Merton Adoption and Permanence Service Statement of Purpose May 2017
Issue Date / Author / Date Of the Next Review / Lead officerMay 2017 / Sarah Daly / April 2018 / Paul Angeli
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Values and Principles
3 Organisational structure of the adoption service
4 Inter Team and Inter Agency Working
5 Adoption Service Users
6 Adoption Services Provided
7 The Adoption Process for Agency Adoptions
8 The Adoption, Fostering and Permanence Panel
9 Complaints and feedback
1. Introduction - Why Merton provides a statement of purpose
The National Minimum Standards for Adoption set out the requirements for adoption agencies to compile a statement detailing what services are provided, the governing principles and who manages and provides the services.
The statement of purpose is for:
• Children and young people
• Birth relatives
• Prospective and approved adoptive families
• Social workers working within Merton and in other authorities
• Councillors
• Adoption and permanence panel members
• Ofsted
• Members of the public
The Merton Local Authority acts as an Adoption Agency. Merton’s’ statement of purpose is reviewed regularly and updated at least annually to include changes in the agency.
The Statement of Purpose is available to anyone working for the purposes of the adoption service, to children who may be adopted and their parents and legal guardians, to anyone wishing to adopt and to adopted persons and their families.
The Statement of Purpose is also available on the Merton website at:
http://www.merton.gov.uk/health-social-care/children-family-health-social-care/fostering-adoption/adoption/statement-of-purpose.htm
2. Values and Principles
London Borough of Merton shares the values and principles that underpin the National Minimum Standards for Adoption.
· The child is the focus of the service and the child’s welfare, safety and needs are at the centre of the adoption process.
· Children are entitled to grow up as part of a loving family that can meet their developmental needs during childhood and beyond.
· Adopted children should have an enjoyable childhood, and benefit from excellent parenting and education, enjoying a wide range of opportunities to develop their talents and skills leading to a successful adult life.
· Children’s wishes and feelings are important and will be acitvely sought and fully taken into account at all stages of the adoption process. No child should be considered too young to express their feelings, verablly or non-verbally, and age appropriate methods of communication should be used.
· Delays should be avoided as they can have a severe impact on the health and development of the children waiting to be adopted.
· A sense of identity is important to a child’s well-being. To help children develop this, their ethnic origin, cultural background, religion, language and sexuality need to be properly recognised and positively valued and promoted.
· The particular needs of disabled children and complex needs will be fully recognised and taken into account.
· Children, birth parents/guardians and families and adoptive parents and families will be valued and respected.
· Positive significant relationships in a child’s life are acknowledged and are preserved through appropriate contact arrangements
· A positive partnership between all those involved in adoption is essential to deliver best outcomes for children; this includes the Government, local government, members of the Consortium, other statutory agencies, Voluntary Adoption Agencies and Adoption Support Agencies.
· Adoption is a life-long commitment with far-reaching consequences for those who are affected. This is recognised by all involved in delivering adoption services.
· Adoption services are delivered in a sensitive way and confidentiality is respected.
3. The Organisational Structure of the Adoption Service:
There is a history of cooperation an a pooling of resources between Merton, Sutton, Kingston and Richmond, all part of the South West London Adoption Consortium.
Merton Adoption Service is located within the Children’s Social Care and Youth Inclusion Division of the Children’s Schools and Families Directorate. The DCS is the Registered Adoption Provider and the Agency Decision Maker (ADM) is the Assistant Director CSC & YI in Merton.
Table 1: Management Structure May 2017
Name / DesignationYvette Stanley / Director Children’s Services
Paul Angeli / Assistant Director CSC & YI
(ADM for Merton)
Sarah Daly / Head of Service - Looked After Children
Sam Quartey / Adoption Team Mananger
Eva Lindsay / QA Manager Permanence
The Merton Adoption and Permanence Team are based in the Civic Centre, Morden. All of the Adoption Social Workers based in the team are qualified and very experienced in their filed of social work. They are also qualified under the Restriction on the Preparation of Adoption Reports Regulations 2005, as they have all been qualified for at least 3 years and have the required experience in adoption work.
Table 2: Team Structure April 2016
Name / DesignationSarah Daly / Head of Service – Looked Afer Children
SanDee Kitson / Team Manager
Caitlin Greenwood / Adoption Social Worker
Stefanie Ahlemann / Adoption Social Worker
Rebecca Peters / Adoption Social Worker
Sarah Hopkins / Adoption Social Worker
Elaine Knight / Adoption Social Worker
Michelle Herbst / Post Adoption Support Social Worker
Candice Siddle / Recruitment and Publicity Officer
Jo Wedlake / Finance and Records Officer
Kit Eaves / Business Support Officer
In line with Merton’s policy and guidelines all staff receive regular supervision and as the team is accommodated in an open plan office, the manager is available for consultation and advice in between planned supervision sessions. Staff have annual appraisals and their training needs are regularly reviewed and they are actively encoraged to seek further training both internally and externally. Staff are expected to share learning outcomes to benefit the team and when relevant with social workers in the wider service. Most of the Adoption Social Workers hold Post Qualifying Awards. The majority of the
social workers within the team are appointed at Senior Social Work level reflecting their practice experience and proficiency.
The Adoption Team can be contacted directly at:
Adoption and Permanence Team
London Borough of Merton
11th Floor Merton Civic Centre
London Road
Morden SM4 5DX
020 8545 4688
4. Inter Team and Inter Agency Working
The Adoption and Permanency Team is committed to keeping the child at the centre of our work. To achieve this we strive to ensure that we maintain good working relationships with colleagues in the Safeguarding and Care Planning Teams, LAC Permanence and Fostering Teams. The team is accessible and approachable and through Permanence and Care Planning Meeting become involved in permanence planning for children at an early stage to ensure that when appropriate adoption is achevied in a timely manner and is a positive outcome.
London Borough Merton work closely with our partner agencies in the South West London Adoption Consortium. This consists of the London Boroughs of Merton, Sutton, Kingston and Richmond. The Consortium aims to develop joint initiatives to improve practice and to speed up the process of adoption for children in member boroughs. These arrangements include a shared duty system, sharing information about children and details of approved adopters waiting for placement, participation in joint advertising and recruitment initiatives, as well as developing and sharing good practice. The members also pool resources to enable the provision of a more comprehensive range of adoption support services for children and for adults.
For children we are not able to place within the SWLA Consortium we avoid unessecary delay by referring directly to the National Adoption Register and concurrently approach other Local Authority Adoption Agencies, including specialist Voluntary Adoption Agencies.
5. Adoption Service Users
Adoption Services are provided for:
· Children whose care plans are adoption or are likely to become adoption
· Birth relatives of children whose care plan is adoption
· Birth parents who are considering relinquishing their baby/child
· Prospective and approved adopters
· Children and adoptive parents who require adoption support services
· Adopted adults and members of their birth families
· Colleagues within Merton and in other agencies
6. Adoption Services Provided
Children needing adoptive placements
We are committed to providing the best possible outcomes for the children in our care and for those children who cannot return to their birth families. We strive to provide safe, secure, loving and permanent substitute families. For those children who have or are likely to have an ‘adoption plan’, the Adoption and Permanency Team recruits and asesses prospective adopters who can meet the needs of those children.
We place a relatively small number of children for adoption each year and the profile of children needing adoption placements continues to be diverse, and as a result we need to recruit a wide range of adopters to meet the different needs of our children. Whilst we have an ongoing need to identify adoptive placements for babaies we also need to recruit adopters who will consider older children, sibling groups, children whose future development is uncertain and those from black and minority ethnic groups. The children being placed will have experienced some level of neglect and or abuse and many will have developmental delay.
Adoption Support Services
Working with our Consortium partners, the Adoption and Permanency Team provides a comprehensive and continually developing range of adoption support services for children, adoptive parents, birth relatives and anyone who has been affected by adoption. This includes counselling, information and advice, support groups, training courses and workshops and access to birth records.
We administer a confidential information exchange (Letter Box) service to facilitate indirect contact between birth families and adoptive parents on behalf of their children and we also facilitate, support and supervise direct contact arrangements and review such arrangements to ensure that they continue to be in the best interest of the child.
Adoptive families, adopted adults or birth relatives can request assessment of needs at anytime pre or post adoption. The Adoption Social Worker undertakes the assessment and if appropriate draws up a support plan. The range of services that we offer includes advice, counselling, theraplay sessions, accessing records or referral onto more intensive therapeautic support. Where appropriate the Adoption and Permanency Team make referrals to the Adoption Support Fund.
Non Agency Adoptions:
Intercountry Adptions
We encourge all enquirers to consider domestic adoptions and we will provide information and advice about this. For Merton residents who remain interested in pursuing an Intercountry Adoption we refer to the Intercountry Adoption Centre (IAC), a
specialist Registered Adoption Agenct. Prospective adopters attend the Adoption Information Meeting at IAC and are also supported through Intercountry Preparation Groups.
Step-parent and kinship adoptions
Merton residents who enquire about other non-agency adoptions, usually step-parent or kinship enquiries, are given information by the Adoption Duty Officer or they can view information on our website. If appropriate they are offered an office appointment to discuss their specific circumestances and advised about procedures and about the status of non-related children.
The relevant assessment, statutory checks and court reports are undertaken in non-agenct adoptions when the applicant has given notification of their intention to apply to adopt. This includes step-parent adoptions, adoptions of a close relative such as a niece, nephew or grandchild and children who have been adopted in another country and the adoption is not recognised in the UK.
7. The Adoption Process for Agency Adoptions
Under the Adoption Reform programme, the new recruitment and assessment process with shorter timescales was introduced in July 2013.
Recruitment
Our recruitment strategy is transparent and inclusive and we welcome applicants from all sectors of the community and do not discriminate on grounds of age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, religion or disability. Our strategy is flexible, constantly subject to review and reflects the divers and often complex needs of the children who need an adoptive family. The recruitment strategy is updated on an annual basis.
Anyone interested in becoming an adoptive parent is treated fairly, without prejudice and with respect. Merton is a relatively small agency, and we need to prioritise the needs of the children and try to attract applications from and target prospective adopters who are best able to meet the needs of children with a care plan of adoption. The profile of the children in Merton is diverse and we need adopters for older children, children with disabilities or with very uncertain development, siblings and children from black and ethnic minority groups.
Pre-Registration Stage
We have some telephone enquiries but increasingly most initial enquiries come via the website. An initial telephone discussion is undertaken by the duty officer, and if required written information about the adoption process is sent out (enquirers are also given information about the National Adoption Gateway – first4adoption).
After the preliminary discussion and reading the information pack, anyone wishing to learn more about adoption is invited to an Adoption Information Meeting. This gives prospective adopters the chance to hear more about adoption, to ask any questions and also have the opportunity of hearing from experienced adopters. For those who wish to proceed further a telephone screening takesd place to assess their suitablilty, prioir to offering an inital visit at the applicants home.
Stage 1 Assessment
After completion of the initial pre-registration stage, prospective adopters are invited to submit a ‘Registration of Interest’ and they can begin Stage 1 of the adoption process. This stage is very much adopter led and should be completed in 2 months. It is a time to do more research while statutory checks and references are taken out (including medicals and DBS checks). If all checks are satisfactory, applicants will progress to stage 2 of the process.
During stage 1 of the process the applicants will complete the preparation training.
The preparation training course gives perspective adopters the opportunity of exploring all aspects of adoption today and they are able to consider adoption from many different perspectives. They are able to hear directly from adopters, adoptees and birth relatives.
Stage 2 Assessment
Applicants can take a break for up to 6 months between stage 1 and 2.
The home study, a very thorough and detailed assessment is also completed at this stage. This process may seem intrusive, but is essential for the welfare and safety of children, that a consistent and searching assessment is conducted. This assessment should ensure that adopters are realistic, have the capacity to meet the needs of any child placed with them, and that they are able to respond to the lifelong issues associated with adoption.