Issue - meetings

Report by Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director

Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services presented a report updating Cabinet on the performance of the Wiltshire Adoption Agency for the period 1 April to 30 September 2013. This was to ensure that Cabinet was satisfied that the service was effective and achieving good outcomes for children, young people and service users as required by statute and national minimum standards.

Year on year data indicated a significant increase in the numbers of children deemed suitable of adoption, rising from 15 on 2010/2011 to 38 in 2012/2013. It was expected that Wiltshire would reach the target set of 50 approved adopters for the year 2013/2014. The age of children being adopted was dropping due to good pre-birth protocol, clearer care-planning and timely decisions.

An increase in applications to adopt was attributed to successful recruitment and timely approval.  Cllr Laura Mayes emphasised that there was no room for complacency and that the Council was always focusing on continued improvements to the service.

Resolved:

That Cabinet note the report.

Reason for decision:

The 2011 Statutory Adoption Guidance and the 2011 Adoption Minimum Standards place a requirement on local authority adoption services to ensure that the executive of the Council receives a written report on the management, outcomes and financial state of the adoption agency to satisfy themselves that the agency is effective and is achieving good outcomes for children and/or service users. They must also satisfy themselves that the agency is complying with the conditions of registration (Minimum Standard 25.6; Statutory Adoption Guidance 3.3, and 5.39).