Agenda item

The Service Director of Children’s Services provided a brief overview of the Vale, Valleys & Cardiff Regional Adoption Annual Report. It was highlighted to Members of the Committee that consideration of the report had already been undertaken by the Scrutiny Committee in December 2021; the report was favourably received. 

The Service Director of Children’s Services highlighted to Members that the report is the 6^th Annual Report of the Regional Adoption collaboration established based on the Social Services Well-Being Act (2014). The report provided details of the performance reporting surrounding matters such as Adopter recruitment, decision-making for Children to be placed in Adoption, Family Finding and Post-Adoption support.

Members were informed of the slight decline in demand during the first period of the Pandemic however, demand has since begun to increase. 

The report highlighted the 26 placement orders, however, when performance was last investigated in Children’s Services, 33 Adoption orders had been made during 2020/21.  During the reporting period 2020/21 the Service Director of Children’s Services confirmed the placement of 22 children for Adoption by the end of 31^st March 2021.

Members were advised to note the effectiveness of the recruitment campaign and increases in the number of adopters which has created a positive impact of reduced numbers of out of agency adoptions. The Service Director of Children’s Services advised Members of the increase in requests for post-adoption support and acknowledged the significance of providing support to adopters. The Service Director of Children’s Services recognised the need for additional resources for adopters as demand has increased. 

The Chair was pleased with the information provided and referred to Members for questions.

One Member was pleased with the funding provided to attain a part-time social worker to support birth parents; however, the member queried the referral mechanisms and the type of support which can be implemented to support birth parents.

As part of additional services development, the Service Director of Children’s Services informed Members of the introduction of a ‘Pre-Birth Pathway’ service. This aims to enhance the support in place to prevent child and parent separation. The Service Director of Children’s Services informed Members of a new trail development service known as Parent Advocacy. This will involve support for parents attending meetings such as Child protection conferences. Great results have been identified from other Local Authorities trailing this as parents have felt better engaged in support services provided.

Regarding referral mechanism, the Service Director of Children’s Services advised of the importance of birth parent counselling as part of the adoption process. Thus, before an agency decision maker can consider child adoption, they ensure referrals have been made to both parent counselling.

One Member expressed a welcome for the trials of parent advocacy and recognised it was vital in permitting parents to participate and express themselves. The Member requested further information on the services future on investments following an increase in demand the following year.

The Service Director of Children’s Services agreed with the Member stating the need for further investment and funding to progress additional services further to meet demand. The Service Director of Children’s Services informed the Committee of an arranged date in the following month to investigate how adoptive parents can attain the right support at the right time and ensuring adoptive parents are able to access all the early support services available to them. The Service Director of Children’s Services confirmed the launch of the multi-Agency support service, which is a therapeutic service for adoptive and looked after Children. Further updates would be provided to the Corporate Parenting Board in future meetings to highlight the action plans and progresses made by the service.

Following Discussion, it was RESOLVED:

-        To note the content of the report