Agenda item

The Board will consider a 6 monthly report from One Adoption West Yorkshire covering the period April to September 2019. (10.40 am)

Contact:  Suzanne Whiteley, One Adoption West Yorkshire

The Board considered a 6 monthly report from One Adoption West Yorkshire covering the period April to September 2019 presented by Suzanne Whiteley, One Adoption West Yorkshire.

Suzanne Whiteley highlighted the following key points:-

-       An interim Service Delivery Manager joined the agency on the 1^st August to cover long term sick and was transferred from Barnardo’s;

-       The Department for Education had extended the funding for One Adoption Centre of Excellence Project until 31^st March 2020 and training of staff across the region would continue into May;

-       In May 2020 Coram Baaf will award One Adoption the quality mark for Early Permanence Placements, which would assist One Adoption in attracting adopters and was a partnership approach with the West Yorkshire Local Authorities;

-       The pilot project of using the virtual reality headsets had been extremely positive over the last 18 months with an increase in adopters understanding more about the felt impact of trauma, increased empathy and understanding the need for a therapeutic parenting approach;

-       A review of the One Adoption website was currently underway to add online forms within the secure area which could be accessed by adoptive parents;

-       One Adoption had continued to make significant use of the Adoption Support Fund over the last 6 months and the DFE had agreed further funding for 12 months;

-       14 children had been matched with prospective adopters which was a decrease against the half yearly numbers from 2018/19;

-       One Adoption had agreed to work with the University of East Anglia in implementing a research and evidence based approach to managing transitions from foster care to adoption;

-       Dip sampling case file audits had been undertaken with three local authorities (Leeds, Wakefield and Kirklees) in the last four months to look at family finding activity for those children waiting for adoption (Leeds, Wakefield and Kirklees).

The Board noted that the interim evaluation report (Appendix 1) and the appendices the Voice and Influence of Adopters, Children & Young People report Card April 2019 to September 2019 (Appendix 2) were not attached to the report.  The Board agreed that the appendices would be circulated to all members of the Board for information.

In response to a question from the Board regarding the drop in numbers of children adopted in 2019/20, Suzanne Whiteley advised that there had been increases and decreases of the number of adopters at different quarters during 2019.

In response to a question from the Board relating to the approval process for prospective adopters, Suzanne Whiteley advised that the recruitment and assessment process was not timely across West Yorkshire.  The Board was informed that adopters could elect to take a break in the process which slowed things down.  Suzanne Whiteley further explained that checks and references could also take a while to be come back. 

Suzanne Whiteley advised that a piece of work was being undertaken to identify the number of adoption disruptions across the Region.  The Board was informed that the statistic for the number of disruptions was incorrect and further investigated and a detailed report would be produced in due course.  Suzanne Whiteley explained that there had been a national increase 2 to 3 years ago on the number of disruptions.  The Board agreed to consider the report on disruptions when it was available, which would look at the cases in detail and would be set out in themes, for example around sibling groups and children placed at distance. 

In response to a question from the Board regarding how thoroughly cases were reviewed when disruption occurred and how accurate the matching process was, Suzanne Whiteley advised that when disruption occurred either an internal review of the case was undertaken or an external independent reviewer would look at the case to ascertain what factors led to the disruption.  The Board was informed that disruption could often be caused by a series of events, was not predictable and usually not one single factor had caused the disruption.

RESOLVED –

1.    The Board noted the 6 monthly report from One Adoption West Yorkshire covering the period April to September 2019 and thanked Suzanne Whiteley for her contributions.

2.    That Appendix 1 and 2 be circulated to the Board.

3.    That the Board consider a report from One Adoption West Yorkshire on the analysis of disruption cases.