Agenda item

To consider a report by the Director of Children’s and Families which presents the Annual Report of the One Adoption West Yorkshire (OAWY) as required by the National Minimum Standards 2011 (Appendix A refers)

The report requests the Joint Committee to note the revised statement of purpose for OAWY (Appendix B refers). The Statement of Purpose is required as part of the national minimum standard in order to be able to provide those services.

(Report attached)

The Director of Children’s and Families submitted a report which presented the Annual Report of the One Adoption West Yorkshire (OAWY) as required by the National Minimum Standards 2011 (Appendix A referred)

The report requested the Joint Committee to note the revised statement of purpose for OAWY (as referred to Appendix B). The Statement of Purpose is required as part of the national minimum standard in order to be able to provide those services.

Addressing the report the Head of Service spoke of the developments within One Adoption West Yorkshire from April 2019 to March 2020 which included:

·  COVID-19 - OAWY response

·  Use of Resources

·  Partnership Working

·  Performance Management

·  Practice, Quality of Provision and Management Oversight

·  Continuous Professional and Service Development

Members noted the entire Adoption Team had been working from home since the 18th of March 2020, adapting to ensure that families were supported and children’s plans progressed as far as possible. Staff had also been supported with a range of measures with flexible working been encouraged.

Members were informed enquiries continued to be received from people interested in adopting.  New online information had been created and complemented with regular live Facebook question and answer sessions, replacing other face to face information events. Initial home visits and assessment sessions were also taking place virtually and self-declaration medical assessments had been implemented for adopters in stage one of the process which would allow many applicants to proceed into the next stage of the process. Virtual Adoption Panels had also been introduced with around

7 – 9 panels taking place each month

With reference to Partnership Working, it was understood that the Centre of Excellence Project Team came to an end at the end of March 2020. However, the local authorities and the clinical commissioning groups within health had agreed to fund an initial 3 year project to implement a multi- disciplinary team within OAWY working across the region.

In terms of Performance Management; 113 adoptive households were approved during the year, within the 113 households, 219 individuals were approved throughout 2019-20. Of these, 21 (10%) were from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds (last year it was 11%).

It was reported there were 162 children with a plan for adoption and had a placement order, from the 5 West Yorkshire local authorities not currently placed and requiring adopters. 91 children out of the 162 are 0 - 2 years, 42 were between 2 and 4 years and 29 children are 5 years of age or older.

In offering comment Members welcomed the increase in adopter enquiries, noting in one month alone 97 enquiries had been received, noting that Adopters from the Black African, Black Caribbean and Eastern European Communities continued to be an ongoing challenge.

The Chair thanked everyone for their contributions.

RESOLVED –

(i)  To receive the annual report of One Adoption West Yorkshire (OAWY), as detailed in Appendix A of the submitted report (as required by the National Minimum Standards for Adoption 2014, pursuant to the Care Standards Act 2000).

(ii)  To note the assurance provided by the Director of Children’s and Families that the agency is effective and is achieving good outcomes for children and/or services users.

(iii)  That the updated statement of purpose for OAWY be agreed