Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Executive.

Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills introduced the report which provided an interim six-month report about the adoption performance within the Families and Children’s Service of Wiltshire Council.

Cllr Mayes explained that it was a statutory requirement that regular assurance reports are provided regarding the Council’s responsibility for the adoption of children. For this reporting period the main area of focus being in relation to the Service and outcomes for Wiltshire’s children who need to be adopted, ensuring that appropriate matches are made and that children move to live with their adoptive families in a timely way. In doing this, it is necessary to consider the effectiveness of Adoption West, the partnership organisation that has responsibility for recruiting, assessing and approving adopters for Wiltshire children. The Cabinet noted details about adoption orders for quarters 1 and 2, that the Council continues to work closely with Adoption West and details about comparative performance showing continued improvement.

Cllr Graham Wright, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee reported that Cllr John Hubbard, Chair of Adoption West Joint Scrutiny Panel would provide an update once the Scrutiny Panel had met on 20 January 2021.

In response to a question from Cllr Gavin Grant, officers confirmed that Adoption West had placed children with Wiltshire families from neighbouring Authorities from within the Adoption West boundary, details of the number of placements would be included in future six monthly reports.

Resolved: That the Adoption Service 2020/21 Q1-2 6 month report be noted and adopted.

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.