To give consideration to a report on the adoption service
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Annette Butler Team Manager – Adoptions Team
and Julie Lewis Principal Manager – Cared for Children attended the meeting and presented a report on the adoption process in Cheshire East.
The adoption service was a regulated service and subject to inspection by Ofsted. Inspections could be undertaken at 2 weeks notice. The last inspection was undertaken at Cheshire County Council in 2007 when the service had been assessed as good.
The Adoption of Children Act 2002 provided the legal framework for domestic and inter-country adoption. Adoption was a way of providing a new family for children who could not be brought up by their own parents and all parental responsibility was therefore transferred to the adopters.
Cheshire East had increased the numbers of adopted Children from 2008 when 15 were completed, to 16 children between April 2009 and 31 March 2010. Also, 5 children had been subject to a special guardianship order. Currently (as at the end of June 2010) 15 children were awaiting adoption in Cheshire East.
The Committee was informed that it was not always possible to make arrangements for Cheshire East Children to be adopted within Cheshire East and that the Council was part of a consortium of 22 authorities throughout the North West.
The report also contained a proposed adoption service structure chart which highlighted a number of vacancies within the service. The Committee was informed that appointments by December.
Annette Butler undertook to provide all members with a written response to
a question relating to the mechanisms in place to protect vulnerable children when adoption arrangements breakdown.
RESOLVED –
(a) That the report be received;
(b) That a further report be submitted to a future meeting of this Committee on the Cheshire East Fostering Service.