Permanency Planning Adoption Panel and Placement Orders

Chapter 4 Permanency Planning – Adoption Panel and Placement Orders

4 Permanency Planning – Adoption Panel and Placement Orders...... 4 4.1 The Time Scales for Permanency Planning 4 4.2 Summary of Procedure to Adoption Panel and Placement Order...... 6 4.2.1 The Manager’s Tasks in the Adoption Process....8 4.2.2 The Child’s Current Carers...... 8 4.3 Permanency Planning...... 9 4.3.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Placement Choices 11 4.3.2 Contingency, Twin Tracking and Concurrent Planning13 4.3.3 Care Proceedings and Adoption Decisions...... 14 4.3.4 The Adoption Plan...... 15 4.3.5 Permanency Plan Contact Arrangements...... 15 4.4 The Adoption File...... 21 4.4.1 Adoption File prior to the child being placed...... 21 4.4.2 Adoption File at the point of adoption placement. 22 4.4.3 Access to Information in the Adoption File...... 26 4.5 Counselling and Informing the Child...... 27 4.5.1 Birth Siblings...... 28 4.5.2 Child’s Guide to Adoption...... 28 4.5.3 Talking to a Child About Permanency and Preparation for Permanency – Life Story Work...... 29 4.6 Counselling and information for birth parents...... 34 4.6.1 Birth Parent Experience...... 34 4.6.2 Birth Families...... 35 4.6.3 Consent to Adoption...... 35 4.6.4 Cultural, religious and national differences of adoption 36 4.6.5 Parental involvement with Adoption Process...... 36 4.6.6 Birth Parents in Contested Adoption...... 37 4.6.7 Contact and Birth Families...... 38 4.6.8 Absent Parents or undisclosed birth fathers...... 38 Children and Families Policies and Procedures Manual

4.7 The Adoption Panel...... 40 4.7.1 Adoption Panel Information...... 41 4.7.2 Attending Adoption Panel...... 42 4.7.3 Agency Decision Making...... 43 4.8 Child’s Permanency Report...... 45 4.8.1 Guidance on filling in the Child Permanency Report 46 4.8.2 Quality Assuring Adoption Panel Material...... 49 4.8.3 Education Report for Adoption Panel...... 50 4.9 Adoption Panel Medical...... 50 4.10 Adoption Support Plan...... 51 4.10.1 Financial Support and Adoption...... 52 4.10.2 Circumstances in which Financial Support can be paid 53 4.10.3 National Adoption Register Application...... 55 4.11 Relinquishing a Baby – the Process...... 56 4.12 Placement Orders prior to Adoption Placement...... 59 4.12.1 LAC Reviews – Prior to Placement...... 59 4.12.2 LAC Placement Order reviews after 6 months...60 4.12.3 Placement Order and parental responsibility...... 60 4.12.4 Placement Order and Contact...... 61 4.13 Changing the Adoption Plan...... 63 4.13.1 Rescinding an Adoption Plan...... 63 4.14 A Child in a Non Agency Adoption...... 63 4.15 Appendix...... 65 4.15.1 Documents...... 65 4.15.2 Forms...... 65

SIT/CA/Adoption Manual/May 2011 2 Permanency Planning vol. 3 Adoption

The manual is gradually being revised in the light of new Regulations, Guidance and Minimum Standards. Please contact a member of the Adoption Service Management Team if you have any questions:

Adoption Service, Floor 2 Castle Market Building Exchange Street Sheffield, S1 2AY

Telephone: 0114 2734601 Fax: 0114 2734492 Email: [email protected]

SIT/CA/Adoption Manual/May 2011 3 Children and Families Policies and Procedures Manual

4 Permanency Planning – Adoption Panel and Placement Orders

This chapter will look at:  how to assess a child’s needs for permanency;  the decision making process leading to a child having an agreed plan for adoption;  the role of the birth parents in the decision to plan for adoption;  children on Placement Orders but not yet living with adopters. 4.1 The Time Scales for Permanency Planning

Timescales are based on the best practice performance of agencies inspected in Adopting Changes and other research to ensure that children do not drift in care, in recognition of the impact of delay on developmental outcomes.

The primary goals of timescales are to ensure that the needs of the child are met and that enquiries from prospective carers are responded to promptly and fairly.

Children

 Before the four-month Looked After Children Review the child’s social worker must have agreed with their team manager which permanence option they will be pursuing – this may include a twin tracking plan. This needs to be written on the child’s file and both worker and team manager need to sign this plan. Where it is not possible to make a permanency plan at this stage the reasons for this decision or delay should be recorded on the child’s case file.

 A plan for permanence must be established for all looked after children no later than the four-month statutory review. If after this review the child’s social worker wishes to change the permanency plan, the new plan must be brought back to a LAC Review. It would be appropriate to hold an early review if this was the case.

 Where the agency is unable to make a permanency plan at this stage the reasons for this decision or delay should be recorded on the child’s case file.

 Clear timescales will be set for achieving the plan, which will be appropriately monitored and reviewed on a three-monthly basis and at every statutory review. The court process may delay the process, and should be factored into the plan.

 Where adoption has been identified as the plan for the child, the Adoption Panel will need to make its recommendation within the next two months. Court procedures must be made aware of the adoption timetable.

 The Adoption Panel should receive all necessary information from the agency within six weeks of the completion of the child’s permanence report.

4.2 Summary of Procedure to Adoption Panel and Placement Order

 In supervision, agree a Permanency Plan within 4 months of the child becoming looked after. This should be recorded on a supervision record with a manager’s signature. Where it is not possible to establish a permanency plan this should be recorded on a supervision record with the reasons for the delay.

 The 4-month LAC Review agrees the permanency plan (this could happen at an earlier review). When adoption or twin tracking are the preferred plan the following tasks should be undertaken.

 Refer child to Adoption Panel via the adoption panel clerks in Family Placements Unit.

 Start recording information on a child’s permanency report at this stage.

 The adoption plan should be reviewed and updated every three months through LAC Review and CIN processes.

 Ensure Legal Services are clear about the proposed care plan.

 Provide information to birth parents, including leaflet on Information for Birth Parents on Adoption, and Adoption Contact Register Information.

 Send a letter to the birth parent explaining that adoption is the plan, and outlining the decision making process. The letter should record that information on adoption and the adoption contact register was provided to the birth parent.

 Where appropriate refer birth parents to After Adoption

 Establish Adoption File

 Work with the child and their current carer on life story and preparation for permanency. Establish the child’s wishes and feelings.

 Complete panel requirements – child’s permanency report; adoption support assessment - assess child’s likely future needs; ensure adoption medical completed. Two copies of child’s permanency report are required. (see 4.7.1)

 Family finders establish if any in house adopters are available to the child. If no matches are evident they will arrange with the social worker a meeting to plan family finding.

 Completion of all court assessments with the conclusion that adoption continues to be the appropriate plan.

 Present child to adoption panel for recommendation of the adoption plan. No longer than Two months after the LAC Review decision for adoption.

 You will be informed of the Agency Decision Makers’ Decision within 7 working days of the panel meeting. You will need to inform the child and birth parent orally within two working days. You should then send written notification within 5 working days.

 You will need to give the child the ‘Child’s Guide to Adoption’ and if appropriate ‘Talking Adoption’. Work with the child to ensure their understanding of adoption.

 Write Court Placement Order Application and Statement of Facts.

 Change the timing of LAC Reviewing on the granting of the Placement Order – hold a LAC Review 3 months after Order and then within 6 months of that Review.

 Change contact arrangements to reflect Placement Order.

 Discuss in supervision the extent to which birth parents can exercise parental responsibility. Explain the change to the birth parents of parental responsibility as a result of Placement Order

4.2.1 The Manager’s Tasks in the Adoption Process

The child’s social work manager is identified as being responsible for the following tasks:  The overall co-ordination of the plan, including the work of other agencies, including Health and Education;  Evaluating whether specified objectives have been met;  Evaluating whether the timescales have been adhered to;  Authorising resources;  Quality assuring and approving all reports and plans for the child;  Attending adoption panel;  Ensuring that each looked after child for whom adoption is the plan has a named social worker responsible for developing a relationship with them.

Supervision in the adoption process is vital: supervision records need to be used to record the decision making process and reasoning. It is also important to ensure issues of anti oppressive practice are addressed and the child remains the focus in the process. 4.2.2 The Child’s Current Carers

Adoption can fail due to poorly supported or under involved foster carers. It is important that the child’s current carers are as fully involved in the process as possible. Current carers’ views should be explicitly sought in relation to the plan for adoption and recorded.

They will need to be supported in answering children’s questions about adoption and the likely question about why they can’t stay with the foster carer.

Giving foster carers time away from the children to talk to you about the adoption plan is important. We need them to separate positively from the children and support the children onto the next stage of their lives.

4.3 Permanency Planning The task of the social worker is to assess the child’s needs and make plans to secure their future. When alternative permanent care is being considered for a child, it is vital a good assessment of their current needs and potential future needs is undertaken.

The Framework of Assessment and the APIR model of social work should be maintained and followed with children needing permanency options. The assessment can be usefully supplemented through the use of Daniel and Wassell’s series of books called Assessing and Promoting Resilience in Vulnerable Children. These books provide guidance on completing meaningful assessments on children and importantly offer interventions to improve the outcomes for children. The The Early Years, Permanency Planning Notes for Practitioners (Harnott and Assessing and Humpherys 2004 – www.elsc.org.uk) provides information on Promoting assessing resilience and attachment. Resilience in Vulnerable Children. Permanence is a framework of emotional, physical and legal Daniel.B and conditions that gives the child a sense of security, continuity, Wassell.S. (2002) commitment and identity. Children stress the importance to them Jessica Kinsley, of having a sense of belonging, which permanence offers. London.

 Achieving permanence for a child will be a key consideration This book is available from the day the child becomes looked after. In most from the Information situations planning for permanence will mean the provision and Knowledge of services to support the child in the long term with their Officer. birth parents.

 The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families provides a systematic way of analysing, understanding and recording what is happening to a child within their family and wider community, and allows the necessary clear professional judgements to be made.

 The objective of planning for permanence is to ensure children have a secure, stable and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond. A spectrum of options exists, all of which can deliver high quality outcomes for individual children. The planning process will identify which option is most likely to meet the needs of the individual child and takes account of their views and feelings. More than one option may be worked at the same time – this is called twin tracking.

Permanency Options

Continuing care by birth parents – this may be enabled by a single or multi-agency package of support, which could include, for example, a family support service or, for a child with a disability, regular respite with a Short Breaks Foster Carer.

Returning home to birth parents – LAC(98) 20 stressed For research evidence the need to get the balance right between efforts to see Rowe et al Long rehabilitate the child with the family, and recognition of the Term Foster Care importance of time in the child’s life. Care plans need to be (1994), Wulczyn & established and implemented in a timely manner, so George Foster Care avoiding delay that could further damage the child. Task in New York (1992) centred fostering plays a key role in delivering effective and Hatmaker Project rehabilitation plans. Refresh (1999). Care with wider family and friends (kinship care including informal arrangements, private fostering, adoption/residence/special guardianship orders and long term fostering) – throughout the assessment process the potential strengths and support of the wider family and friends network will be considered. Research supports the view that children’s placement satisfaction and sense of security is greater when placed within the network of their family and friends. Kinship care options must always be considered for children who cannot live with birth parents. These can be legally secured by an Adoption Order/ Residence Order/Special Guardianship Order.

Adoption – research evidence indicates that adoption is an effective option for looked after children who are not able to return to their birth parents or live in a kinship care The research evidence arrangement, as it offers a legally permanent new family, to is summarised in which they will belong all their lives. Children whose birth Tresiliotis et al family/kinship networks cannot provide them with a secure, Adoption, Theory and stable and permanent home are entitled to have adoption Practice (1997) considered for them. Adoption will be the usual placement London, pp 19 – 28. choice for children requiring alternative permanent care who are ten years of age or under. See also Parker (Ed) Adoption Now: Permanent fostering – can provide for older children and messages from young people with strong links to birth families, who do not research (1999). want or need the formality of adoption.

Residential care – will continue to be an option for older children, unwilling or unable to participate in family life, who can benefit from group living.

4.3.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Placement Choices

Residence Orders

Advantages: Kinship Care  main route to secure legally a placement with a Research kinship carer  grants parental responsibility to the carer for the Kinship Care Broad, B. duration of the order whilst retaining parental 2002 Childright no.192 responsibility with birth parents  prevents entry to or discharges child from public care Kinship Foster Care system Flynn R 2000 National  contact can be arranged through granting of a Childrens Bureau Section 8 Contact Order if parties cannot agree the arrangements

Disadvantages  it is revocable and therefore may not secure permanence  no statutory obligation to provide post order support  it usually ceases to have effect at age 16 unless there is a reason agreed by the Court that it should continue until age 18  financial support in Sheffield is discretionary outside public law proceedings

Special Guardianship Order

Advantages  route to secure legally a placement with a kinship carer or local authority carer  grants parental responsibility to the carer for the duration of the order to the exclusion of all other holders of parental responsibility.  Birth parents retain parental responsibility and therefore child’s link to the birth family.  prevents entry to or discharges child from public care system  Statutory obligation to assess need for post order support where children where looked after  Financial support can be provided under certain circumstances  contact can be arranged through granting of a Section 8 Contact Order if parties cannot agree the arrangements

Disadvantages

 it is revocable and therefore may not secure permanence Research on Adoption and Fostering Adoption Orders

Barth, R.P 1997 Advantages Effects of age and  provides a legally permanent placement into race on the odds adulthood of adoption versus  grants parental responsibility to the adopter reaming in long  discharges child from the public care system term out of home  it is irrevocable care. Child  new requirement upon adoption agencies to review Welfare (US) Vol contact agreements post order although final 76, No 2. decision making remains with adopter  provides for adoption allowances in some Black, D 1990 circumstances What do children  new statutory obligation to provide post order support need from as and when needed parents? Adoption and Disadvantages Fostering Vol 14. No1  involves a complete and permanent legal separation from birth family Adoption and permanence for Fostering children who cannot live safely Advantages with birth parents  provides a placement choice for older children with or relatives. strong attachments to birth family Quality protects  provides an ongoing source of support to carers research-briefing  usually provides ongoing face to face contact with number birth family 5 RIP Disadvantages Importance of  poor outcomes for children in the public care system stability  carers do not have parental responsibility Quality protects  child is not a legal member of the family research-briefing  high risk of breakdown in adolescence number 2 RIP The child’s social worker will need to assess which of the above permanency options meet the needs of a child. This assessment will in part be a process of justifying why the other options are not suitable, but also will build a picture of the child’s social and emotional development, which will have been strongly influenced by their early childhood experiences, and the quality and security of their attachments to adult caregivers.

The LAC Review process, and information gathered through the core assessment process, will be vital to reaching a thorough assessment decision.

In cases related to any child under 10 who cannot live with birth parents, adoption or kinship care should always be the first consideration.

4.3.2 Contingency, Twin Tracking and Concurrent Planning

There has been some confusion about the terminology related to Concurrent Planning, Contingency Planning and Twin Tracking. Sheffield City Council use the terms used in Lowe and Murch – The Plan for the Child (2002).

All children should have a Contingency Plan as part of their Permanency Plan: this describes what will happen in the Permanency Plan fails. This is required by court when preparing a Care Plan. It should address for example the plan if no adopters are available.

Twin Tracking is the process in which adoption and return to birth parents/birth relatives are worked alongside each other. This is aimed at minimising the delay for the child and reducing the number of moves they experience.

Where the assessment identifies that parents/birth relatives may be unlikely to make and sustain the necessary changes in parenting, active adoption plans should be made to avoid delay in securing a permanent family for the child. Birth parents need to be informed that the two plans (rehabilitation and alternative permanence) are being made to meet the child’s needs and prevent unnecessary delay. The primacy of the rehabilitation plan should be stressed. However, the Adoption Panel cannot hear the case for a recommendation of an adoption until all assessments are completed at which point the rehabilitation to the birth family will need to have been ruled out.

Retaining the co-operation and involvement of the birth parents is essential to successful plans.

If you have made a decision for adoption and are involved in legal proceedings, it is important you identify this as the plan to your solicitor as the case will need to move into the County Court for the final hearing, as only they can issue Placement

Orders. This must be taken into consideration when timetabling the case.

If you are Twin Tracking the case issues of confidentiality must be considered when sharing identifying information about the child and birth family with prospective adopters. Care is required with confidentiality, as at this stage the court has not agreed the Care Plan.

Concurrent Planning is when a child is placed with foster carers who are potential adopters. The social worker will also work with the birth parents to a tight rehabilitation plan. If this rehabilitation plans fails the child will be adopted by the foster carers. It is important the foster carers are supported and trained to manage this type of arrangement. There are a few inderpendent fostering agencies who provide this service.

4.3.3 Care Proceedings and Adoption Decisions The introduction of the Placement Order means the local authority may not place children for adoption on Care Orders. A Placement Order is required by the local authority in order to place a child in an adoptive home unless birth parents formally consent.

A court may not make a Placement Order in respect of a child unless:  The child is subject to a care order,  The court is satisfied that the conditions in section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 are met or:  The child has no parent or guardian.

A Placement Order cannot be applied for unless the local authority is ‘satisfied’ that the child ought to be placed for adoption. Being ‘satisfied’ means that the adoption panel has made a recommendation that the child should be placed for adoption and the agency decision maker has agreed with the recommendation for adoption.

The Adoption Panel will require that the local authority have all information available to make the adoption recommendation on the child. This means all court assessments including viability assessments should be concluded before the child is presented to panel. Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 Guidance, Adoption Panel cannot make and ‘in principle decision or recommendation’.

All court timetables should include the recognition of the appropriate and available date for Adoption Panel after the completion of all court assessments. Adoption panel will need to have heard the case prior to the Placement Order hearing.

If assessments are being delayed, or new assessments are required, or other circumstances which mean the information would not be available to adoption panel, an alternative adoption panel date should be sought. Discussion with legal services and the service manager for Family Placements will be able to advise about action required.

When a local authority is involved in court processes it can apply for a Care Order, and then at a later stage a Placement Order, or only a Placement Order at the final hearing, or both a Care Order and Placement Order at the final hearing. 4.3.4 The Adoption Plan

Where a LAC Review agrees that adoption is the preferred option for permanency, the care plan should be re-written as an The template for adoption, and the Adoption Plan template completed. the Adoption plan is available  The objectives of the plan and key tasks – this could on the G: Drive include life story work, writing the Child’s Permanency in the Adoption Report, support for the birth parent. section of the children’s forms  The timescales for achieving the plan. folder.

 Those responsible for implementing the plan and the prospective roles of others.

 Contingency Plan – what will happen if things get delayed or the plans fail. It is a fall back plan which has been thought through and decided upon.

This plan will be added to throughout the process of the adoption. It should be kept on the Child’s Adoption File and presented to LAC Reviews alongside the Care Plan.

The adoption plan will be replaced with an ICS Adoption Plan once the ICS system is introduced. 4.3.5 Permanency Plan Contact Arrangements Contact arrangements will need to be reviewed in the LAC Review once a Permanency Plan has been agreed. It is likely the original contact arrangements were to support a

rehabilitation home plan, the purpose of contact will therefore change when a permanency plan has been made. This will be dependent upon the status of the case within the court proceedings; court directions may be needed to change the contact arrangements. Contact should be changed gradually and careful observations made of the effect of the change on the child. The change should go hand in hand with the increased understand of permanency plans by the child. When you are reviewing the contact the following factors should be considered:

 Lessons from existing contact plan about the nature and importance of the relationships that the child has with family members and other significant individuals  Where these relationships are of such significances that they need to be protected and sustained in order to meet the child’s needs  The child’s view of maintaining contact  The views of birth parents and birth family. As the child develops and their needs change, so will their need in relation to contact. All involved should be clear that contact will change dependent on the child’s needs and the status of the adoption plan.

The court process may affect changes in the contact plan. It is important that legal advice is sought about changing contact plans.

4.3.5.1 Contact Under a Placement Order The Placement Order Care Plan should include a section describing the local authority’s plan for contact. Under the Children Act 1989 there is a presumption in favour of contact. Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 there is no presumption in favour or against contact, therefore the local authority needs to explain what contact it is proposing, and for what purpose, in the Care Plan presented to court for the Placement Order. This should look at contact with birth parents, birth siblings, birth family and any other significant adults in the child’s life.

A Placement Order gives you permission to place the child for adoption. Therefore your contact plan should reflect this plan, describing the purpose of any proposed contact. This may include indirect contact alongside direct contact. A gradual reduction in contact should in most cases be planned from the making of the Placement Order. Throughout the plan clear opportunities to review the contact should be identified i.e. LAC Reviews.

4.3.5.2 Contact in Adoption

Adoptions have taken place since the beginning of human history. However, until the 1900s, in European culture they were generally informal, community-based arrangements. Birth parents had on going relationships with their children and carers. This continues in many African and Asian cultures. In European culture confidentiality and separation from birth Further details on parents became part of adoption, in response to the stigma contact can be surrounding illegitimate births. found in Staying Connected – Argent However, research that started in the 1980s recognised the et al BAAF2002 need for adopted children to understand their past and that many of them had relationships with their families prior to Permanency moving into adopted homes. As a result the move towards open Planning (2004) – adoption has progressed and is now understood as important to www.elsc.org.uk children’s healthy psychological development. At the minimum this means children grow up aware of their adoption and life history.

Adopted children commonly report significant feelings in relation to their birth parents, past carers and brothers and sisters. These feelings may include a sense of loss, abandonment, rejection, longing, curiosity, regret, guilt as well as protectiveness. These feelings do not necessarily abate the longer the child is in placement although they may change in nature and intensity. Contact can be very important in helping children with these feelings. It can be reassuring to give a child a strong link with their past by providing information about family members and their well being. It can also provide a strong link with their own identity. Contact can also be unsettling or even disturbing.

Contact and adoption is continuing to be debated and evidence gathered about its helpfulness to children. Web address for the 4.3.5.3 Why have Contact? National Adoption Information Clearing House. The National Adoption Information Clearing House (USA Agency) web site states the goals of contact in adoption are: http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/  To minimize the child’s loss of relationships,  To maintain and celebrate the adopted child’s connections with all the important people in his or her life.  To allow children to resolve losses with truth rather than with fantasy.

Supporting Adoption by Lowe and Murch et al (1999) adds to this list with how contact in adoption can help children to know:

 Their parents still love and care about them  They have their birth parents’ permission to attach to their new family

Children interviewed in compiling ‘Adoption Now’ stated contact provided them with:

 Direct information Adoption Now  Reassurance about the well-being of family members Messages from (the amount and type of contact required to satisfy this research, DoH need has to be thought through) 1999.  Enhanced their sense of identity  Determine the place of their birth family in their future lives

Disabled children need to have careful assessments of their contact needs which are often missed due to underestimation of their level of understanding and poor listening on the part of social workers. Children’s wishes and feelings need to be carefully observed and listened to by their carers and social workers.

As a child’s social worker you need to establish what the child’s wish for future contact is, and equally importantly what they want from this contact. This information will help you establish what type or mix of contact is going to meet their desired need.

It is important to note that children will grow up in adoptive homes and the need for and type of contact will change as they change.

It is important to note that children are able to understand the different roles of adoptive and birth parents in their lives. The reason for contact (see above) and a suggested frequency and type will be required when a child’s social worker presents the case to panel and it needs to be clearly stated in the adoption support plan.

Contact should be considered between birth parents and birth relatives. Particular attention should be paid to the needs of siblings in relation to contact. Effort should be made to contact carers of siblings related to the child and discussions about the feasibility of contact between the siblings.

4.3.5.4 When is Direct Contact not in the Child’s Best Interest?

1) A birth parent is unable to maintain appropriate relationships boundaries with a child due to mental illness.

2) There has been sexual abuse or so much violence directed at a child that any contact with that parent would only result in more trauma for the child.

3) That a birth parent has stated they would disrupt or have indicated through behaviour they are unable to tolerate the adoptive placement. However, this has to be reassessed as birth parents often change their behaviour once they meet the adopters and or time has passed.

4.3.5.5 Frequency

Direct contact and indirect contact can vary in frequency, from three times a year to once a year. It may be that contact only takes place when there are significant life changes, such as the birth of a sibling.

Understanding the reason for contact will dictate the level of frequency. If it is to maintain relationships then a greater degree of frequency is going to be required than if contact is to resolve losses with truths. If contact is to provide information and links to family identity it does not necessarily need to be provided in a direct method.

Having contact around birthdays and festivals such as Christmas could create elements of competition and additional stress at an already emotive time. Great care should be taken when considering this as an option; in general it should be avoided. The school calendar can also play a significant role in considering a contact cycle. Having contact before a new school term may be unsettling, as may contact during exam periods.

Adoptive and birth parents need to be open to the needs of the children as they get older and gain a sense of ownership over the relationship they have with their birth families. This will affect the frequency and possibly the type of contact.

4.3.5.6 Type

Contact can be separated into direct and indirect contact:  Direct meaning face to face contact  Indirect including letters and telephone calls.

Direct contact may be facilitated by the Local Authority or in occasional circumstances it may be organised between the families. Fratter, in her 1996 study, indicated that there is likely to be greater success in direct contact where the families are able to organise contact themselves. This should be considered where birth parents or relatives support the adoption plan. Initial support will be required in the early stages to organise the first period of this contact. It is also likely in this situation that as the children grow into their teenage years they will dictate and organise contact themselves.

Direct contact facilitated by the Local Authority needs to be planned. It will require a contract being agreed in relation to the frequency and level of support / supervision required.

Indirect contact is organised via the letter box scheme. If you want to propose a type of indirect contact that does not fit with this then it will need to be negotiated with family placements or another service provider.

There is no reason not to be creative. The use of video or voice tapes may be used.

Contact arrangements need to be reviewed via the LAC Review process whilst the young person is looked after. After this the adopters and birth families will need to contact the Family Placement Team to discuss how and if a review is possible.

4.3.5.7 Letter Box Contact

The letter box system is administered by Family Placements. In this system it is not necessary for families to know each other’s names and addresses, as exchanges occur indirectly. In Sheffield the system can exchange letters, greetings cards and photographs. It cannot exchange presents due to storage and forwarding issues.

Festivals such as Christmas and birthdays should be avoided for contact, as this can already be a highly stressful time within family life. Careful consideration about the timing of exchanges should be taken when drawing up agreements. Where at all possible exchanges should be planned for other times of the year.

4.4 The Adoption File

At the point that the LAC Review endorses adoption as the plan for a child (including cases which are being twin tracked), a separate adoption file for each child must be Adoption Agency established and kept in a locked cabinet. The adoption file Regulations 12 does not replace the childcare file, and the two files should be stipulates that the operated concurrently until the child is placed with adopters. agency should set up a case record for the 4.4.1 Adoption File prior to the child child. being placed The file should be created at the point that the LAC Review endorses the adoption plan. The file at this stage should only contain information relating to decision-making processes about adoption and panel documentation.

During this period you will maintain a CIN File, Legal File and an Adoption File for each child (a contact file may be created when contact is happening on a very frequent basis). The use of the Adoption File at this stage is limited to the contents below.

Adoption File contents prior to placement with adopters:

 Letters sent to birth family regarding the plan for adoption  Child’s Permanency Report and any other reports or documents presented to panel  Adoption Plan and Support Plan  Medical information (Including pre adoption medical)  Panel recommendation sheets  Panel Minutes  Agency Decision Maker’s comments  National Adoption Register referral and update forms.  Placement Order Application and Placement Order  All Family Finding recording should go on the adoption file including supervision decisions and any visits in an anonymised version. It is advisable to record all family finding activity on separate file records and supervision records.

When a child moves into the adoptive placement the adoption file should become the primary file for the child.

Almost all information recorded on a child once they are in placement will need to go on the Adoption file.

4.4.2 Adoption File at the point of adoption placement. Once the child is placed for adoption the file needs to contain the following information, placed in the file in the following structure:

1) Personal Information  Updated Basic Information Sheet;  Key birth information: Birth details (time, place, weight, term, type of delivery) with supporting evidence if available;  Description and details of family of origin and household composition. A Genogram should be included;  Photographs, certificates, personal memories of the child’s early years.

2) Chronology  Detailed chronology of the child’s early development and social history;  Details of siblings and any decisions taken to place brothers and sisters separately.

3) Case Records  Supervision Records from the point of the permanency decision should go at the front of this section;  Record of the social work done with the child about their adoption;  Statutory Reports on social work visits to the child in adoption placement;  Case recording on child once in adoptive placement;  Open letter from social worker describing how and why adoption became the plan for the child (Later Life Letter);  Record of the birth family’s view of the adoption plan;  Record of Life Appreciation Day;  Closing Summary.

4) Contact  Details of any pre-adoption contact arrangements with members of birth family or former carers;

 Plans for any post adoption order contact arrangements;  Copy of letterbox/other contact arrangements;  Birth family’s view of contact plan.

5) Family Correspondence  Correspondence between the agency and birth family about the emerging plan for the adoption of the child. Details of the date birth parents were offered counselling about adoption and their response to it;  Photographs, cards, open letters supplied specifically by birth family members for the child;  Key correspondence to and from members of the child’s birth family.

6) General Correspondence  Letters relating specifically to adoption.

7) Financial Information  Copy of agreement for funding for profiling and introductions;  Copy of finance section of Adoption Placement Plan;  Details of specific payments (e.g. setting up allowance) made where no adoption allowance is payable;  Details of any correspondence from adopters, re adoption allowance;  Detail of any annual reviews of financial support.

8) Placements  Details of any substitute carers prior to adoption (e.g. foster carers);  File recording and meeting records related to Family Finding and copy of the child’s profile used for this purpose;  Number of responses received in relation to the children should be recorded, but not the details of names and addresses of those who expressed interest (Form F/Prospective adopter’s reports should be destroyed in confidential waste or returned to providing agency / family finders);  National Adoption Register referral and update forms;  Correspondence to National Adoption Register;  Adoption Placement Plan;  LAC Essential Information Part 1&2 new for this placement;

 LAC Placement Plan Part 1&2 new for this placement;  Existing Up to Date Care Plan;  Plan for introduction to adopters;  Placement agreement with adopters;  Details of post adoption support (if not included in Inter Agency Agreement);  Any other LAC related documents i.e. Personal Education Plans or Review Health Assessments.

9) Reports and Reviews  BAAF developmental assessment forms or equivalent;  LAC Action and Assessment Record;  LAC Review documents and minutes (From agreeing plan for adoption onwards);  Summary of retrospective paediatric record;  Copies of any reports of medical examinations/ screening procedures and tests on children/ parents;  Medical Form A (or extracts) for birth parents;  Birth background report;  Any reports by other professionals that they have given permission for the child to have access to in later life. The reports should have the attached permission slip signed by the author of the report (see section on life appreciation days). Most Court Assessment Reports should not be included without the permission of the court;  School report and any statement of special educational needs.

10) Panel Documentation  Pre-adoption medical report;  Child’s Permanency Report;  BAAF Form F or Prospective Adopters Report in relation to the chosen adopters;  Recommendations and minutes of the Adoption Panel in relation to adoption being in the child’s best interests and any subsequent link with adopters;  Adoption Placement Report;  Adoption Placement Plan;  Agency Decision Maker’s decisions;  Any other reports to Adoption Panel, including family finding reports.

11) Legal Documentation  Letter notifying birth parents of the adoption plan;

 Letters notifying birth parents of Agency decisions;  Copy of Placement Order Application;  Copy Statement of Facts;  Copy of Schedule 2 Report (Adoption Rules 1984)/or Adoption Order Report (Adoption and Children Act 2002);  Copy of the Children’s Guardian report;  Copy of Freeing Order / Placement Order;  Placement notification letters;  Progress report to former parents, i.e. copy of the letter notifying parent when a child who is freed is neither placed for adoption, nor adopted, two weeks after the first anniversary of the freeing Order. (N.B the former parent is one who has not signed a declaration stating they want no further involvement);  Copy of the Adoption Application;  Copy of the Adoption Order;  Any reports presented to court which the court has given leave for the child to see in later life.

Any correspondence sent out by Family Placements Services will be forwarded to the child’s social worker for inclusion on the adoption file. To assist the linking process FPS will keep duplicates of the child’s permanency report, pre-adoption medical and matching form, until the child is placed, at which point those documents will be destroyed.

If the agency decision is made that adoption is no longer in the child’s best interests the adoption file should be closed and documentation transferred back to the childcare file. This should be placed back in the childcare file in the relevant chorological and section order.

Once the child has been adopted the child’s team manager must audit the file before the case is closed.

The financial agreements and contact agreements should be copied and sent to the Adoption Support Team. The case can then be closed and archived; it should be kept for 100 years from the date of order.

If the child is going to be offered on going social work support after the Adoption Order a Child In Need file should be opened in the child’s new name. A new basic information sheet should be completed and were appropriate the Adoption Support Plan placed on the new file.

4.4.3 Access to Information in the Adoption File

Access to adoption files and the disclosure of information from them is limited and should only be given to the following:

 Children’s Guardian or Reporting Officer appointed in adoption proceedings;  Those with direct responsibility for the child e.g. social workers, team managers, service managers, business support staff;  Independent Reviewing Officers;  Supervising social workers.

Access can / may be granted for other persons as specified in the Adoption Agencies Regulations, 2005 but any uncertainties regarding requests should be referred for advice to the service manager at Family Placements.

Once the adoption order has been granted. Any request for information by anyone, including Children and Families Social Care staff, must go to the service manager of Family Placements.

The child may request to access the file after their 18th Birthday, however there is specific guidance on providing the information. A specialist worker completes this work with adopted children in Family Placements.

4.5 Counselling and Informing the Child

The Adoption Agency Regulations section 13 requires the agency so far as reasonably practicable to:  Provide counselling services for the child;  Explain to the child in an appropriate manner the procedures for and the legal implications of adoption;  Provide the child with appropriate written information about the above matters as relevant;  Ascertain the child’s wishes and feelings regarding: o The possibility of placement for adoption with a new family and his adoption; o His religious and cultural upbringing; o And contact with his parent, guardian or other relative or with any other person the agency considers relevant. Counselling should help a child – subject to age, background and development – to understand over time what adoption would mean for him or her now and in the future.

The child should be helped to understand why the agency considers they should not stay with their own family or short term current carer, and why adoption is the preferred option for their permanence.

There are defined tasks which have to be carried out with the child, if they are of an age and understanding to be able to participate. This must be recorded in the file.

 Discussing the plan with them and helping them to understand it, including the meaning of being adopted and the time that it will take. (The Children’s Guide to Adoption should be used to help this process);  Gathering their views and writing this down in relation to:  Their birth parent/s and birth family, including their brothers and sisters;  Other significant people in their life;  Their life and experiences to date including the construction of a life storybook;  Their school;  Their friends;  Their hobbies, interests and sports activities;  Contact with birth parent/s and birth families.  Presenting their views in planning and decision making meetings;

 Arranging for them to participate in planning and decision making meetings when appropriate;  Preparing them for family life, taking account of the material gathered through the Assessment framework, the Looked After Children documentation and the Child’s Permanency Report;  Gathering their views on what a new family should be like and writing this down;  Supporting them to draw up a profile of themselves that can be shared with potential adopters;  Preparing and supporting them through all the court proceedings.

When gathering the child’s views, the workers should be wary of giving the child the impression that he or she is being asked to bear the weight of the decision that needs to be made about their adoption. The child should be helped to understand that their wishes and feelings would be listened to and taken into account. The child’s views should be recorded. Where the worker is unable to ascertain the child’s views, the reasons for this should be recorded on the child’s case file. 4.5.1 Birth Siblings

Support and consideration of the needs of siblings related to the child or children being adopted must be taken into account. Clear communication with the siblings or their carers, explaining what is going to occur and what the plan is for the sibling, needs to be provided by the child’s social worker. This may involve, where appropriate, contacting families who have already adopted siblings of the child or extended birth family caring for siblings.

Where siblings are living with birth parents and the plan is that they continue to do so, thought should be given to providing an independent support worker to explain what has occurred to the child and acknowledgement of the loss. Photographs of their sibling and any other meaningful items should be provided to the child remaining with the birth parents or alternative carers. 4.5.2 Child’s Guide to Adoption

A child’s guide to adoption has been produced and will need to be shared with the child after the decision to plan for adoption has been agreed. This is a requirement of the Minimum Standards on Adoption. However, with older children it may be helpful to work through the booklet before the plan has been agreed to give them enough information as possible, from which they can comment on the plan for adoption.

4.5.3 Talking to a Child About Permanency and Preparation for Permanency – Life Story Work

When the Department of Health wrote the Adoption Standards they spoke to children involved in the adoption process. The children stated that social workers need to take the following Resources for into account: Working with  Children’s views about adoption should be paramount. Children on Life Age should not prevent adoption happening. Story Work and  Social workers needed to talk directly to children and Adoption: spend time with them.  Timescales that avoid unnecessary delay, but take into Tia’s / Tyler’s Wishes account the needs of individual children. Waiting for the right A child’s social worker needs to build a relationship with the home child. Once this relationship is in place discussions about permanency and their wishes will become easier and more Life Story Work – likely to result in the child’s true wishes being heard. practice guide

4.5.3.1 Birth Families Life Story Material Living with a new family The government guidance requires that Children will be well prepared before joining a new family. This will include clear Nutmeg gets adopted appropriate information on their birth family and life before adoption, and information about the adopters and their family. My life and me Children are entitled to information provided by their birth families, which will be kept safe both by agencies (Social Many of these books Services) and adopters. It will be provided to adopted are in the Children children, or adults, at a time and in a manner that reflects and Families Library. their age and understanding, as well as the nature of the Please contact the information concerned. Children’s Information Officer for information. Social workers have a responsibility to make it clear to the birth family they can provide information to be kept safe by Social All are produced by Services, and to be given to the adopters about the birth BAAF with summaries family’s heritage and history before the adoption. on the BAAF website.

4.5.3.2 Communication and Relationship Building

Playing games can be a good way to break down barriers and build communication. ‘Getting to Know You’ is a game devised by social workers preparing children for adoption (Family Makers Home finding Unit, Kent, England). The worker and the child have a card marked out into numbered squares. In each square, the worker and the child, draw important people or events in the squares. You then swap boards, you each have a marker, take it in turns to roll the dice and move the marker on the number of squares shown on the dice. When you land on a

square you ask the other person about the drawing on the square, either specific or general questions. (Triseliotis, Shireman, and Hundleby 1998)

Finding out about the child’s interests or fantasy world may be a way to build a relationship with a child. A child who likes the story of Cinderella may be able to use an image of a fairy godmother to talk about their wishes.

A task can also provide a useful focus in direct work with children. A task based activity lasting for one or two sessions can also have a place at the introductory phase of life story work. Some children will enjoy making and decorating a life story folder, box or title page. Others may like to make a large collage of themselves and their interests. A piece of cardboard cut into a shield can be made into an identity shield, on which a child draws the most important things about themselves. It is important to remember that it is the process and time spent with the child which is important, rather than the end product. Adoption, Theory, V. Falberg’s book, A Child’s Journey Through Placement also Policy and contains information on working with children towards adoption. Practice, Triseliotis, Shireman and Information for this chapter has been taken from (Triseliotis, Hundleby 1998. Shireman, and Hundleby 1998).

4.5.3.3 A Short Introduction to Life Story Work

The life story book in its purest form provides a chronological Design and Print account of a child’s experiences and helps makes sense of the Services, 37400, many changes that are likely to have happened prior to are able to laminate adoption. It can be a structured approach to direct work and life storybooks and create a tangible product from the sessions for the child. colour copy / print them. They are also Life story work should start at the point where a child is first creating a digital received into care. It does not only have to be about producing library of images of a book, but rather a process with the child of building memory Sheffield to be used bank of their past. The current foster carer should be in Life Story Work. encouraged to start the process of building memories for the child. A foster carer should be collecting and recording their own book/box with the child of their time in the foster family. It is important to get a budget agreed for Before starting the work you need to undertake significant your life story work. research and gather information about the child’s life up until now. A planning meeting with relevant people and clear allocation of tasks may help this process. The role of the birth family will be vital as well as the social work file. The birth family should be invited to contribute their own information to the life story work.

4.5.3.4 Legal perspective on life story work Issues of confidentiality and data protection should be considered when producing life story material. But it should be recognised that the right to privacy expressed by a parent can be challenged by the child’s right to know about their history. The following guidance should be applied when creating life story material.

 The child’s own information should be available and provided. Children should have life story information, which provides them with a clear understanding of how they came to be adopted.

 Child’s Permanency Report information that relates to the birth parents should be shared with them before it is presented to Adoption panel. All information held in the Child Permanency Report can be included in the life story work if it is appropriate.

 Birth parents and relatives should be asked about what they want including in the life story. When interviewing people in order to gather life story material the social worker should explain what the information is going to be used for.

 Where parents or other relatives disagree with information being included in the life story, a decision should be taken about whether it is in the public interest to share the information with the child. The information would need to be critical to the child’s understanding of their life in order to justify it being in the public interest to disclose the information. The objection to sharing the information should be recorded clearly on the file and the rationale behind the decision to include or not include the information in the life storybook recorded.

 Social work files contain much "third party" information. This can normally be included in the life story book - where it is clearly relevant to the child's life and is not "sensitive" personal information. Sensitive personal information is (for example) very detailed health information. For example, the detailed route by which somebody became a substance abuser is sensitive but the fact that somebody is/was a substance abuser is much less so. If it seems to be essential to include sensitive information in a life story, the consent of the person to whom it refers should be sought.

 Any information provided should be assessed against the criteria of whether it will cause harm to the child or to others. Examples of where information could cause harm are disclosing the details of a member of the public who gave information to social care services that effected the removal of the child, or disclosing that another child in the family was a product of incest.

 All information should sensitively communicate and only the minimum necessary third party personal information should be included in a life story.

Advice on these issues can be obtained from the data protection and security officer within the Council and Legal & Admin services.

Legal Examples: Parent does not wish the child to know they are a chaotic drug user and this was the reason for the child coming into care. As the behaviour has had a direct impact on the child’s history and it is in the public interest that the child has an understanding of their history, the information should be included.

A child came into care due to a number of issues related to neglect due to the parent’s learning difficulties. This includes the parent sleeping with various men at the same time including relatives; a young relative would baby-sit the child next door whilst the parent had these relationships. The details of the parent’s sexual behaviour is not directly related to child and should be considered confidential to the parent, however details that the child was neglected by being left with a young relative could be included.

4.5.3.5 Life story material. Where photos of people or events are not available, photos of the place where the event took place can be used. Technology may have an important role in the life story work, videos, tape recording, computers can all be used to engage the child, birth family, and foster families and make the life story book as full and as interactive as possible.

The following list includes some of the usual themes found in a life story book;

 Who am I?  Who are the members of my birth family?  Where are they now?  Where have I lived and who have I lived with?

 Why did I move?  Who is in my new family?

Children may find concepts such as time and different biological relationships difficult. They will need them to be explained more than once, and pictorial methods should be used to support their understanding. Timelines can help put the story together; long rolls of lining paper can be used to fill in the time line.

4.6 Counselling and information for birth parents There are two groups of birth parents that experience the adoption process; those who voluntarily surrender a child for adoption and those who have their parental rights involuntarily terminated i.e. contested adoptions.

Whatever the parent’s views on adoption it is important that they are fully informed of the process and invited to make their wishes and feelings clear. Birth parents should be encouraged to provide information about their child in order to:  Provide the child with information about its birth and early life.  Provide the child with a sense of self.  To facilitate a link with adopters.

4.6.1 Birth Parent Experience

Research with two groups of mothers, one who had relinquished their children for adoption and another who had lost their children to adoption came away with two main findings:

1) Parents feel extremely angry about unilateral decisions made for them, although the focus of their anger may be different. 2) Feelings of grief and bewilderment, as parents reflect on their loss. For some this will have a continuing effect on their mental or physical health and can result in post traumatic stress disorder. ((Scourfield and Hendry, 1991 and 1994) in Triseliotis, Shireman and Hundleby)

A birth parent in whatever situation is likely to go through a prolonged period of loss, guilt and grief. The way they cope may vary both in the short term and long term. Men and women may react differently to the decision depending on their involvement in the process. It is important that these feelings are recognised by those involved in the adoption process.

4.6.2 Birth Families

Adoption also affects the birth families. Birth families along with birth parents are expected to be supported by CYPS to contribute to the maintenance of their child’s heritage. Efforts must be made to obtain for the child clear and appropriate information from the birth parents and birth families about themselves and life before the child’s adoption. This will include information about the child’s birth and early life, the birth family’s views about adoption and contact and providing up to date information about themselves and their situation. (Adoption Minimum Standard 8.2)

As professionals we may have a very different understanding of adoption than most members of the public. Social workers must remember to explain terms such as permanency and letter box contact. The role of contact within adoption will need to be thoroughly explained if birth parents are going to understand why contact is being offered and its focus on the child rather than them.

Talking about who adopts and that we approve single people or older people as adopters will ensure birth parents and families are better prepared for the future. All information should be provided on a general basis rather than specific promises about their child’s plan e.g. your child will be adopted by a married couple. 4.6.3 Consent to Adoption The Adoption and Children Act 2002 section 19 and 20 relate to birth parent consent.

Section 19 is the provision for the birth parent or guardian to consent to the placement of the child for adoption.

Birth parents may consent to Section 19 and to the making of the future adoption order under Section 20.

The parent or guardian may consent to the child being placed with specified prospective adopters, or with any adopters chosen by the agency. Consent must be given unconditionally by the birth parent and cannot be given until the child is six weeks old (see section on relinquished babies for consent to place under six weeks old). Consent to placement can only be given on a prescribed form, which must be witnessed by an officer from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.

The local authority must notify the local CAFCASS office nearest to the parent’s or guardian’s address when a parent wishes to consent to adoption. The CAFCASS officer will notify the local authority in writing of consent being given and provide the consent document to the authority. The court will require the original copy of the consent document and this should be hand delivered or sent by recorded delivery by the local authority.

The CAFCASS officer will need to be satisfied that the parent fully understands the consequences of giving consent and that they are willing to do so unconditionally.

Where formal witnessed consent is given, the agency is authorised to place the child for adoption. 4.6.4 Cultural, religious and national differences of adoption Adoption has different meanings in different cultures. It is important that the child’s social worker explores with the family what they understand by the term adoption and what this may mean in relation to their views of adoption. It is not a matter of ‘correcting them’ so they have an understanding of UK adoption but rather an exploration of their family’s background and views. There may be specific cultural or religious aspects of their family, which means the local authority may need to make specific alterations to the adoption plan or at the very least acknowledge impact on the family and child’s future.

BAAF can provide information on cultural, religious and national differences in adoption.

4.6.5 Parental involvement with Adoption Process The professional’s task is to ensure that they respect the rights and maximise the involvement of the birth parents within the context of the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child.

The extent of the parents’ involvement will depend upon:  Whether the parents have requested that their child be adopted  An assessment of the parents’ capacity to focus on their child’s interests. Parents can be thoughtful about their child’s needs even when they have not had the capacity to meet their needs.  The parents’ past behaviour towards the child.

The decision will not usually be a simple yes or no but rather a shifting process, which reflects the parent’s situation and nature of the decisions.

Social workers have a responsibility to make it clear to the birth family they can provide information to be kept safe by CYPS, to be given to the adopters about the birth family’s heritage and history before the adoption.

4.6.6 Birth Parents in Contested Adoption It is important that parents are aware as soon as possible that the local authority will seek long-term sustainable future for their child, and that the second LAC review will consider a permanency plan for the child. In most situations planning for permanence will mean the provision of services to support the child in the long term with their birth parents.

Birth parents need to be encouraged to think through and propose their own options for their children. What support do they think they need to support their children? When the plan is not to return the children home, what would be the birth parents preferred alternative long-term plan for the child?

The better informed the birth parent, who has been given as many opportunities as possible to be involved with the process, the more likely they are to be able to support their child move onto their new home.

4.6.6.1 Support for Birth Parents The National Minimum Standard says that we should offer the services of an independent support worker. In Sheffield After Adoption provides a service for birth parents involved with contested adoptions. Information on After Adoption can be provided by Family Placements. The After Adoption service offers an agreed number of sessions for the birth parent to provide them with an independent support person during the adoption process. The content and topic areas covered by the worker will be agreed by the birth parent with the support worker. The birth parent should be informed about this service and referral made by the child’s social worker if it would be of benefit.

The service may also be provided to the birth parent in some cases where the adoption is not contested. The service manager for Family Placement should be contacted if you feel

the service would benefit a birth parent who is not contesting the adoption.

4.6.6.2 Formal Information on the Adoption Plan Wherever possible the birth parents should be informed of the adoption plan prior to the LAC review, which considers the plan. This is to enable the birth parents to consider their response and inform the LAC review of their own plans.

Birth parents and significant family members should be informed of the proposed plan and the process involved in adoption. They must be informed of their rights to access legal advice. The proposed plan and description of the process should be provided to the birth parents in writing as well as orally. This letter should be placed on the child’s file. 4.6.7 Contact and Birth Families Birth parents will need support with contact. The purpose of contact will have changed from the time when they were seeing their child with a view towards rehabilitation back into the family. It is now being provided to give the child a sense of their own history and relationship to their birth family. Explaining contact and its purpose should be undertaken; this may require the involvement of the birth family’s After Adoption support worker or solicitor.

Birth parents need to be clear contact is not organised to meet their needs, but they have an important role in using contact to support their child in the next stage of their lives. The same care and thought in relation to contact needs to be given to birth parents who relinquish their child for adoption and those who are in disagreement with the plan.

Contact as a condition for birth parents’ agreement to adoption is against the law, as parental agreement cannot be subject to conditions. It also has to be noted that adopters may not follow through with the contact plan post adoption; they are under no legal obligation to maintain contact, and children’s need for contact can also change. Where birth parents are not in agreement with the adoption plan contact can be more difficult to manage.

4.6.8 Absent Parents or undisclosed birth fathers In cases of relinquished babies and contested adoption the need to identify and contact birth fathers or absent birth mothers must be a priority for the social worker.

Birth parents may hold vital information the child will require in later life about their health or family situation. The absent or unknown parent may also be able or want to provide a home for the child. Their appearance later in the adoption process may lead to significant delay for the child.

It is important to remember that absent birth fathers may not have been given all the information by the birth mother. It would be good practice to explain events from the beginning rather than to assume their knowledge of the situation.

The local authority is required to make reasonable efforts to trace and contact absent parents. All tracing activity should be recorded clearly on the file. The reason to trace the parent is for the welfare of the child therefore where continued efforts will lead to delay for the child and impact on their welfare, a supervision decision will need to be recorded about the decision to cease searching and progress the adoption plan.

4.7 The Adoption Panel Please read 4.2 for the step-by-step process of taking a child to adoption panel.

Before the court will consider a Placement Order, the court will require that the child’s case has been presented to Adoption Panel and that the Agency Decision maker has agreed with the recommendation for the child to have an adoption plan.

The Adoption Panel will require that the local authority have all information available to make the adoption recommendation on the child. This means all court assessments including viability assessments of other family members should be concluded before the child is presented to panel.

All court timetables should consider the need for all assessments to be completed and adoption panel to have heard the case prior to the Placement Order hearing.

If assessments are being delayed, or there are new assessments required which mean the information would not be available to adoption panel, an alternative adoption panel date should be sought. Legal services and the service manager for Family Placements will be able to advise about action required.

The panel should consider each child as an individual in his or her own right with needs as well as a member of a sibling group.

It will make a recommendation that the adoption plan is a suitable plan for the child. The Adoption Panel may also provide advice alongside the recommendation in relation to contact and the exercising of parental responsibility.

This recommendation is then presented with the adoption papers and minutes of the adoption panel to the Agency Decision Maker who makes the decision that adoption is the correct plan for the child.

Under the ‘Restriction on the Preparation of Adoption Reports Regulations 2005’ reports to Adoption Panel may only be written by a social worker or student social worker, employed or placed in the agency who has at least three years’ post- qualifying experience in child care social work, including direct experience of adoption work OR has been supervised in writing the report by a social worker who has at least three years’ post-

SIT/CA/Adoption Manual/May 2011 40 Permanency Planning vol. 3 Adoption qualifying experience in child care social work, including direct experience of adoption work. This can be the team manager.

The Adoption Guidance (2005) defines ‘direct experience of adoption work’ as being a social worker who has been responsible for a child being adopted and has been personally involved in every stage from the decision that adoption is a plan through to the making of an adoption order, and/or a social worker responsible for the recruitment, preparation, assessment and support of adoptive families. 4.7.1 Adoption Panel Information

Adoption Panel will need to have up to date and thorough information on the child. The Adoption Agency Regulations 2005 specify that panel are required to have a Child’s Permanency Report and medical information on the child in order to make a recommendation about a child.

The child’s social worker should contact the Family Placement Service in order to book the child onto a panel. Once a panel date has been booked the child’s social worker will receive a pack of information including the forms required.

Panel Require the Following Information:

 Initial Court Statement, Chronology and any other relevant local authority court statements (these will only be seen by the medical advisor). This should be sent immediately after the LAC Review to facilitate the arranging of the medical assessment.

 Child Permanency Report – Two versions of this report should be sent. One version should be anonymised. (To make the report anonymous remove child’s name, birth family names, foster carers name’s school name and all addresses – this is required as the family finders will send this report to prospective adopter’s social workers and in some instances prospective adopters).

 BAAF Annex to Form C or D or A recent report from the child’s current carer  Copy of latest Health Assessment  Relevant Child Protection minutes  Most Recent LAC care plan and LAC Review document  A recent report from school or nursery  Other specialist reports if they are significant  Adoption Plan (filled in as far as possible)  Adoption Support Plan for child and birth family

 BAAF Medical Forms including reports on parent/s and  A1 Referral Form  A4 Consent to medical treatment from birth parent or the Sheffield Consent Form (available late 2006)

The information (apart from Child Permanency Report) should be sent to panel 8 weeks before the panel date.

The child’s permanency report should be provided to the panel administrator 3 weeks before panel. The report should not been written more than 6 weeks before the panel date.

It is important that panel members are fully informed about the views of the child and his or her parents; this is the child’s social workers responsibility. Where parents do not complete their section of the child’s permanency report a full explanation of why should be recorded on the report. 4.7.2 Attending Adoption Panel A full description of who sits on adoption panel and the panel work can be found in chapter 3. If you have not presented to panel before you must attend as an observer before presenting for the first time. If you are not able to attend as an observer before presenting to panel you must only present for the first time with a team manager or senior practitioner.

The panel is comprised of members of the public affected by adoption, professionals involved in adoption and local councillors. In most cases the panel will only know about the child through the information you have provided.

The panel members will declare if they have any prior knowledge of the case or involvement.

You should make sure you are at least 10 minutes early for panel and as it is a formal meeting with people from outside the organisation. Smart clothing is appropriate.

Make sure you have read your permanency report and any other information you provided for panel recently.

If there has been any significant change to the child’s situation or the legal situation make sure you discuss this with your manager and inform the professional advisor to the panel as soon as possible. It may be necessary to withdraw the child from panel.

The panel chair will invite the panel to ask you any specific questions. The panel will then enter into a discussion with each other about the child’s situation. You should not involve yourself with the discussion unless you are specifically asked a question. 4.7.3 Agency Decision Making The Adoption Panel will be required to consider and recommend whether adoption is a suitable plan for a child.

When considering what recommendation to make the panel is required to:  Consider and take into account all the information and reports passed to it.  Consider asking the agency to obtain any other relevant information that the panel considers necessary.  Consider obtaining legal advice, such as it considers necessary in relation to the case.

Where an adoption panel makes a recommendation that adoption is a suitable plan for the child, they may also provide advice about the contact arrangements for the child and the exercising of parental responsibility by the birth parent and agency.

The panel does not vote but seeks to reach an agreed recommendation. If they are unable to agree it is likely they will request further information from the social worker before progressing the plan.

The Professional Advisor provides the Agency Decision Maker with the minutes of the Adoption Panel, reports submitted to panel and the recommendation and advice provided by panel.

The Agency Decision Maker will then make the decision on the recommendation and any other advice provided by the panel.

The Agency Decision Maker’s decision, and reason for the decision, along with any view on the advice provided, should be recorded on the child’s adoption file.

Where the Agency Decision Maker is minded not to accept the adoption panel’s recommendation, he or she should discuss this with another senior person in the agency who is not a member of the panel. The outcome of this discussion should also be recorded on the child’s adoption file.

The Agency Decision Maker’s decision has to be made within 7 working days. The decision is then communicated orally within 2 working days to the child and birth parents, and written

confirmation should be sent to them within 5 working days. Advising the child and birth parents both orally and in writing is a task that should be undertaken by the child’s social worker.

4.8 Child’s Permanency Report The Adoption Agency Regulations 17 2005 requires the agency to prepare a written report – ‘the child’s permanence report’. This is a comprehensive way of reporting on a child requiring adoption. Each worksite should have copies of the Child’s Permanence Report. Child’s Permanence Reports must be typed, and each sibling will require a separate report.

Under the ‘Restriction on the Preparation of Adoption Reports Regulations 2005’ reports to Adoption Panel may only be written by a social worker or student social worker, employed or placed in the agency who has at least three years’ post- qualifying experience in child care social work, including direct experience of adoption work OR has been supervised in writing the report by a social worker who has at least three years’ post- qualifying experience in child care social work, including direct experience of adoption work. This can be the team manager with the relevant experience.

The Child’s Permanency Report Form has space for the person supervising the report to sign to that they have the relevant experience. This will in most cases be the team manager.

It will be an important document for the adoption file that the child may access in later life. It will be the first report a prospective adopter will read on a child, and will also be read by birth parents. It is therefore important that clear, accurate, evidenced-based information is provided, and the use of emotive language avoided.

It should not be rushed and will require a child’s social worker to spend a significant amount of time writing and researching if it is going to be completed correctly.

To write a Child’s Permanence Report you will need the child’s current case file and all previous case files including the legal file (the initial assessment and core assessment in particular), including details from files held by other local authorities. The up to date LAC Review documents will also help. You will need to consult with others during the course of writing the Child’s Permanence Report, including schools, current carers, birth parents and relatives. The report must include the parent’s views on adoption and their opinion on the contents of the report.

The agency should provide the child’s parents with a copy of the child’s permanence report, or of those parts of the

report that relate to the parent, where the manager considers the latter is appropriate.

A copy of relevant sections should be sent recorded delivery to the parents if it is not possible to hand them a copy. Consideration should be given to giving a copy to their solicitor to ensure the birth parents see the document. Where concern exists about the effects of sharing information with birth parents legal advice should be sought.

The Adoption Panel will reject and not make recommendations on a child if a form is incomplete or does not contain sufficient material. This will delay a child’s Adoption Plan.

4.8.1 Guidance on filling in the Child Permanency Report An exemplar is available on the G: Drive in the adoption form section.

4.8.1.1 Part A – Adoption Agency Details. The Adoption Agency is Sheffield City Council Adoption Agency.

You must make sure that your Team Manager signs the section and prints their name and designation.

You will need to update the end part of this section after adoption panel has heard the child’s case.

4.8.1.2 Part B – The Child This section covers the factual details about the child including ethnicity, religion and language. It also requires you to highlight the legal status of the child.

Of particular note is the rights / claims under section 30 of the fatal accident act or other rights to or interest in property which they may lose if an Adoption Order is made. You should include the Child’s Trust Fund if relevant.

4.8.1.3 Part C – Chronology of the Child’s Care Since Birth This is a chronology of where the child has lived and who has cared for them since they were born. This should record periods of time at home with birth parents.

4.8.1.4 Part D – Child’s Education This is a description of any educational provision the child has experienced including nursery, child minding or playgroups.

If the child has a statement of educational need or receiving any form of additional educational support this should be recorded here. If the child has been referred for a statement of educational needs please make this clear.

4.8.1.5 Part E Contact arrangements The first chart requires you to record the current contact arrangements. Here it is important to describe the quality, purpose and benefits to the child of this contact. It may also be appropriate to state if this contact has been required as part of the court process. It will be appropriate to record if the current arrangements are planned to change and how, when Placement Order is granted.

The second chart in this section requires you to record the proposed contact arrangements for when the child is placed with adopters and after the making of the adoption order. Don’t forget to include significant others which may include foster carers.

Make sure you have read the contact material included in the Permanency Planning section of this manual.

4.8.1.6 Part F Report on the Child This is the main opportunity in the report to identify the child’s needs and personality. It is important to provide a vivid factual description of the child and their needs. Don’t forget both prospective adopters and the child will read this report and are likely to come back to the report later in the child’s life.

You should feel free to ask other professionals for comments and existing reports to evidence your descriptions and conclusions. You must include evidence for your statements, an analysis of the information raised and the reasons for your conclusions.

A good quality photo of the child should be attached. On the back of the photo write the child’s name and the date the photo was taken. The photo should only have the child concerned in it and ensure that their features are visible.

Use the notes provided with the form to assist you in completing this section.

4.8.1.7 Part G Birth parents This section requires you to describe the birth parents and their basic information. Where possible a good quality photograph of each of the birth parents should be included. On the back

should be printed the birth parent’s name and the date the photo was taken.

4.8.1.8 Part H Birth parent’s chronology This chronology should provide the background to each of the birth parents. It should not repeat information recorded elsewhere in the form but provide a summary of the birth parents’ own lives and significant events.

4.8.1.9 Part I Siblings Each sibling should have his or her own Part I completed. This section will describe the current situation for the sibling and future plans or arrangements.

4.8.1.10 Opinions and wishes from birth parents and child The form contains three separate sections for completion by the child and each birth parent.

You should consider how the information from the child should be ascertained, and through whom. It may require you to work with the carer or significant other adult in the child’s life in order for the child’s views to be represented. It is important the child understands who will read these views and why they are being asked.

The birth parent should be provided with the section for them to complete. It might be preferable for another professional to support the birth parent in completing the document. Where the birth parent does not communicate in English or is unable to write they should be given the opportunity to write in their own language or dictate.

Where birth parents do not complete their section a full description of what actions the social worker has taken to get the birth parent to fill in their section.

4.8.1.11 Part J Decision Making Chorology. The record of decision making by social workers and managers should be described here, it must also include a record of when key information was provided to birth parents. This should describe the nature of the decision, when it was made and in what forum. For Example: 13.2.06 – LAC Review Meeting agreed that adoption was the preferred permanency option for the child. The minutes were

SIT/CA/Adoption Manual/May 2011 48 Permanency Planning vol. 3 Adoption sent to Mr and Ms F on 16.2.06, which stated the plan for adoption.

4.8.1.12 Part K – Parenting capacity and reason for Adoption This section should summarise why adoption is the preferred plan for the child. You must include evidence for your statements, an analysis of the information provided and the reasons for your conclusions.

This section asks you to start by explaining why each of the birth parents cannot care long term for the child. This should include details of your social work assessment and any other assessments undertaken.

It also asks why others with parental responsibility and any other individuals who may have put themselves forward as carers for the child cannot care for the child.

Once you have explained why there is no one who is able to care for the child you then need to explain why adoption would meet the needs of the child rather than any other permanency option. 4.8.2 Quality Assuring Adoption Panel Material

Prior to any report being sent to Adoption Panel the relevant team manager should read and agree the content of the report. The team manager’s signature on the report is evidence of the report being quality assured.

A good report should:

 Contain appropriate evidence based observations  The report should build an understandable picture of the family and child.  The report should cover all relevant individuals and key events.  The language in the report should be understandable and terms used explained to ensure the subject or other relevant parties could understand it either now or at some future date.  The wishes and feelings of those involved are clearly evident.  The report has been written within prescribed timescales.

The Professional Advisor to Panel and the Panel may make recommendations or comments on the quality of the report.

After the panel the Professional Advisor will write to the report author and their Team Manager with any issues that need addressing in relation to the quality of the report. Changes detailed in this memo must be made within two weeks of the date of receipt of the memo.

The revised report should be sent to the Panel Professional Advisor. This will be forwarded to and signed off by the Service Manager (Family Placements) with the appropriate managers.

Unless the issues identified by the quality assurance process have been corrected the child’s case cannot be progressed through panel. This may therefore delay the linking of the child at panel.

The service manager (fieldwork) will also be advised if there is no response to the above memo in the timescale required.

4.8.3 Education Report for Adoption Panel The child’s social worker will need to write to the school or nursery and request a report for Adoption Panel.

This report should include an assessment of likely future educational needs, as well as a full picture of the current situation.

If a recent report already exists on the file, and you feel it addresses most of the educational issues, it can be used rather than requesting an additional report. However the school should be informed that you intend to use the report for this purpose.

4.9 Adoption Panel Medical The medical will indicate the child’s current health and any likely future areas of concern drawn from the birth family’s history. Information important to the child’s own health and development must be made available and explained to the child. This will include details of their birth, mode of delivery, and any significant family illnesses.

1) The forms (apart from the Child Permanency Report) and court statement should be sent by the child’s social worker to the Adoption Panel Clerk at least 8 weeks prior to panel.

2) The social worker should make significant efforts to engage the birth parents in the process related to medical information. Sections 1 and 2 of Form A should, where possible, be completed by birth parents. As much information as possible should be collected on the health of a child’s extended birth family. It may be possible to get the independent support worker or guardian to support this process.

3) The annex to Form C or D needs to be completed by the current carer of the child. They may require social work support to fill this in: as much detail as possible should be gathered.

4) On receipt of the relevant documents and forms the Panel Administrator will contact the adoption medical advisors who will book the child in for a medical.

5) The Adoption Medical Advisor will send an appointment to the foster carer for the child and will send a copy of the letter to the social worker. If the social worker cannot attend the appointment they must telephone the Medical Advisor to discuss the case.

6) The foster carer and social worker should attend the medical with the child. It may be possible for the medical advisor to see the birth parent separately; this should be discussed by the social worker with the medical advisor.

Any medical recommendations requiring follow up for the child that result from the medical must be followed up by the social worker.

7) Medical recommendations requiring follow up should be included on the Child’s Health Plan and should be provided to LAC Review. This will ensure the health needs of the child are progressed.

4.10 Adoption Support Plan Adoption support plans follow the Assessment Framework. There are four support plans:

 Assessment of the child’s needs for adoption support services at adoption decision making stage;

 Assessment of birth relatives’ needs for adoption support services in relation to contact with a child being placed for adoption;  Assessment of prospective adopters’ needs for adoption support services;  Proposed Adoption support plan.

They should be supplemented throughout the adoption process and provide an indication of the child’s, birth parent’s and adopter’s needs as a whole.

The Adoption Support Team can offer telephone advice for social workers completing these reports. If the contact arrangements for children are going to be complex or the child is going to require significant support, the family finders and adoption support team should be consulted for advice as early as possible.

Adoption support plan for birth relatives should make clear any on going support which may be required around contact. It may also include the support the parent has received from After Adoption and whether any further support is required.

Adoption support plan for the child asks for the social worker to assess how the needs of the child will be met in the short and long term. These plans should be realistic and reflect that adoption requires support from all agencies including Health and Education.

For example if the child has been receiving additional support at nursery this should be included in the support plan or if the child has been assessed by CAMHS services.

The child’s Assessment for Adoption Support is where the social worker should indicate if there is a need for financial support to be attached to the child. This should be indicated in the Financial and Practical section of the report. This will need to be agreed by a team manager and where appropriate service manager.

4.10.1 Financial Support and Adoption

The Adoption Support Service Guidance Regulations 2005 empower adoption agencies (in this case, the Local Authority) to pay financial support in certain circumstances. The support is subject to a means test. If it is felt that the child being presented to adoption panel would require additional support, and therefore additional finance would enable prospective

SIT/CA/Adoption Manual/May 2011 52 Permanency Planning vol. 3 Adoption adopters to care for them successfully, this should be indicated to the panel in the proposed adoption support plan for the child. It should be recorded in the finance and practical support section of the form.

Adoption panel can look at the need for financial support at both the adoption plan stage and linking stage. They will consider whether or not adoption is practicable without payment of the financial support. Specific conditions apply in relation to the provision of financial support, which are described in 4.10.2.

When the panel make a recommendation in relation to the financial support this has to be considered by the placing Adoption Agency.

The payment options that should be considered are:

 One off payments to meet a specific assessed need in relation to the adoption;  One off regular payments to meet a specific assessed need in relation to the adoption;  Regular or periodic payments to meet specific assessed needs.

Sheffield CYPS also has payments which can be provided without recommendation from the adoption panel, such as a settlement grant and payments to support the introduction period.

Where foster carers adopt children as part of an agreed plan with the agency, it may be appropriate to provide a payment to the foster carer to reflect their loss of income at ceasing to be foster carers. This is called a remuneration payment, which can be paid for two years from the making of the Adoption Order or in exceptional circumstances for longer. These payments need to be formally agreed by the relevant service managers.

4.10.2 Circumstances in which Financial Support can be paid

According to the Adoption Support Service Regulations 2005 (Regulation Part 3), financial support may be paid only to an adoptive parent, and only where one or more of the following circumstances exist:  Where it is necessary to ensure that the adoptive parent can look after the child  Where the child needs special care which requires greater expenditure of resources by reason of illness,

disability, emotional or behavioural difficulties or the continuing consequences of past abuse or neglect  Where it is necessary for the local authority to make any special arrangements to facilitate the placement or adoption by reason or – the age or ethnic origin of the child or the desirability of the child being placed with the same adoptive parent as his brother or sister (whether full or half-blood) or with a child with whom he previously shared a home.

4.10.3 National Adoption Register Application This is the national matching service, which aims to collect information on all children requiring adoptive homes and any available adoptive parents. The application to panel is not complete without the National Adoption Register Form being completed.

The family finders will make the decision with the social worker about when to notify the National Adoption Register of the need of a placement for a child.

Guidance on filling in the form is available on 020 8800 3332 or www.adoptionregister.net.

The register requires regular updates from the child’s social worker, which should be completed on the Child Modification Form. Updates must be sent when:  A match is proposed;  A match is agreed at panel;  A child is placed;  Placement disrupts;  Adoption Order is made;  A decision is taken to split a sibling group;  Change in the child’s legal status.

4.11 Relinquishing a Baby – the Process

A mother may request her child be placed for adoption before the birth or at birth. The Jessop’s Social Work department will work with the mother and baby until the adoption is finalised or the baby returns to the birth mother. The same process would be followed if a mother known to an area team due to the other children also decides to relinquish a new baby.

The social worker on meeting pregnant women will provide initial counselling on the following issues:

 Explain adoption and what it entails;  Discuss birth father and his family’s knowledge and involvement;  Discuss motivation behind decision to think about adoption;  Identify if any family could care for the child;  Discuss issues of confidentiality and social workers role in relation to being the child’s social worker;  Discuss and give copy of Information for Parents of Adoption;  Be clear that at any point during the process the mother may change her mind and the social worker will be able to support the mother in caring for her own child.

If the mother wishes to continue with the plan for adoption the social worker’s role is to continue to counsel the mother about her choice, plan for the adoption and ensure the well being of the mother and child. In many cases the mother has not had full antenatal care so ensuring good health care is a priority.

The social worker should notify Family Placement Duty, who will ensure that family finders start the process of looking for an adoptive family. This should be done prior to the baby’s birth.

The social worker will then need to start collecting information for the Permanency Report and BAAF medical reports. The mother will be encouraged to name her child.

It is a priority to work with the birth family as well as the mother to ensure the mother is supported and all involved have an understanding of the process.

The involvement of the birth father can be difficult for the birth mother. But the birth mother needs to be aware Social Care Services have an obligation to the courts to take all reasonable steps in searching for the birth father and ascertaining his views and wishes.

Liaison with the midwife through the process is important and needs to be explained to the mother. The planning of a birth plan and post birth plan is required.

The Birth Plan – this plan outlines the mother’s wishes in relation to the birth of her baby. It can be written with the midwife as well as the social worker and mother. It needs to clarify issues such as:

 Does the mother wish to hold the baby after birth?  Who can visit the baby?  Who is taking the baby from the hospital?  The birth plan should indicate who is going to foster the child.

4.11.1.1 The Birth

Social workers need to be aware of other professionals’ concerns and feelings in relation to babies relinquished for adoption. It is important that social workers work closely with ward staff to ensure they are able to provide the best care possible to the mother and baby whilst respecting the mother’s wishes.

Life story work should be undertaken prior to birth but must be actively developed once the child has been born. The involvement of ward staff in this should be encouraged. The mother may wish to have her own mementos of the baby and items replicated for the life book.

The child will receive a Looked After Children Health Assessment in hospital prior to discharge.

Ideally, the birth mother should meet the foster carers prior to the birth. The foster carers should visit the baby in hospital and take the child home.

4.11.1.2 Post Birth

The child becomes a Looked After Child under Section 20 of the Children’s Act 1989 on placement with foster carers. The mother can be as fully involved as she wishes, including contact, attending meetings and medicals. The social worker

should visit the mother after birth and discuss with her how she wishes to be involved and record this clearly on the child’s file. The social worker should then follow the steps to adoption laid out in this manual. The next step is presenting the child to Adoption Panel and then finding a match.

The mother is responsible for registering the birth of the baby, but will be supported in doing so by the social worker. IF the child is not registered the social worker is able to register the baby only after the official letter of warning has been sent to the mother requesting her to do so by the Sheffield Registry Office.

If the mother is consenting to the adoption six weeks after the birth of the baby she must be referred to CAFCASS by the social worker who will complete the consent documentation with her.

Where a child is less than six weeks old at the time the agency makes it decision, i.e. the case has been presented to Adoption Panel and the Agency Decision maker has agreed the plan for adoption, the parent can be asked if they are prepared to agree to the baby being placed for adoption either with prospective adopters identified in any agreement or with any prospective adopters who may be chosen by the agency. If the parent is prepared to make such an agreement, they should be asked to a sign the agreement form set out in Annex B of the Adoption and Children Act Guidance.

The local authority can then place the child with prospective adopters, but the parent will retain full parental responsibility until the birth parent provides consent under section 19 of the Act or a Placement or Adoption Order is made.

Social workers should be mindful of the time limits in relation to relinquished babies. Where a parent has requested that a child aged under 6 months be placed for adoption, a match with suitable adoptive parents will be identified and approved by panel within 3 months of the agency agreeing that adoption is in the child’s best interest.

4.12 Placement Orders prior to Adoption Placement

4.12.1 LAC Reviews – Prior to Placement Once the agency has the authority ‘to place’ the Adoption Agency Regulation 36 applies, rather than The Review of Children’s Cases Regulations 1991. This affects the reviewing and visiting pattern for these children.

Where the child has yet to be placed for adoption, the Adoption Agency Regulation 36 requires the Independent Reviewing Officer to review the child’s case, until the child is placed for adoption, at the following intervals:  Not more than 3 months after the date on which the agency first has authority to place, i.e. making of the Placement Order.  And not more than 6 months after the date of the previous review.

The agency can conduct additional reviews where it considers it appropriate.

In addition to the normal issues raised in a LAC Review these reviews must also consider:  Contact with birth parents;  Exercising of parental responsibility;  Progress being made to secure an adoptive placement;  Preparation of the child for adoption;  The arrangements and assessment of the need for adoption support services;  Whether the agency remains satisfied that the child should be placed for adoption.

The LAC review should use the LAC Review documentation including the relevant Placement Order / Adoption Order Section 11.

Birth parents’ involvement in the LAC Review: a discussion with the Independent Reviewing Officer should take place to agree the extent of birth parents’ involvement in the reviewing process at this stage. This must be recorded on the child’s case file.

At the minimum they should be asked verbally and in writing if they have any views or opinions they wish the review to consider. If they provide any view or opinion and are not invited

to attend then a written response to the opinion should be made.

4.12.2 LAC Placement Order reviews after 6 months Where the child is subject to a Placement Order and has not been placed for adoption by the time of the first six-month review the LAC review and all future LAC Reviews must consider:  Why the child has not been placed for adoption  What further steps should we take to arrange the child to be placed for adoption  Whether it remains satisfied that the child should be placed for adoption.

The family finding social workers will prepare a report for this LAC Review.

If it is the view of the review that it is unlikely that the child will be placed before the next LAC Review the minutes of this review and the Section 11 part of the social workers report will be sent to adoption panel for consideration.

Adoption Panel will not require social workers’ attendance but may request additional information. If the plan is no longer one of adoption the child’s case will need to be brought back to Panel.

4.12.3 Placement Order and parental responsibility Where an agency has authority to place the child for adoption, either with consent to placement or with a placement order, parental responsibility is shared between the agency and parents to the extent decided by the agency. Section 25(4) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 provides that the agency may determine that the parental responsibility of any parent or guardian, or of a prospective adopter, is to be restricted to the extent specified in the agency’s determination.

This enables the agency to decide how best to share parental responsibility for the particular child, according to his or her needs, as the case moves through the adoption process.

The Adoption and Children Act 2002 guidance states the most important elements of parental responsibility include:

 Providing a home for a child;

 Having contact with a child;  Protecting and maintaining the child;  Disciplining the child;  Determining and providing for the child’s education;  Determining the religion of the child;  Consenting to the child’s medical treatment;  Naming the child or agreeing to the child’s change of name.

The Parental Responsibility Matrix in the Appendix can be helpfully used to think about how birth parents will be able to exercise parental responsibility. If the child is likely to be placed within a short time frame the birth parents’ involvement may be limited to occasional contact, being invited to give opinions on future contact, providing general views on types of prospective adopters, completing life story information and meeting the approved prospective adopters as appropriate.

A discussion in supervision should take place to look at parental responsibility at this stage in the process. This should be formally recorded on a supervision log. This information should be shared with the LAC Review and inform any views the LAC Review has about parental responsibility.

The outcome of the supervision discussion should be sent in a letter to the birth parents outlining the extent of their parental responsibility and informing them that this will be reviewed and may change as the agency considers it appropriate. Birth parents should be informed that they will be notified in writing of any such changes. 4.12.4 Placement Order and Contact The Placement Order Care Plan should include a section describing the local authority plan for contact. Under the Children Act 1989 there is a presumption in favour of contact. Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 there is no presumption in favour or against contact, therefore the local authority needs to explain what contact it is proposing and for what purpose. This should look at contact with birth parents, birth siblings, birth family and any other significant adults in the child’s life.

A Placement Order gives you permission to place the child for adoption. Therefore your contact plan should reflect this plan describing the purpose of any proposed contact. This may include indirect contact alongside direct contact. A gradual reduction in contact should in most cases be planned from the making of the order. The plan should also describe what would happen to contact once an adoptive placement is identified for

the child. Through out the plan clear opportunities to review the contact should be identified i.e. LAC Reviews

4.13 Changing the Adoption Plan

The Adoption plan can be changed at any point but must be formally agreed at a LAC Review, and if the case had already been presented to Adoption Panel, the case should return to panel for comment.

4.13.1 Rescinding an Adoption Plan

If a child has been brought to panel for agreement of the adoption plan, the panel is required to review the case at an early stage, and if appropriate make recommendation to rescind the adoption recommendation.

A report must be prepared for adoption panel, which will have to be signed and agreed by a Service Manager. The report should given clear details about what steps have been taken to proceed with the adoption and why the plan has changed.

4.14 A Child in a Non Agency Non Agency Adoptions are Adoption adoptions which are not arranged through Social Care Services should be notified in writing when an the adoption panel – adoption application is made to a court. Children who have an this would include allocated Social worker will have the adoption carried out by the stepparent adoptions allocated Worker. If the child does not have an allocated Social and some foster carer worker the Family Placement Service will carry out the adoptions. adoption.

This will require an assessment of the person requesting to adopt and the child’s circumstances. The court Adoption Order Report needs to be completed which highlights the areas requiring assessment. Whilst a child is subject to an adoption order application specific conditions apply in relation to the removal of the child from the placement. These conditions can be found in Section 36, 37 and 40 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.

4.14.1.1 An Application by a Foster Carer to Adopt a Child in their Care

The foster carer must make it clear in a LAC Review their wish to adopt the child. They should also inform their link worker. In most cases the child will need to be presented to adoption panel for an adoption plan recommendation, the foster carers being re-assessed as to whether they are able to offer long term care, and presented to the adoption panel. The link should then be presented to adoption panel

They can apply to adopt a child via the non-agency route if the child has been placed with them for more than one year. The foster carer will need to write to CYPS indicating their intention to adopt the child and then make their own application to court to adopt the child. The service will then be required to complete an Adoption Order Report.

The child’s allocated social worker should complete the adoption process for the child. Foster carers should be reassessed as suitable to adopt in line with the requirements for adoption this should be undertaken by the supervising social worker.

4.15 Appendix

4.15.1 Documents

Document Location National Minimum www.csci.gov.uk Adoption Standards Information for Birth Family Placements and G Drive / SSD / Parents on Public / Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- Adoption templates-only / Adoption And Adoption Support After Adoption Family Placements Information Adoption Guidance www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/ lookedafterchildren/adoption/act2002 Adoption Agency www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/ Regulations lookedafterchildren/adoption/act2002 Letter Box Family Placements and G Drive / SSD / Information Public / Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- templates-only / Adoption And Adoption Support Adoption Contact Family Placements Register Child’s Guide to Family Placements Adoption

4.15.2 Forms

Forms Location After Adoption Referral Form Family Placements Child Permanency Report G Drive / SSD / Public / Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- templates-only / Adoption And Adoption Support Exemplar Child Permanency G Drive / SSD / Public / Report Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- templates-only / Adoption And Adoption Support Child’s Adoption Support G Drive / SSD / Public / Assessment Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- templates-only / Adoption And Adoption Support

Section 11 Placement Order G Drive / SSD / Public / Review Report Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- templates-only / Adoption And Adoption Support Placement Order Report G Drive / SSD / Public / Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- templates-only / Legal Adoption Medical Forms Family Placements Parental Responsibility Matrix G Drive / SSD / Public / Childrens-Forms/ Childrens- templates-only / Adoption And Adoption Support

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