To review the effectiveness of the adoption service and to approve the adoption service statement of purpose. 

The cabinet member for young people and children’s wellbeing introduced the report. He noted that the adoption service was performing well and had been judged as good at its most recent inspection by Ofsted. A total of 29 children were adopted in 2015/16 which was an unprecedented number. The cabinet member stated that the council should be proud of the reputation of its adoption service but that it should not be complacent. He noted that the work of the service supported objectives in the children and young people’s plan and reduced costs to the council.

The adoption service manager outlined the adoption process. She explained the stages each child would go through and noted that adoption would only proceed if it was demonstrably in the best interests of the child. Court proceedings were sometimes lengthy and it could take time to find suitable adopters, especially when the child had complex needs. As a result the manager noted that the figures in the report represented a snapshot of the point children had reached in the process. Some of the children who had adoption orders granted in 2015/16 would have first been considered for adoption in previous years.

The adoption service manager reported that overall there had been a national downturn in the number of children approved for adoption by the courts but that Herefordshire had seen an increase over the same period. The number of people coming forward as potential adopters had decreased both nationally and locally.

The cabinet member for health and wellbeing welcomed the report and congratulated the service on their performance. She noted the positive benefits for the children concerned and for the council in terms of lower draw on resources. She encouraged officers to continue working towards an outstanding rating in future inspections.

A group leader asked which agencies were responsible for cases failing to meet the target for stage 1 of the process and what the reasons were. The adoption service manager explained that at stage 1 the council would request information on potential adopters which included criminal records checks from relevant police forces, medical reports and references from a range of different sources. She stated that as stage 1 was adopter led the onus was on the potential adopter to provide the information requested. She reported that in general checks with the local police force were completed promptly but that where a potential adopter had lived outside the area or abroad this could take much longer.

A group leader asked how many cases that reached court were refused. The head of looked after children replied that although precise details were not at hand the numbers were very small as it was usual to reach that stage in the process without having explored all other avenues.

The cabinet member for infrastructure asked if cases of siblings needing adoption presented a particular problem and what the impact could be if placements broke down. The head of looked after children responded that it was sometimes difficult to find  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64