Failing authorities could see adoption services taken over, warns PM
Local authorities that fail to deal with adoption cases efficiently or which are weak at finding suitable foster placements for children could see their services taken over by a high performing authority or contracted out to other providers, the Prime Minister will say today.
David Cameron said: “It is shocking that of the 3,600 children under the age of one in care, only 60 were adopted last year – this is clearly not good enough.”
The promise from the Prime Minister of “tough action” came as the government published tables ranking the performance of local authorities in looking after children in their care.
The 15 indicators cover key data across placements, adoption and special guardianship, attainment and attendance, and leaving care. They include how quickly authorities place children for adoption.
The Department for Education claimed the tables showed “huge variation” in how well local authorities were performing. It said the government wanted to reduce significantly the average length of time for an adoption from the current two years and seven months.
The government has also today published an Adopters’ Charter setting out what prospective adoptive parents can expect and tackling “persistent myths” about the process.
It urged all local authorities to adopt the principles contained in the charter, which is similar to one published for foster carers.
Children’s Minister Tim Loughton said: “For too long, children in care have been let down by local authorities and the family justice system. These children are getting a raw deal when it comes to delays in adoption, the poor exam results they often get and the many difficulties they may face when the time comes to leave care.”
The minister said he wanted local authorities to be free to develop services to reflect the needs of their local population, “but with that freedom comes responsibility”.
He praised York, Oxfordshire, and North Yorkshire for thinking creatively and making good progress on adoption, and called on other authorities to follow their lead.
“Many social workers are doing an excellent job for the children and families they work with, but there is no excuse for the poor performance we are seeing laid bare today,” Loughton said, adding that the government would “simply not tolerate continued failure”.
The Children’s Minister also said that judges, Cafcass and experts needed to “rise to the challenge” as well.
Speaking ahead of publication on the Norgrove report on family justice, which is expected this Thursday, Loughton said: “Judges need to be able to trust the advice of social workers and act more quickly. It’s not good enough for a child to be waiting over a year for a decision about their future.”
The DfE said the government wanted radical reform. It has already welcomed Norgrove’s interim recommendation of a six-month time limit on care cases, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The current average is 13 months.
Ministers also said they would work with the courts and local authorities so that more babies are placed with dually approved foster carers/prospective adopters immediately, rather than staying in temporary placements before the search for a new family has begun.
Martin Narey, the Government’s adoption adviser who has been tasked with overhauling the adoption assessment process, said: “Adoption transforms the lives of some of the most neglected and abused children in the UK. We need earlier identification of neglect and removal of children from that neglect. We need early identification of adoption - when it is clearly best for the child - and an administrative and legal system which completes the adoption much more quickly than at present.
“Finally we need an assessment process for prospective adopters which is welcoming, efficient and which balances the quite proper warnings about the challenges of adoption with a little more about the joy it so often brings.”
The Education Secretary has powers to intervene – using Directions under Section 497a of the Education Act 1996 applied to children's services by Section 50 of the Children Act 2004, or non-statutory Improvement Notices – to secure improvement in a local authority which is failing to deliver any of its responsibilities in children's services to an adequate standard.
The range of powers at ministers’ disposal include twinning with another local authority, outsourcing services, agreement of an improvement plan with Ministers, introduction of an Improvement Board to drive progress and report to Ministers, and additional challenge and review from another stronger local authority.
Philip Hoult
