East Midlands Adoption Consortium

APPENDIX D

East Midlands Adoption Consortium

Working agreement between:

The placing agency:
and
The receiving agency:
On behalf of the placing agency
Child care social worker:
Contact number:
Child care team manager:
Contact number:
On behalf of the receiving agency
Adoption social worker:
Contact number:
Adoption team manager:
Contact number:
Acting consortium mediator for
The child’s agency:
The adoptive parent’s agency:
Expectations of partner agencies
This protocol has been agreed by all members of the East Midlands Adoption Consortium to help achieve good interagency placement in which respective roles and responsibilities are clearly defined.
1 / If child care social workers and their managers are inexperienced in making adoption placements, a mentor should be identified to guide staff through the additional complexities relating to an interagency placement
2 / All children who are linked to adoptive parents through the Consortium must have consent to placement either with a Placement Order or a CAFCASS Section19 and preferably Section 20 consent
3 / At the time of the link the placing agency should identify a key worker. Their role will be to act as the main contact point for all arrangements in relation to meetings, Panels, adoption support and placement issues. This role may be undertaken by the adoption social worker, or the child care social worker but the identified person must be a conduit for all communications
4 / The placing agency will identify a preferred adoptive family for a child from the Prospective Adopters’ Report and only that family will be visited until a decision is made whether to proceed to Adoption Panel for the match. If the link is not viable, then the placing agency will pursue an alternative link. The key worker will notify the consortium clerk of the outcome of any exploration of a consortium family
5 / All forms - such as relating to finance, parent responsibility, the Adoption Placement Report - required by the placing agency to progress a match should be supplied by the homefinder to the adoption social worker in the receiving agency. A discussion should also be held in relation to additional documentation and checks which may be required by the placing agency’s Adoption Panel
6 / A comprehensive Adoption Support Plan for the short, medium and long term should be brokered as part of the match to Adoption Panel and this will include the financial resources of the prospective adoptive parent(s). Each agency has different financial support packages which should be explored and agreed, where appropriate, prior to Panel
7 / There is an expectation that a Life Appreciation Day will be arranged for all children who are to be placed under the interagency arrangements
8 / If a link proceeds to matching then clear information should be given to prospective adoptive parents about whether or not they should attend Adoption Panel. If so, a letter of invitation giving date, time, venue and map, at a minimum, should be sent to them, and appropriate support and welcome be given to them on arrival at the child’s agency
9 / An interagency meeting should always be convened and chaired by a manager substantially experienced in adoption from the placing agency. It is likely that BAAF Form H1 will be used for the Interagency Agreement but the BAAF Adoption Placement Plan (often customised by the placing agency) will constitute the agenda for the placement planning meeting
10 / The interagency agreement meeting should make it clear how allegations and incidents relating to safeguarding children will be dealt with by the placing agency including adoption support. This should include the placing agency’s complaints procedure
11 / The placement planning meeting should not take place before the agency decision has been given about the proposed match. It should preferably be chaired by an adoption team manager. However geographical factors may make this impractical. There should always be a midway review/pause and plan meeting. This should be face-to-face to allow everyone, especially the adoptive parents, to consider whether they wish the placement to proceed. The meetings should NOT be in the foster home but at a neutral venue and without the proposed child(ren) present. In most cases, the prospective adoptive parents should not meet the child on the day of the planning meeting.
12 / There is an expectation that life story work is done prior to placement. The Life Story Book and Later Life Letter should be shared and agreed with the prospective adoptive parents and their adoption social worker prior to being presented formally to the family. The adoption agency address of the placing agency should be at the top of the Later Life Letter.
13 / Each agency has views on the matching and placement of children for adoption. Differences should be identified and respected and disputes resolved if possible through negotiation. If they cannot be then the agency mediator should become involved to move the case forward. At no time should the differences become a stress to the prospective adoptive parents or to the children.
14 / There is a fundamental expectation that child care social workers visit, at the very minimum, to statutory requirements, and given this is an interagency placement, it is likely that extra support will be required for a longer period of time. Visits should be:
· Once a week for the first four weeks
· Then every six weeks at a minimum
Good practice would suggest that visits be at least monthly and more often if required.
· The First Review must be held within 28 days
· The visiting pattern of the adoption social worker should also be agreedand co-ordinated with the visiting pattern of the child care social worker
15 / Contact proposals and any necessary support should be clear and identified in the Adoption Support Plan. Contact plans will be reviewed at statutory reviews by the IRO. The final arrangements should be tested with all parties prior to the Adoption Order but certainly before closing the case
16 / The second review should be held within four months of placement. This review should consider the timing of lodging of the application and whether more time is needed before papers for lodging are prepared. This is especially the case for children with more complex needs
17 / Most, but not all, agencies (but not the prospective adoptive parents) lodge the application with a cheque for the court fees, and the Annex A and medicals at the same time. Differences in practice need to be identified in the interagency meeting
18 / After the Adoption Order a signposting letter of post adoption support services, provided by each agency with responsibility for that support, will be sent to the adoptive family by the adoption social worker, when all outstanding work is completed. It is expected the letter will reflect the adoption support package brokered by the child’s social worker from the placing agency
Signed: / child care social worker
on: / day / month / year
Signed: / adoption social worker
on: / day / month / year