Proposed by Councillor Mark Johnston

Seconded by Councillor Pat Williams

Council:

(1)  Congratulates the Acting Director of Children’s Services and his staff on the achievement of the “performing excellently” rating from Ofsted in relation to the quality of children’s services in Wirral and believes that this is fair recognition for the work undertaken over the past few years to ensure that the council provides the highest level of service possible for children and young people in our community.

(2)  Notes that Wirral Council currently looks after 679 children (102 children per 100,000 population - the 5th highest in the North West). The recent release of the Children in Care Performance tables from DfE show that, as an average for the 3 year period 2008-2010, Wirral Council is ranked 105th out of 143 authorities in terms of percentage of children (69%) who are adopted within 12 months of the decision being taken that adoption is the best route.

(3)  Recognises that there can be many complex and different reasons why adoption placements can sometimes take longer than 12 months, such as large sibling groups or complex health needs. In these circumstances the stability of placement is critical and Wirral has a good record in this area with just 1 unplanned ending out of 24 placements in the year to May 2011. Ofsted's Adoption inspection report of June 2011 noted, "The very low disruption rate indicates that children are appropriately matched with their adoptive parents".

(4)  Welcomes the recommendations of the Government’s recent Family Justice Review, particularly those that focus on tackling delays in the family justice system.

(5)  Believes that, in those circumstances where the risk to a child is too great for that child to remain in the care of his or her natural family, adoption is normally the best opportunity of securing positive life chances for that child, particularly if the adoption can happen in the child’s first few years.

(6)  Further, believes that the current system can be too slow to recognise where adoption is the preferred option and then take swift action to ensure that adoption is speedy and suitable in those cases.

(7)  Therefore, instructs the Acting Director of Children’s Services to bring forward a report to the Children and Young People OSC setting out:

(i)  How decisions around the adoption system are made (including the approval processes for prospective adoptive parents) and how they might be speeded up and improved for those children in care where adoption is likely to be the best outcome for providing a stable, permanent home. 

(ii)  An explanation of the relational link between the Fostering and Adoption team, the support provided by foster carers when children move from foster care to adoption and any weaknesses in process highlighted, with recommendations to improve any issues.

(iii)An explanation of the impact of the Family Courts on the adoption process, with suggestions given as to how to better work with and strengthen the existing approach by the Merseyside Family Court Justice Council to improve the likelihood of appropriate and timely adoptions, taking account of the recommendations and proposals set out in the Family Justice Review.

(iv)  The potential for further development of a peer mentoring scheme for new adoptive parents to provide more support in the early days of adoption and further reduce the risk of placement failure.

Following a debate and Councillor Johnston having replied, it was –

Resolved (64:0) (One abstention) – That the motion be approved.