Issue - meetings

Report by Terence Herbert, Corporate Director

Councillor Laura Mayes presented the report which provided an interim six-month update regarding the performance of the Adoption Service within Wiltshire Council to enable Cabinet, as required by statute, to satisfy itself that: the Adoption Agency complies with the conditions of registration, is effective and is achieving good outcomes for children.

In response to a question from the Leader, Councillor Laura Mayes that the Council remained committed to finding families for all children even those with more complex needs that were harder to place, and that this was done, in part, by targeting recruitment at potential adopters with the right capacity to take in these cases.

In response to ongoing concerns expressed by Councillor John Hubbard in his capacity as Chair of the Children’s Select Committee, Councillor Laura Mayes stated that she believed that maintaining scrutiny of the service was essential as it transferred to a regional partnership.

Councillor Alan Hill, Vice-Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee, encouraged Councillor Hubbard to raise the issue of continuing scrutiny at the next meeting of the Committee.

In response to a question from Councillor Ian Thorn, Councillor Laura Mayes stated that some children are fostered by families ahead of a final decision to adopt in a process termed ‘twin tracking’.

The Leader joined Councillor Mayes and Hubbard in seeking to record the meeting’s thanks for the extraordinary job undertaken by officers on behalf of children and families who are supported by the adoption service.

Resolved

1.          That the contents of the report are noted and accepted.

2.          To record the thanks for the meeting to all the officers who work extraordinarily hard to provide an excellent service

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.