West Mercia councils to share adoption services
Through the ‘Action Plan for Adoption’, the Government are committed to ensuring that adoption will be available for more children without undue delay, and aim to promote a more user-friendly adoption system.
Councils in the West Mercia area, including Shropshire, Herefrodshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire, recognise that working together provides a genuine opportunity to respond to the national agenda, and are considering pooling their resources to create a single adoption service.
By building on the strengths of the existing services and maintaining functions at a local level based on local need, it is envisaged that a faster and efficient adoption process can be developed, where children waiting for adoption will be matched more quickly and placed with adoptive families sooner.
All four councils are submitting a report to Cabinet members this month (September 2013) seeking approval to further explore this single service further.
A report by Shropshire Council was approved on Thursday 12 September 2013 at the decision-making session by the Cabinet member for children’s services – transformation and safeguarding.
Ann Hartley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services – transformation and safeguarding, said:
“Ensuring the health and well-being of our most vulnerable children in Shropshire has always been our utmost priority.
“We are fully supportive of the Government’s ‘Action Plan for Adoption’. Working together with our regional colleagues provides us with a genuine opportunity to respond to this national agenda by exploring the possibility of joining forces to provide a single adoption service.
“Every child in Shropshire has the right to a secure and loving home: this is why we are working together to ensure that all children who would benefit from adoption are placed as quickly as possible to make sure they get the start in life they deserve.
“We are keen to ‘explore’ the possibility of a single adoption service. A number of options will be considered before any preferred options are brought back to Cabinet for discussion/approval later this year.”
A proposal for Telford & Wrekin to seek approval to explore this single West Mercia service further will go before the council’s Cabinet this week.
Councillor Paul Watling, Telford & Wrekin Council’s Cabinet member for children, young people and families, said:
“It is our priority to ensure that all children need and deserve a loving home and that is the cornerstone of our adoption service.
“We believe the approach outlined makes perfect sense for the councils involved.
“Adoption is a service which does not follow council boundaries, and the proposed approach to share services would allow us to deliver a faster and more cost-efficient service to provide permanent homes for those needing adoption.
“In the meantime, it remains very much business as usual for adoption services in relation to ongoing recruitment, training and assessment of prospective adopters, placement and support of children, and post-adoption support.”
