Issue - meetings

Report by Terence Herbert, Corporate Director

Councillor Laura Mayes presented the report which provided a year-end report to Cabinet regarding the performance of the Adoption Service within Wiltshire Council, noting that it is a requirement of the condition of registration, as described in the 2014 Adoption Minimum Standards and 2013 Statutory Guidance, that Cabinet is satisfied the Adoption Agency complies with the conditions of registration, is effective and is achieving good outcomes for children.

Matters highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: the profile of the children in the service; the priorities for the service; the indicators used to measure performance in the last year; the relative performance against the national average; the work to recruit adopters specifically for harder to place children; the approach used to work with foster carers with a view to becoming adopters; and the partnership approach with regional partners, now chaired by Wiltshire’s director, that will be operational in the autumn.

The Leader stated that she was pleased to see the progress made regarding on timeliness of the adoption process, and that this had not been at the expense of the cherished ethos of working hard to place those children with more complex needs.

Resolved

That the contents of the report are 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.