Issue - meetings

Report by the Executive Director Terence Herbert.

Cllr Laura Mayes presented the report which provided a year-end report to Cabinet about the performance of the Adoption Service within Wiltshire Council for the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019. The report also informed Cabinet about the effectiveness of Adoption West.

Cllr Mayes explained that it is a requirement of the condition of registration that Cabinet is satisfied the Adoption Agency complies with the conditions of registration, is effective and is achieving good outcomes for children. She commented on the management of the Adoption Service, the role of Adoption West, the Wiltshire Adoption Scorecard, the numbers of children requiring adoptive families and those already placed with families and the recruitment and approval of adopters by Adoption West.

The Cabinet noted that following an Ofsted inspection of Children’s Services in July 2015, which received a decision of Requires Improvement, the Service was now performing well and exceeding national targets in a number of areas. Cllr Mayes and the Leader of the Council thanked all the staff involved in the Adoption Service for their hard work in achieving excellent outcomes for the children in Council care.

Matters highlighted in the course of the discussion included: the national database of adopters; the early preparations for adoption cases with Adoption West; the allocation of placements to suitable adopters outside of the Council boundary; the approach used to work with foster carers with a view to becoming adopters and the rescission of Placement Orders.

Resolved: That the Adoption Service 2018/19 Year End Report is noted and accepted.

Reason for Decision:

Wiltshire Council is an Adoption Agency registered with Ofsted. The 2014 Adoption Minimum Standards (25.6) and 2013 Statutory Guidance (3.93 and 5.39) describe the information that is required to be regularly reported to the executive side of the local authority to provide assurance that the adoption agency is complying with the conditions of registration whilst being effective and achieving good outcomes for children and service users.