Agenda item

Report attached.

At its request, the Sub-Committee received a report that provided background and update on the work of Havering hosted Adopt London East.

Adopt London East formed in response to a 2015 government directive to all Local Authorities to streamline adoption services through the development of regional arrangements by 2020.

Adopt London East provides adoption services for Havering, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham.

The report provided a summary of the development and functions of the agency and contained a brief progress report since the service became operational on 1^st October 2019.

The report informed the sub-committee that statistical returns measure long-term trends but Adopt London East in-house statistical records provided clear evidence of early improvements in performance and activity since go-live.

Service transition

It was stated that the transition from four Local Authority teams to one integrated service had it complexity and challenges have been felt in respect of pre-transition performance; service staffing; casefile information transition and demand for adoption support services. It was noted that there have been substantial progress made in all areas.

The Sub-Committee was informed that only one team manager joined Adopt London East and the service had been able to recruit three further team managers from within the service. The service currently have 15 permanent staff in place and 3 interim social workers. 

Performance

The quarterly Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board (ASGLB) report for all Local Authorities have been analysed to provide a service baseline. It indicated that performance have declined in all Local Authorities in the 6 months prior to Adopt London East go-live. Decline in performance was linked to a number of factors including: adoption service staff leaving; higher levels of sickness absence; caseload transitions and a delay in operational go-live.

Adoption performance are measured over one and three year cycles and improvements therefore take time to be fully captured in the data returns. Early indicators are however monitored closely within the service.

Performance in respect of child matches had improved considerably. Adopter approvals are predicted to decline further in Q3 and 4 due to the decline in adopters in early stages of approval. Early stage applications have though increased from month to month and improvements are predicted for 2020/21

The Sub-Committee noted that demand for adoption support services had increased considerably as has the number of children requiring a placement. In the last reporting year, a total of 57 children were placed. It was likely that less children would be placed this year due to the slowdown in quarters one and two but a total of 167 children were currently receiving a family finding service.

The demand for adoption support had shown a similar increase along with an improved support for our families would improve outcomes for our adoptive children and families.

The report outlined that the board would monitor an increase in demand closely so that savings made from an increase in the number of adopters available to accept a placement would be re-invested into service improvement to ensure the service was able to meet identified increased demands.

The Sub-Committee noted that content of the report.