategies for managing behaviour; help and advice for children in school where their attachment difficulties may be making it hard for them to settle and learn and assistance with talking to children about adoption and making sense of their sometimes very troubled backgrounds. 11

12 10.3. The service also has responsibility for providing an assessment of support needs to families living in Brighton and Hove whose children were placed by a different Agency and it is more than 3 years since the making of the Adoption Order There were requests for assessment of adoption support needs in connection with 89 children over the year (60 families). All these families received a service from Brighton and Hove ranging from an advice telephone call to allocation of key worker for ongoing work. Many were additionally referred onto other appropriate agencies Many adopted children struggle at some point with achieving their educational potential and there is increasing acknowledgement of how their attachment difficulties and early trauma affect their ability to make the most of school. Brighton and Hove continue to employ a part time teacher to offer advice and support from an attachment perspective to professionals in schools where there is an adopted child. She also offers training to schools and runs support groups and training for individual members of staff who are working with adopted children in a key worker role. 11. Support groups The team run a weekly parent and toddler support group for adopters of pre school children. This group is very well attended and forms the basis of ongoing informal parent to parent support as the children move into nursery and full time education The support group for Brighton and Hove lesbian and gay adopters and foster carers continues to thrive. It is run by its members and financially supported by the Adoption service. There is a link through to the service provided by the Adoption Support Services Advisor. They combine evening support groups for the adults with additional activities to include the children The Adoption service facilitates an annual adopter s picnic and activity fun day which are opportunities for adoptive parents and children to get together and renew old acquaintances and develop new supportive networks. Both events were very well attended this year Training workshops have been provided for adopters during the year on talking about adoption, and attachment difficulties in the classroom A bi-annual newsletter is produced and circulated to approved adopters to advise them of any events and share adoption related information including signposting other training events. 12. Post Adoption Contact Almost all children now being placed for adoption retain some form of contact with their birth families and the Adoption & Children Act 2002 (ACA) emphasises the importance of supporting such arrangements. 12

13 12.2. The team supported 249 letterbox contact arrangements over the year (an exchange of letters or photos between the adoptive family and birth family) and supported 60 direct contact arrangements. The nature of contact varies from an annual meeting to very complex arrangements involving a number of birth family members (siblings, grandparents and parents). Social work resource officers offer support, advice and mediation to all parties and keep arrangements under review to ensure that they continue to meet the adopted child s needs over time. 13. Work with birth families of adopted adults Birth family members have a legal right to receive counselling regarding the proposal to place their child for adoption and to receive this service from a social work practitioner who is not involved in their child s care or the adoption services The worker running this Birth Parent Support and Information Service endeavours to be proactive in following up families that have been referred to the service. The Adoption Agency Advisor has oversight of this area of work and meets at regular intervals with the worker to provide consultation and advice as required Take up of this service remains low as this to a large extent reflects the fact that birth families are often still in dispute with the local authority about the plans for adoption at the time they are referred. Birth families are provided with details of agencies other than the local authority who can offer support but experience suggests that some birth family members only feel able to take up this type of support sometimes years after the adoption has concluded. 14. Birth Records Counselling The local authority has a legal responsibility to provide a birth records counselling service to adopted adults. The team has continued to receive regular requests for birth records counselling and offered counselling to 56 adopted adults over the year The service is also required to provide information from adoption files for other local authorities offering birth records counselling or intermediary work with birth relatives. 15. Adoption Allowances Expenditure on Adoption Allowances during 2013/14 was 523,782 in relation to 57 children Allowances range from 20 per week to 235 per week, the average payment being 150 per week There was also a number of one off payments made for example towards the costs of introductions and settling in expenses. 13

14 15.4. There are a number of very complex adoptive placements which require considerable ongoing support including at times funding of therapeutic services. The adoption team gives robust consideration to a request for an adoption allowance ensuring that all other options such as state benefits, including disability living allowance is considered, and a financial assessment of the adopter's means is undertaken before agreement is given to an ongoing allowance. In line with the Adoption Support Regulations one off lump sum payments are often considered where appropriate to provide support to an adoptive family rather than an ongoing allowance. Allowances are only agreed in cases where the child/ren would be unlikely to be adopted without it. 16. Adoption Reform Grant (ARG) In order to support the adoption reform agenda the Government offered grants to Adoption Agencies during BHCC used their ARG: To fund the increase in the Agency Fee charged to secure an adoption placement. The cost of securing a placement from another L.A had been 14, The cost for Voluntary Adoption Agency placement was 27, The interagency fee was equalised with effect from so BHCC used the ARG to fund this doubling of the fee To produce the preparation and recruitment materials required to support the new 2 staged adopter assessment process To employ an adopter recruitment administrator to improve responsiveness to adoption enquiries and enhance our first response service To secure training for the team and Adoption Panel on the new Prospective Adopter Report format To secure a contract with a professional DVD company to produce family finding DVDs for children waiting for adoption. This has had beneficial effects on our family finding processes, increasing interest in BHCC children from inter agency adopters. Feedback from adoptive families suggests that the DVDs give a real sense of the children, thereby drawing more potential families in To develop a partnership with Voluntary Adoption Agency After Adoption to offer Safe Base therapeutic parenting programmes for BHCC adopters for a 3 year period. This has been very well received by our adoption community, with excellent feedback on the programmes delivered during the year. The contract allows BHCC to access Safe Base parenting programmes for adopters living in other areas of the country, which means that we feel confident that adopters taking on our children will be getting the support they need wherever they live To provide Level 1 Theraplay training for the adoption service to enhance BHCC adoption support offer. The training was undertaken in February 2014 and is anticipated to impact positively on all areas of adoption work (family finding, adopter preparation and assessment, and adoption support) and underpins the development of the team s new Adoption Support Clinic. 14

15 To fund a project manager (Adoption Agency Advisor) 1 day per week to support the development of a Multi Disciplinary Adoption Support Steering Group tasked with developing adoption sensitive service provision across the City. The Steering Group is chaired by Assistant Director Jo Lyons. 17. Family and Friends Team The work of the Family and Friends team has continued to expand in line with the sustained high numbers of children in care or on the cusp of the care system. There is a clear regulatory requirement to ensure that at all relevant stages of the care planning process the potential for children that are not able to live with their birth parents to be placed within their wider family or friendship network is thoroughly explored The introduction of Special Guardianship at the end of 2005 to provide permanence for children where adoption was not appropriate, has continued to be used in a number of family and friends foster placements where the carers are able to provide permanence to that child. Special Guardianship brings with it responsibilities to provide support services to those families in line with those provided to adoptive families The work of the Family & Friends team is supervised by 1.35 FTE Practice Managers who take responsibility for the oversight of assessment referrals from the children s social work teams. Care planning in relation to family and friends care can be complex with the need for careful risk assessment work. Practice Managers play a key role in terms of providing consultation to children s social workers on family and friends practice, and quality assurance of viability and assessment work A new Pan Sussex Family & Friends Assessment tool and guidance was developed by the team during the year. This was launched in August 2013 as part of the implementation of the Public Law Outline (PLO) across Sussex Family & Friends Referrals and Assessments Where children s social work teams have to find placements for looked after children consideration has to be given to family and friends options. Where placements are needed in an emergency the Head of Service for children s social work can grant temporary approval to family and friends as foster carers for a 16 week period, providing basic checks and references have been taken up and an initial assessment undertaken to determine that the placement can safely meet the child s needs in the short term. These placements are called Regulation 24 placements There are two routes to becoming a Family and Friends foster carer: Regulation 24 placement, and full Foster Carer approval. Both routes entail presentation at either Brighton and Hove s Fostering, or Adoption and Permanence Panel and ADM decision to approve as family and friends foster carers. 15

16 With the implementation of the Public Law Outline (PLO) in August 2013 and introduction of the 26 week timescale for conclusion of care proceedings, a significant amount of family and friends work has shifted to the pre proceedings stage rather than being undertaken during proceedings. This can sometimes lead to a lack of clarity about the status of family and friends placements as they can be seen as family arrangements rather than regulated placements that attract appropriate supervision and support. Once in proceedings timescales for assessments are usually very short which means that often social workers have less than 10 weeks to undertake a full family and friends assessment referrals were made to the Family & Friends team for full assessment during the year. This compares to 56 in (a 25% increase) Regulation 24 placements for 32 children were made during the year compared to 11 in (a 109% increase). Of these: 10 went on to be fully assessed by the Family & Friends team and achieved a positive recommendation as permanent carer for the child/ren 1 was not assessed because the carer could not offer permanence for child. 2 became Regulation 22 placements with support offered from CiC team. 7 placements ended prior to full fostering approval (3 where the carers could not manage the child/ children, 1 due to the carer s unexpected ill health & 2 where the young person chose not to stay. 1 child was removed when concerns identified) 3 were still in the process of assessment at end of year The Family & Friends team received 47 positive initial viability assessments (IVA) of family and friends carers requiring full assessment. It has become a priority of the team to support children s social workers in undertaking early robust viability assessments of potential carers to ensure that full assessment is only focussed on the most appropriate carers Of the 47 IVAs: 5 were successfully challenged 6 assessments were not fully completed as carers were counselled out (2) or withdrew (3) 16 full assessments were completed with a positive recommendation 6 full assessments were completed with a negative recommendation 2 second or updating assessments were completed on current carers both attracted positive recommendations 5 assessments were undertaken on cases where the child had been placed with carers pre proceedings but Regulation 24 agreement not given or sought by child s social worker 7 assessments were still in progress at Where prospective family and friends carers live at a geographical distance to Brighton and Hove assessments are undertaken by Freelance social workers supervised by BHCC Family & Friends team. 16 assessments were undertaken by Freelance Social Workers during the year compared to 14 in

17 At the conclusion of care proceedings children either return to the care of their birth parents, remain with their family and friends carer on a long term fostering basis, become subject to a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) and move out of the care system, remain in unrelated long term foster care, or leave care via adoption. During the year 4 family and friends carers were approved as long term foster carers, and 28 children left the care system via SGO (the same figure as ) Once family and friends carers are approved either temporarily or permanently as foster carers it is a requirement under Fostering Regulations for the placement to be supervised by a qualified social worker During the year 39 Fostering Supervision Events were opened to the Family & Friends team involving 49 children. At the end of March 2014 there were 16 Fostering Supervision Events open involving 23 children During the year 23 Family & Friends Fostering Supervision Events involving 26 children were closed either because the child moved to a permanent order (SGO or RO), the placement ended or the child reached 18yrs There is a small cohort of long term Family and Friends foster carers who choose not to move on to SGO as they feel they require intensive ongoing support from social workers due to the needs of the children they are caring for. These carers are generally looking after older children or large sibling groups, who need high levels of support via the looked after child process Carer Training and Support The Family & Friends team offer a rolling programme of training workshops for carers covering Post Placement Contact, Life Story Work, Attachment, and Domestic Violence and Its Impact on Children. The average take up is carers per workshop Family & Friends Duty Work Sept The Family and Friends team launched its Duty Support System in September This operates 3 mornings a week and responds to all contacts from carers, birth family members and professionals on cases not currently allocated within the team. The majority of work is support to SGO/RO carers and includes: Arranging and supporting carers with contact issues, family mediation Support and information regarding Life Story work Signposting, listening and direct support to carers experiencing crises or difficulties meeting children s needs Assistance with financial issues, liaison with Finance Panel regarding variation of allowances Facilitation of legal advice where a court application has been made by birth parent to vary contact or seek to discharge SGO 17

18 From September 2013 until the Family & Friends Duty service has provided support to 27 carers and their families. On average between cases are open to Duty at any one time Financial Support Financial support was provided in the form of Residence Order (RO) Allowances for 117 children. Allowances ranged from 70 per week to 361 per week. The average allowance was 150 per week. Total expenditure on RO Allowances was 971, Financial support was provided in the form of Special Guardianship Order Allowances for 114 children. Allowances ranged from 19 per week to 347 per week. The average allowance was 154. Per week. Total SGO Allowance expenditure was 912, SGO Support Work From July 2013 the Family & Friends team committed to providing an allocated Social Worker to every carer with an SGO or RO for a minimum of 6 months post order. Carers find this reassuring as many of them find the experience of suddenly caring for a looked after child in unexpected circumstances to be exhausting and overwhelming, and the accompanying looked after children and court processes can be bewildering. In the first 6 months post order the team offers support as carers begin to manage contact arrangements with birth parents, adjust to the changing roles within the extended family, and begin the journey of re-parenting an abused or neglected child The key issues commonly requiring support in the first 6 months post order include accessing appropriate housing, benefits and schooling; support around Life Story Work and how to create a secure base and promote secure attachment behaviours. Support to carers on how to adjust to their changing role within the wider family, and information on the workshops, training and monthly support group provided by the Team. Support with contact arrangements which includes supervision of contact by the allocated worker, supervision of contact by contact centres, and support to carers on managing and supervising contact themselves, and advice to carers on how to support children showing signs of distress and confusion before and after contact. Support can be offered for a longer period is required. This will be determined via a review at the end of the 6 month period During the year allocated support was provided to 45 carers and their families caring for 63 children members of the team undertook Level One Theraplay training during the year and all members of the team attended training with child Psychotherapist Dr Margot Sunderland on Promoting Secure Attachments in Kinship Care in order to enhance the post SGO/RO support to carers. 18

19 18. Complaints There were 2 formal complaints made regarding the Adoption & Permanence Service during the year. 1 case related to a decision not to progress an adoption assessment to Stage 2, the other related to a decision not to approve prospective adopter applicants following full assessment. This case was referred to the IRM for review of the Agency Decision. The ADM took into consideration the views of the IRM in arriving at the final decision not to approve the applicants as adopters There were a further 7 enquiries dealt with by the complaints and compliments team which were not considered to be formal complaints. 1 case related to a decision not to proceed with an enquiry from persons interested in pursing adoption as this application constituted a conflict of interest due to the capacity in which the applicant was employed. 1 enquiry alleged breach of data protection in the 1990s. This was not upheld. The other enquiries refer to issues surrounding post adoption contact and complaints by birth family members that adopters were not providing letters and information which they believed to be entitled to. The Adoption team offered support to these persons and clarified the legal position and their options There were 22 compliments recorded from service users during the year. 11 relate to adopter preparation, assessment and matching, 5 to post adoption support, 2 to Birth Records Counselling, 1 to step parent adoption assessment, and 2 were commendations from court in relation family and friends assessment and support work The Team Manager maintains an oversight of all complaints and compliments and disseminates any learning to the team and wider service as appropriate. Karen Devine Adoption & Permanence Team Manager

20 19. Appendix I BRIGHTON & HOVE ADOPTION & PERMANENCE PANEL ANNUAL REPORT (1 April March 2014) 1. Introduction This report briefly summarises the work of Brighton & Hove Adoption and Permanence Panel over the last year. Every year is busy for Panel, and this year was no exception. Panel was also asked to consider a number of more challenging and unusual cases, reflecting both the complexity of the needs of children seeking forever families and the diversity of adults choosing adoption as a positive route to take to establish their family. The child s best interest is always at the heart of Panel s discussions and recommendations, and this year has shown that Panel is not simply a rubber-stamping exercise for plans produced by the Agency and the courts, and that it can remain Independent and is not afraid to say no to a prospective adopter or proposed placement if the proposal seems flawed or insufficiently evidenced in terms of its validity. I was appointed to the position of Chair of Panel in December 2013, having been Acting Chair for the previous 18 months. I adopted my daughter 8 years ago so have personal experience of the process. Over the year we have recruited new Panel members and I am confident that we are a robust, professional body of people with adoption experience either personal or professional which can add value to this important decision-making process. We are keen to have a more diverse range of people on Panel and whilst making some progress in this regard will continue to actively recruit more male members. 2. Composition of the Panel The Panel is constituted in line with the Adoption Agencies (Panel and Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2012), the Fostering Services (Amendment) Regulations 2009 and National Minimum Standards. Central List panel members were: Sophie Heiser, Independent Chair Dr. Sian Bennett, Medical Adviser Councillor Sue Shanks and Leo Littman, Brighton & Hove elected member Sharon Donnelly, Independent member and Second Vice Chair Carl Campbell, Brighton & Hove Practice Manager Jo Lyons, Education Representative Tina Darby, independent member, foster carer and adopter 20

21 Vanessa Jakeman, Independent member and adopter Nimmy Burke, Independent member and adopted person Leona Daniel, Independent member and adopter Louise Hawley, independent member, social worker and adopter (joined Feb 2013) Clarissa Bergonzi, Brighton and Hove Practice Manager (left Sept 2013) Emma Taylor, Independent Member and adopted person attended on an ad-hoc basis from August 2013 Michael Wilson was Agency Adviser to the Panel. Hilary Priestley, Sandra O Brien shared the role of Legal Adviser to the Panel, Lucy Ditchburn attended on an ad-hoc basis. Clare Hudson, Andrea Critcher and Ahlem Boujnah (joined in July 2013) were the Panel Administrators. Andrea Critcher left in June

22 3. Work of the Panel The Panel meets on a two weekly basis. From 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, it met on 24 occasions. This included 1 additional Panel meeting on 19 th March voluntarily relinquished babies were placed for adoption 44 children were placed with adoptive families, including 6 sibling groups Number of Adoption Matches (Children) Age range Gender Siblings Groups Ethnicity 44 children 3 mths to 8 yrs 11 mths 27 female/ 17 male 6 siblings groups of 2 were placed 11 children are dual heritage and 33 children are white British 38 matches were made. 6 were approvals of prospective adopters for a specific child, 5 of which were with the child s foster carers 25 approvals (27 children placed) with BHCC adopters. 2 sibling groups were placed with BHCC adopters. 13 approvals (17 children placed) were with Other Local Authorities, and 9 with Voluntary Adoption Agencies. No matches were made with the consortium. 4 siblings matches were with non-bhcc adopters. 28 households were white/british. 3 were white British/European, and 2 white British/Australian and 1 white British/Canadian Of the 38, 25 adopters were white British, 5 adopters were mixed ethnic heritage, and 8 were white other. Number of Prospective Adopters not Approved - Number of referrals to the Independent Review Mechanism - number p.a subsequently approved/not approved 3 3 approved by IRM 1 approved by ADM 22

23 The Panel recommended 2 matches of a child with permanent foster carers. The Panel recommended 34 new families as suitable to be prospective adopters (including the approval of one couple who were previously not approved by Panel). 18 were different gender couples, 7 were same gender couples (3 male and 4 female) and 9 were single carers. 1 concurrent carer was approved. 28 households were white/british. 3 were white British/European, and 2 white British/Australian and 1 white British/Canadian. 8 new Family and Friends carers were recommended over the year. Of these 8, there were 4 full approvals and 4 8 week extensions were approved, 3 extensions did not return for full approval. 1 full approval was deferred. 7 approvals were for single placements, 1 approval was for 2 siblings the approval for the younger sibling was deferred A total of 8 children were placed with family and friends carers. 1 Family and Friends carer resigned Panel deferred items on 4 occasions for further information to be provided. There were 0 terminations of adopter approval. The Agency Decision Maker endorsed all of the Panel s recommendations during this period. 4. Functioning of the Panel Preparation and Process Panel members are presented with paperwork a week in advance of a Panel meting. They are expected to read the papers and make notes of any issues of concern or for clarification, update or expansion. At his stage members are expected to arrive at Panel with a preliminary opinion as to whether they are minded to recommend a case or not. The standard of social worker assessments is very high indeed. Most reports show an articulate, concise and impressively well-evidenced analysis of an applicant s suitability to adopt or of the suitability of a proposed placement. Such assessments are often dependent on the honesty and openness of applicants and their willingness to fully engage with the process, and workers are often commended when they have clearly managed a more complex assessment well. It is true to say that a small number of assessments have been sent to Panel which are below standard. The Agency Adviser is often alert to this, and if time permits will refer the report back to the worker for additional analysis. We did defer two applications on the basis of insufficient evidence and recognise how difficult this was for the applicants concerned. However Panel s role is to quality assure the 23

24 assessment process and add value to the Agency s work, and this is why Panel s work is so rigorous. Feedback Feedback forms are given to all social workers, applicants, prospective adopters and foster carers attending the Panel. Over the year the Panel received 22 feedback forms from applicants and 2 from social workers. Feedback from applicants was generally very positive indeed. The vast majority felt that the Panel meeting was professional and well-run, that members were empathic, friendly and respectful, and that the questions asked were appropriate. Applicants were grateful to have the pre-meeting with the Chair and appreciated her letting them know the nature of the questions which had been prepared, allowing them time to consider their answers and discuss any complex issues with their worker before meeting the Panel. Naturally some applicants experiences were less positive. A small number felt the wait to go in to meet with Panel was too long, and a couple questioned the diversity of the Panel, being predominantly female and white British. We are currently taking a pro-active approach to increase the diversity of Panel membership, and as Chair I am always mindful of the added stress caused to applicants of a late start to their meeting. Unfortunately with the best intentions some cases over-run, and we always endeavour to alert workers and applicants if this is so in their case. Some Panels were very large and again we are addressing this by setting up a rota of attendees to ensure that no more than 8 voting members ever sit at one Panel. Liaison with the Service For every case presented to the Panel I complete a feedback sheet for the Agency Decision Maker. This contains factual information about the applicant/s and child/ren as relevant, and notes compliance with National Minimum Standards for meeting timescales within the assessment process. I note why timescales are sometimes not met. The reasons vary from delays in court processes to sickness and holiday. The majority of cases are assessed within timescale. Within this year workers have been assessing within the new regulatory framework and have less direct control over assessments since Stage one is now adopter-led. I meet with the Agency Decision Maker and the Agency Adviser on a 4 monthly basis to discuss general themes and practice issues. Reviews and Training The Agency Adviser and I meet with Panel members individually over the year and complete annual appraisals. This is helpful as it reinforces members commitment to the process and enables us to monitor and manage performance and identify training needs. We set out an annual training programme and members have attended a variety of training sessions over the year. These prove to be valuable and productive days. 24