Decision Maker: Cabinet Member for Children and Families
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
(TAKE IN INFORMATION REPORT)
The report was introduced by Jackie Clark, Service Leader for Adoption who said that the numbers of children being adopted were consistent with last year. The adoption recruiter figure for the first two quarters however had dropped this year by 30% and this reflected the national position. Currently Portsmouth recruit adopters from outside of the city so are they competing with other local authorities Southampton, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The proposed regional adoption agency will be in place from October 2018 and one of the benefits of this will be that the four local authorities will all have access to the same pool of adopters, rather than competing for them.
In response to questions the following matters were clarified:
· In terms of looking at the number of children coming into care versus the number leaving approximately 80% 0-13 year olds leave care: 30% 0-5 year olds return home, 30% of 0-5 year olds are placed for adoption and 20% of 0-5 year olds are placed under special guardianship. This takes them out of the care system and PCC offers financial allowances to support adoptive carers and special guardians. For 6-13 year olds 50 % go home, 15% go on to be placed for adoption and 15% under special guardianship. We provide a higher allowance to adopters and special guardians providing placements to 6-13 year olds as their needs are likely to be more challenging. There is a government adoption support fund that can be used to support challenging placements. There are a whole range of allowances that can be utilised to support children coming out of the care system.
· The national picture is that the number of people coming forward to adopt is falling and the adoption leadership team are looking at why this might be. Mrs Newman said that some of the challenges faced by adopters had been reported in the media which might have had an impact on the perception of adoption. The numbers are kept under review so locally have a clear picture of the situation and are hoping the regionalised system will assist.
· PCC have invested in the adoption support service and Portsmouth has done very well in terms of obtaining funds from the adoption support fund in the first two quarters and it is clear we have strong offer in terms of adoption support. PCC is also work closely with neighbouring agencies.
· PCC is investing in reunification and are seeing significant numbers of children 0-13 come into care for a period of time and then return home as a result of the support that has been provided.
· The Regional Adoption Agency planning process includes the Adopter Forum run by Adoption UK. Portsmouth also has a representative cohort that meet regularly who feedback to PCC and the Adoption Forum on what would it would like to see in terms of Portsmouth adopters. There are representatives from each project board and they are very clear on what they do well including providing a personal service. Decision making for each locality will remain with the local authority.
The Cabinet Member added that it is important to note that the focus for PCC is not solely on the financial element, it is always about the best interests of the young people.
The Cabinet Member thanked officers for their reports.
The Cabinet Member noted the report
Report author: Jackie Clark
Publication date: 09/01/2018
Date of decision: 05/12/2017
Decided at meeting: 05/12/2017 - Cabinet Member for Children and Families
Accompanying Documents: