Decision details
Mersey Region Adoption Agency (RAA)
Decision Maker: Cabinet
Decision status: For Determination
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: Yes
Purpose:
Establishing a Regional Adoption Agency across
Merseyside including Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton and Liverpool
Authorities.
Decisions:
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Councillor Tony Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services, said:
“Finding the right, most appropriate and loving adoptive parents for a child is incredibly important. Wirral is lucky to have hundreds of foster carers and prospective adopters across the borough, all doing a fantastic job in supporting vulnerable children.
The proposals in this report help us go even further, and create a regional adoption agency – allowing access to a bigger pool of adopters, quicker and more efficient processes and, crucially, a much better chance of matching a child with the perfect adoptive family”. |
Councillor Phil Davies introduced a report that provided the Cabinet with background information on the national drive towards the regionalisation of adoption services across England. It set out the progress of the proposal to develop a Regional Adoption Agency across the four Merseyside local authority areas of Wirral, Sefton, Liverpool and Knowsley in line with the Government’s expectations.
It was the expectation that there would be an RAA in Merseyside and across England by 2020. The report proposed a model for the Merseyside RAA and set out the benefits this would bring to children, adopters and to the local authorities involved.
RESOLVED: That
(1) the continued development of the proposed model for the Knowsley, Wirral, Sefton and Liverpool Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) including the recommendation that local authority staff members be seconded into the RAA be approved;
(2) the intention for the new model to move into shadow arrangements during the second quarter of 2017, with the new model becoming operative in January 2018 be noted;
(3) the proposal to use the name AIM (Adoption in Merseyside) as the brand name for the RAA going forward be approved; and
(4) a further report be presented, containing a detailed business case including financial, human resources and the results of formal consultation with staff and unions, governance and customer implications for final approval, before the Regional Adoption Agency is implemented.
Report author: Julia Hassall
Publication date: 13/04/2017
Date of decision: 27/03/2017
Decided at meeting: 27/03/2017 - Cabinet
Effective from: 27/04/2017
Accompanying Documents:
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