Agenda item

To provide an update on adoption performance, progress and activity from Adopt London West.

Debbie Gabriel (Adopt London West) introduced the report, which updated the Committee on adoption performance data for the reporting period and the progress and activity of Adopt London West. The report included a summary of the psychological services that Adopt London West could provide as there was now an increased, more consolidated offer. Something new and different that Adopt London West had done during the reporting period was the drama group that had ran throughout October which had been well attended with 10 young people attending every day of the programme. As a result of that success another drama group would run in May. Adopt London had also been working on the Black Adopters Project and had hosted a theory of change workshop, which Councillors Collymore and Gbajumo had attended. Debbie Gabriel thanked the councillors for attending as it was unusual to have councillor engagement to that extent at events and this had been appreciated by the whole project group. Adopt London West’s partnership board had agreed to extend the contract with Kinship, providing kinship carers with tailored support. In concluding the introduction, she highlighted that Adopt London West had been very pleased with Ofsted’s positive comments that the relationship between Brent and Adopt London West worked well and that the arrangements and bespoke offer for special guardians in particular were good.

Councillor Gbajumo spoke on the Black Adopters Project event she had attended, confirming that there had been a very good turnout where they had heard from some professors. During the workshop, she had raised the theory that there was a tendency to believe two adults were needed to adopt, but a single person was able to adopt if they fulfilled the criteria. Debbie Gabriel agreed, confirming that there were a number of singles who were in the process of an assessment, particularly post-covid with many singles reaching middle ages and re-evaluating their life and goals. The previous month, Adopt London West had approved 3 single women.

The Committee were advised that the financial aspect was a challenge to many looking to adopt, including housing. This was not something Adopt London West could change but they were looking at targeting directly and encouraging people to be open and honest about their financial situation early on in the process so that financial offers could be made, for example through an adoption allowance. Having said that, the bigger issues around housing would remain. These factors would be looked at in detail and included in the next report.

The Committee asked whether there were any communities where there was a shortage of adopters, and heard that there was a shortage of Black adopters. There were many Asian adopters but few Asian children to adopt.

The Committee felt that early permanence placements was a good initiative, and asked whether the young people ended up staying on in those early placements. Debbie Gabriel confirmed that regionally, for Adopt London West, all children and young people had remained in their early permanence placement, but that had not been the case nationally. She highlighted that one of the most difficult balances was that the court may chose to place the child with their family, which was heart-breaking for adopters but great news for the family. This made adoption very complex and uncertain, and so nationally that message was important. Early permanence was a good way to have that conversation. A good example in Brent was where particular circumstances of a case meant that the child could be placed in February 2022 but the final adoption order was not made until November 2022, but that child had been with the family for months already where previously they would not have been.

Debbie Gabriel confirmed that foster parents could become adopters.

In response to why panel meetings were done on MS Teams, Debbie Gabriel explained that all assessment visits were done in person but there had been a decision for panels to remain on Teams. This was following research that this was preferred and was more comfortable for adopters.

RESOLVED:

i)              To note the contents of the report.