Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service

Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service Inspection report for la adoption agency

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SC055702 Unique reference number 8 October 2007 Inspection date Rosemary Dancer / Sean White Inspector Key Type of Inspection

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Isle of Wight Council Address 4-5 St. James Street NEWPORT Isle of Wight PO30 5HE 01983 814370 Telephone number

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Email

Isle Of Wight Council Registered person Audrey Woodford Registered manager Kate Freeman Responsible individual 24 August 2004 Date of last inspection .

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Email

This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Email

You can obtain copies of The Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters and The National Minimum Standards for Children's Services from: The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Cripins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcome for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and relevant National Minimum Standards for the establishment.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is strong Good: this aspect of the provision is sound Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is not good enough Inadequate: 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007

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Brief description of the service

The adoption agency of the Isle of Wight undertakes all statutory work associated with adoption services. The adoption team is based in central premises in the town of Newport. The team recruits, trains, assesses and supports adoptive parents, including those adopting from abroad. It provides counselling for parents wishing to place their child for adoption, for birth families who are not voluntarily relinquishing their children and for adopted adults. They undertake assessments and reports in relation to step-parent adoption applications. The agency is a member of the South Coast Consortium.

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Summary

The services provided by this agency are generally sound but there are some areas which need to be addressed to ensure that the service to all children who need an adoptive family is of a good quality. While the agency generally has a satisfactory approach to safeguarding children and promoting their welfare, the practice in respect to the recruitment of adopters is not proactive and this limits the choice of adopters available. While the assessments of adopters are generally good or satisfactory the processes followed when foster carers come forward to adopt a child placed with them are not robust. The agency provides good quality support services to adoptive families which enables safe, secure and stable placements to be maintained. The agency provides a good support service to birth parents who are able to engage with this. For those parents who prefer support from an independent service this can be arranged. The

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Summary

services provided to adult adoptees were found to be of a very good quality. The overall management of the agency is satisfactory. While there is uncertainty about the future management arrangements, suitable interim arrangements have been made. The social workers working within the adoption team are clearly committed and are skilled in adoption matters. Opportunities for training and development are good. There is an inconsistent approach taken to monitoring the work of the agency; this includes timescales for some children which have been somewhat lengthy. The overall quality rating is satisfactory. This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

A number of improvements have been made since the last inspection. These include, the introduction of clear arrangements in respect to carrying out overseas police checks on prospective adopters who have lived abroad and the updating of the safeguarding children policy and procedures. These actions improve the practice in respect to the promotion of the safety of children. Improvements which have enhanced the quality of the support services provided include the introduction of support plans for all placements, the development of support services generally and the improvement in inter-agency working.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is not judged. There are no standards mapped to this outcome area.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007 Placement choice for children is not being maximised as there is not a clearly written recruitment plan in place between the agency and the consortium members for the recruitment of the most appropriate adopters. The manager had recognised this and plans to develop recruitment procedures with consortium members. Adopters reported they were overall satisfied with the response to their enquiry and subsequent contacts with agency, although the temporary part-time reception arrangements at the office in Newport mean that access to the building can be difficult and telephone access to the team is not always efficient. The quality of the preparation of mainstream adopters is of a good standard. Adopters confirm that they feel well prepared to provide safe, secure and stable placements for children with a range of needs. To

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

meet the regulations, formal applications from adopters need to be made prior to attendance at the preparation sessions. Inter-country adopters attend the domestic adopters’ preparation groups, and information specific to adopting a child from another country is provided to them in writing and via discussion with the assessing social worker. The assessment reports in respect to mainstream adopters are overall of a good standard. They provide a realistic view of the parenting capacity of the applicants and this helps to inform the matching process so that suitable matches can be made. The assessment reports also are useful in identifying areas which may require some support or further development. The health and safety assessment carried out does not include an assessment of risk to a child in respect to hanging cords from window blinds. Some children are placed for adoption with their foster carers. The arrangements for

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

the preparation, assessment and approval of the foster carers and the family finding and matching processes for the children are not as robust when compared to the mainstream work. The quality of the assessment reports for children is variable. Some do not give due consideration to all of the child's needs and do not provide the reader with a clear view about why the plan for the child is adoption. This can impact on the approval and matching processes. Children are generally matched with adopters who can meet their needs. The agency has a good overview of the needs of the children waiting and the adopters available within the consortium, which aids this process. However, formal family finding processes do not commence until after a care order has been made, this can cause a level of further delay for some children. Adopters feel well informed about the matching, introductions and placement processes and feel they are

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

kept informed about progress in their case. The adoption panel is underpinned by policies and procedures which need some minor amendments and additions in order to meet the standards. Panels are held in a timely way to ensure that cases are not subject to delay. Adopters are invited to attend the panel their case is being heard at and some reported that while they found the experience 'daunting' they were glad they had been involved in this process. Birth parents and older children are also invited to attend the panel. Some sources reported concern about the understanding of some parents about the purpose for their attendance. The constitution of the panel meets regulations. There are robust recruitment and induction processes in place for new members. The support mechanisms in place for panel members are good. The training and appraisal systems ensure that panel members are well-equipped to carry out their role. The

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

adviser to the panel is also the adoption team manager who has responsibility for the assessments if the adopters; this poses some issues around conflict of interests. In some cases the panel operates outside of its remit, this is with specific reference to the arrangements for recommending the approval of foster carers wishing to be considered as suitable to adopt a specific child. The administration of the panel is good; the copies of the minutes of the proceedings placed on case files are not signed. The decision-making process is timely and the decision maker has all relevant information available on which she bases her decision. The manager, the panel members and all established staff have a current criminal records bureau check in place, although the records check for one sessional member of staff had been carried 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

out by another agency. While generally the staff recruitment procedures are robust the written procedures do not reflect this good practice. The safeguarding procedures in place are in draft.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Adopters are well prepared and informed about the needs of the children and adopters with placements showed a committed approach to helping their child develop a positive self-identity. Assessing social workers remain involved with the family at least until an adoption order has been granted. Adoption support plans are developed for children and adopters to ensure that any known needs are highlighted and arrangements for them to be met are clear and understood by all. Where a child has complex or unknown developmental needs good packages of support are provided. There are good links and working relationships with professionals from other agencies such as the education department; these links ensure that all needs can be addressed. In addition to the formal written plans, the adoption team is able to offer a range of support services to children and their adoptive families including group work, direct work, further

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

training and a range of informal meetings and activities. The service also pays for adopters to have one year membership with a registered adoption support agency. The agency has access to a good range of specialist advice, including legal and medical advice. Where difficulties occur in the placement, further support services can be provided to try to stabilise the placement; where this is unsuccessful there are clear procedures in place to support the child and the adopters. There is a good level of flexibility in support services offered to children and their adoptive families; this approach helps to support and maintain safe, stable and secure placements for children. Birth records counselling is a part of the remit of the adoption team and this work is carried out in a sensitive and very professional way by social workers suitably trained and experienced in this sensitive area of work.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Birth parents and birth family members are enabled to be as fully involved in the planning for their child as they want. They are invited to the key meetings involving the planning for the child and this includes being invited to attend the adoption panel considering the plan for adoption for their child to allow them to present their views. As well as the chance to present their views verbally these are clearly recorded in the permanence report for the child. Birth parents have access to a worker from the adoption team when the agency is considering the possibility that the child may be placed for adoption. This is at an early stage in the proceedings where any number of plans may be being pursued concurrently. Birth parents can also be referred to a registered adoption support service if they prefer this. While it is reported the level of uptake of the above services is variable, when parents do access these services, work

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Helping children make a positive contribution

can be productive in helping parents come to terms with the plans. Help can also be provided for parents to input in maintaining their child's heritage through providing information about the family and its history. Birth family members, children and their adoptive families are supported to maintain a level of contact. This contact is usually via letterbox arrangements. These are administered and co-ordinated by the agency. An appropriate level of support to all parties is provided in order to achieve a good quality exchange of information. Children are provided with life story work if they are of an age and level of understanding that allows this and life story books are provided to all children placed for adoption as are later life letters. This 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007 helps to ensure that children are clear about the reasons they could not remain with their birth

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Helping children make a positive contribution

family and provides them with information about their origins.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The provision is not judged. There are no standards mapped to this outcome area.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Service users and other interested parties are informed about the work of the agency through the written statement of purpose. Children are informed about adoption and the work of the agency via a written guide for children. The guide available is geared to an older and more-able age range and is not accessible to a younger or less-able child. The work of the agency is underpinned by written policies and procedures which reflect the statement of purpose. Adopters are well informed about the adoption process by the good quality information pack sent to them. Adopters confirmed they had found the information useful. The manager is suitably skilled and experienced in adoption work and has a social work qualification. She does not hold a management qualification although is about to commence study for one. Workload management in the adoption team is well organised; the arrangements for the management

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Organisation

of some of the work in the fieldwork teams are not as effective. For example, a lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities among social workers in some cases has lead to ineffective referral systems for children. Social workers in the adoption team demonstrated their commitment to adoption work and are suitably qualified, skilled and experienced. The working relationships between the social work teams are good with less experienced workers being provided with support by more established workers. The majority of workers felt well supported by their immediate managers and some said that peer support was good. The interim senior management arrangements have lead to a level of uncertainty amongst staff about the future management arrangements and some staff were concerned that progress in strategic planning for the adoption work was beginning to be affected. The arrangements for monitoring and controlling the work of the agency are not robust and examples of this are highlighted below.

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Organisation

Whilst the agency does provide a brief written report annually to the executive this is not adequate to enable robust monitoring of the work to take place. There are no formal arrangements in place to monitor the support services provided to adopters, children or birth family members. The systems in place to monitor the effectiveness of care planning for children are not effective in every case. The arrangements for administrative support were felt by staff to be poor, although the calibre of the staff in post in the adoption team was described as excellent. Staff training is an area of strength in this agency with staff reporting good access to training which is relevant to their role in adoption work. Overall the case files for adopters and children were satisfactory and had been subject to a file audit. Two areas for improvement are to ensure that all recording is signed by the writer and that confidential information is filed

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Organisation

in an appropriate section of the file. There are arrangements in place in respect to the safe storage of, and restricted access to, current and archived records. Separate records are kept for complaints and child protection concerns, and personnel records are kept for staff and others working for the purposes of the adoption agency. The premises used by the adoption team are accessible by private and public transport and are open during normal office hours. Security of the building is satisfactory. Visitors to the building are not always dealt with in a timely way due to the part-time reception arrangements currently in place. People with limited 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007 mobility can access the ground floor of the building. There are efficient and effective Information Technology systems which are appropriately safeguarded and backed up.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person meets the Care Standards Act 2000, The Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005 and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider must comply with the given timescales.

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Due date Action Standard

30 November 2007 Ensure that the application to adopt is made before the formal preparation process commences (Regulations 22 & 24 Adoption Agency Regulations 2005) 30 November 2007 ensure that sessional staff working for the purposes of the adoption agency have a current criminal records bureau check which has been undertaken by the agency (Local Authority Adoption Regulations 2003 Regulation 15 Schedules 3 and 4) 30 November 2007 finalise the draft safeguarding procedures and ensure that all staff are trained in the procedures (Adoption Agency Regulations Regulation 9)

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • Develop effective recruitment strategies to recruit adopters to meet the needs of children waiting for a placement (National Minimum Standard 2) • include on the health and safety checklist a requirement for an assessment of risk to children from the hanging cords of window blinds (National Minimum Standard 4) • review the practice in respect to the processes for preparation, assessment, approval and matching where foster carers want to be considered as adopters for a child placed with them under fostering arrangements (National Minimum Standard 4) • ensure that all of the assessment reports for children are fit for purpose and that the quality assurance process in respect to these is robust (National Minimum Standard 5) • review the current arrangements for the stage at which formal family finding for children

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Recommendations

commences (National Minimum Standard 5) • ensure that the adoption panel policy and procedure documents meet the standard (National Minimum Standard 10) • review the current arrangements for the adviser to the panel to be the nominated manager of the adoption team. (National Minimum Standard 11) • arrange for the panel chair to sign the minutes of the panel before they are placed on the case files (National Minimum Standard 12) 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007 • ensure that written procedures in the recruitment of staff are developed in line with national guidance relating to good practice in this area (National Minimum Standard 19) • develop a guide for children about adoption which is accessible to a younger and less able age range. (National Minimum Standard 1) • ensure that the manager obtains an appropriate management qualification as soon as is possible. (National Minimum Standard 14)

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Recommendations

• develop robust monitoring systems to enable each management level of the service to formally monitor all of the work carried out by the agency (National Minimum Standard 17) • address the shortfalls in the management of children’s cases in terms of roles and referral systems (National (Minimum Standard 20) • ensure that all case recording is signed and confidential information is filed appropriately. (National Minimum Standard 25) 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

• Ofsted considers the key standard to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

• the agency matches children with adopters (NMS 2) • the agency assesses and prepares adopters (NMS 4) • adopters are given information about matching (NMS 5) • the functions of the adoption panel are as specified (NMS 10) • the constitution and membership of adoption panels are as specified (NMS 11) • adoption panels are timely (NMS 12) • adoption agency decision is made without delay and appropriately (NMS 13) • the manager is suitable to carry on or manage an adoption agency (NMS 15) • staff are suitable to work with children (NMS 19) • the agency has a robust complaints procedure (NMS 24 voluntary adoption agency only) • the agency safeguards and promotes the welfare of its service users (NMS 32)

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

• the adoption agency provides support for adoptive parents (NMS 6) • the agency has access to specialist advisers as appropriate (NMS 18) • services are tailored to meet the needs of people affected by adoption (NMS 33) Ofsted considers 6 and 33 the key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

• birth parents and birth families are involved in adoption plans (NMS 7) • birth parents and birth families are involved in maintaining the child’s heritage (NMS 8) • the adoption agency supports birth parents and families (NMS 9) • Service users receive good quality services based on their needs (NMS 34) Ofsted considers 7, 8, 9 and 34 the key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

Ofsted considers none of the above to be key standards to be inspected.

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The intended outcomes for these standards are:

• there is a clear written statement of the aims and objectives of the adoption agency and the adoption agency ensures that it meets those aims and objectives (NMS 1) 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007

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Annex A

• the agency provides clear written information for prospective adopters (NMS 3) • the manager has skills to carry on or manage the adoption agency (NMS 14) • the adoption agency is managed effectively and efficiently (NMS 16) • the agency is monitored and controlled as specified (NMS 17) • the staff are organised and managed effectively (NMS 20) • the agency has sufficient staff with the right skills/experience (NMS 21) • the agency is a fair and competent employer (NMS 22) • the agency provides training for staff (NMS 23) • case records for children and prospective / approved adopters are comprehensive and accurate (NMS 25) • the agency provides access to records as appropriate (NMS 26) • the agency’s administrative records processes are appropriate (NMS 27) • the agency maintains personnel files for members of staff and members of adoption panels (NMS 28) • the premises used by the adoption agency are suitable for purpose (NMS 29)

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Annex A

• the adoption agency is financially viable (NMS 30 voluntary adoption agency only) • the adoption agency has robust financial processes (NMS 31) Ofsted considers 1, 3, 16, 21, 25 and 27 the key standards to be inspected. 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Isle of Wight Council Adoption Service, 8 October 2007

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