Agenda item

Report of the Service Manager Adoption Tees Valley

Vicky Davidson-Boyd, Service Manager, Adoption Tees Valley presented Adoption Tees Valley (ATV) Annual Report 2020/21 and outlined the work that had been undertaken across the Tees Valley during 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021.

It was reported that this was the third annual report of Adoption Tees Valley which was the Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) for the five local authorities Councils of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton.

The Service Manager advised Members that this period had been impacted by the National Covid 19 pandemic and characterised by adoption activity conducted within the amended regulations and restrictions imposed because of the public health emergency.  This brought both challenge and opportunity to work differently across Children’s Services; and the service had trialled new ways of working and implemented practices which had been underpinned by nationally developing adoption practice, and research.

The submitted report highlighted The Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations (2020) which permitted adoption services a range of flexibilities which were outlined in the report; outlined the governance arrangements by a Board comprised of five Directors for Children’s Services of the five Local Authorities within the partnership; set out the National Context of Adoption; gave details of the Early Permanence Strategy which had been collaborative, and had involved key stakeholders with a role in care planning and the placement of children for adoption; outlined the three year review of Adoption Tees Valley which will conclude its findings in September 2021; and provided individual authority performance benchmarking data and analysis of performance.

The submitted report also provided details of marketing and recruitment activities; various data in relation to adopter journey, referrals and placement, characteristics of children placed, adopted support; and the new initiative to support pathway for prospective adopters.

The submitted report also detailed the Quality Assurance mechanisms in place for managing and monitoring the work of the agency, and the quality of work; provided details of the joint budget and support funding available to the ATV; and outlined key development areas for the ATV within the 2021 Service Plan.

Particular reference was made to this local authority performance which had seen fewer children adopted than previous years; the Moving on To Adoption Model adopted by the ATV as a best practice model in some targeted cases; the challenges with managing the volume of Life Story books for children who are placed for adoption and how the ATV can address this issues; the continued employment of an Education Support Worker co-funded by the five local authority Virtual Schools via Department for Education grant funding for children previously in the care of the local authority and 59 families and children had been supported during this year.

Members expressed concern at the delays reported in progressing plans and were advised that Panel Chairs produce a six monthly report for each local authority and were given reassurance that this was not a particular concern in Darlington;  discussed the increase in Stage 1 adopters which did not progress to Stage 2 and how this may have been affected by the Covid pandemic; discussed the investment in marketing to attract the correct adopters for the children in Darlington; and the resource and demand issues related to non-agency, step parent adoptions.

RESOLVED – That the Adoption Tees Valley Annual Report for 2020/21 be noted.