Government consults on speeding up adoption and fostering process

The Department for Education has issued a consultation on measures aimed at making the process of adopting and fostering “faster and more efficient”.

The proposals announced by Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson include:

• A new two-stage approval process for adopters, as well as a new fast track procedure for approved foster carers and previous adopters who wish to adopt;
• Enabling adopters to be approved rapidly as temporary foster carers. “This will mean that more children can be placed with their potential permanent carers on a fostering basis while the council seeks a placement order from the courts”;
• A requirement that councils refer looked after children for whom adoption is the plan to the Adoption Register as soon as possible and no later than three months after the decision to place has been taken, “so that they are matched with adopters as soon as possible”;
• A requirement that all adoption agencies refer prospective adopters to the Adoption Register no later than three months after approval;
• A legal requirement that councils ensure that the child details on the Adoption Register are kept up to date; and
• Removal of the requirement to interview personal referees when a person has been an approved foster carer in the last year and a reference is available from their last fostering service. 

The Department said the two-stage adopter approval assessment process meant eligibility checks and initial preparation and training would be completed within the first two months.

“This will be followed by four months more intensive training and an assessment of their capacity to care for children needing adoption,” it added.

The Government will also seek views on a reduction in the size of adoption and fostering panels.

Ministers claimed that a faster assessment process for adopters could see more babies settled into families earlier in their lives.

The DfE also set out proposals to make it easier for foster carers to make decisions about the children they look after, for example in relation to haircuts, sleepovers and school trips.

Edward Timpson said: “I want the process to be as hassle-free as possible. Vital safeguards will remain, but no-one benefits from pointless paperwork.

“By cutting back the rules that only hinder I hope that more and more people will come forward to become adopters and fosterers to enrich their own life, as well as the lives of the many children who deserve a decent childhood.”

The Government will provide £8m funding this year to help adoption services. The DfE said this could be spent on initiatives such as the design and implementation of robust case management arrangements “based on effective information to reduce drift and delay”.

Martin Narey, the Government’s adviser on adoption, said: “We urgently need enough adopters to offer loving homes to the worryingly high number of children in care, approved for adoption, but with nowhere to go. I believe the changes trailed in the document will begin to change that and I warmly welcome them.”

The Department’s consultation was also welcomed by the Local Government Association.

Cllr David Simmonds, Chairman of the LGA Children and Young People Board, said: “It is good news that the Government has listened to local authority concerns and decided to take steps to cut bureaucracy.

“Any reforms designed to reduce unnecessary delay in the adoption process and cut the time children spend waiting to be placed in a loving family home are to be welcomed. The ability to fast-track assessments for foster carers who want to adopt is a particularly positive move.”
 
Cllr Simmonds welcomed the additional funding but suggested that it should be for councils to decide how best to spend it to achieve improvements.

He also pointed out that social workers still faced significant challenges when it came to finding a home for the children in their care. “They are working with a system that has five times more children waiting for adoption, than we have adopters,” he said.
 
Debbie Jones, President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said it was important that adopters and foster carers were rigorously assessed for their suitability.

“But once they have been approved, it is right that they are matched with a child as soon as possible and that they can then make day-to-day decisions about the child that they are looking after,” she said.

“The proposals to speed up adoption assessment are sound and well-supported by ADCS and other experts in the sector and we will be giving the proposals about foster care careful consideration over the consultation period.”

More information on the consultation, including the paper itself, can be found here.