3.11.6 Adoption Support Services

RELATED CHAPTERS

RELEVANT GUIDANCE

Guidance on Assessing the Support Needs of Adoptive Families (2008)

This chapter was updated in February 2012 to make reference to the responsibility to provide adopters with support in respect of cross-border issues.

What is Adoption Support?
Examples of Adoption Support
Why Offer Adoption Support?
When to Consider Adoption Support
Which Local Authority Should Carry out the Assessment?
Process of Assessment for Adoption Support
The Adoption Support Plan
Annex A: Adoption Support Plan Guidance Notes

1. What is Adoption Support?

Adoption Support is the contemporary way of referring to post adoption work, including the period post placement for adoption. It includes any support likely to be required for an adoptive placement to endure through to adulthood and is applicable to both existing and new situations.

Local authorities must now make arrangements, as part of their adoption service, for the provision of a range of adoption support services.

Assessments carried out by social workers for the provision of adoption support will attend to the needs of adopted children, birth families and members of adoptive families in relation to health, education, emotional and behavioural development, identity, family and social relationships, social presentation, self-care skills, contact arrangements, and financial and practical considerations.

Local authorities must act reasonably when deciding whether to provide support services following an assessment, and may arrange for the required services to be provided by appropriate voluntary organisations. The borough has arranged for ‘After Adoption’, a voluntary agency, to provide post adoption services to adopters living within the M25.

2. Examples of Adoption Support

Counselling, advice and information;
Financial support;
Support to enable groups of adopted children, adoptive families and birth families to discuss matters relating to adoption;
Support for contact arrangements and mediation between adopted children and their birth parents or others with whom they share a significant relationship;
Services to ensure the success of the adoptive placement;
Health and Education services;
Services to address therapeutic needs of adoptive child;
Training for adoptive parents;
Telephone help-lines for adopters and adopted children;
Assistance where disruption has occurred, or is in danger of occurring, providing mediation services and organising relevant meetings;
Respite Care;
Assistance with cross boundary matters.

Why Offer Adoption Support?

To ensure that more people are able to adopt Looked After children and that the placement remains stable and meets the needs of the child;
To afford children, birth families and adoptive families the help they require to overcome the difficulties that can arise during the adoption process;
To ensure that local and national targets are achieved in relation to numbers of looked after children who are adopted.

4. When to Consider Adoption Support

Adoption Support must be considered at the earliest opportunity where Permanency through adoption is being planned.

Practitioners should consider the need for adoption support at the following stages of care planning:

When preparing the case for presentation to the Adoption and Permanency Panel as to whether the adoption plan is in the child’s best interests.

See Placement for Adoption Procedure;
When considering the assessment and approval of prospective adoptive parents;
When considering the matching of prospective adopters with a child for whom adoption is the plan. An Adoption Support Plan must be presented to the Panel when a child and family are being matched;
At a child’s reviews following the adoptive placement

See Reviews of Placement for Adoption Procedure;
When requested by an adoptive parent, an adoptive child, a child of an adoptive parent, a birth parent or birth relative of the adoptive child or a person with whom the adoptive child has an important relationship. See Section 5, Which Local Authority should Carry Out the Assessment for the extent to which the above persons are entitled to services.

The adoption does not need to have been arranged by the local authority or an adoption agency in order to qualify for an assessment for adoption support.

5. Which Local Authority Should Carry out the Assessment?

The table below details whose responsibility it is to undertake an assessment of adoption support and in what circumstances.

Circumstance	Responsibility for Assessment
Child being Looked After by the local authority in respect of whom an adoption plan is considered	The local authority by whom the child is looked after must assess a person entitled to be assessed
Child has been placed for adoption by the local authority but not yet adopted	The local authority which has placed the child for adoption must assess a person entitled to be assessed
Child adopted following placement by a local authority	The local authority which placed the child for adoption must assess a related person; The local authority which placed the child for adoption must assess a person (other than a related person) entitled to be assessed if it is less than three years since the adoption order; A local authority must assess a person (other than a related person) entitled to be assessed who lives in their area if it is more than three years since the adoption order.
In all other cases (i.e. non-agency placements)	The local authority where the requester lives must assess Birth parent and their partner, i.e. step parents adopting, are excluded from the above services other than counselling, advice and information.

Provision of Services

Adoption Support Services Regulations provide that provision of services may include the Local Authority giving assistance in cash for a specific purpose, e.g., to provide baby sitting or money for travel for contact. If cash is provided on a one off basis in this way it should not be means tested as it is provided as part of a service.

If respite care consists of provision of accommodation by the Local Authority this must be provided under section 23 of the Children Act 1989. This means it must involve the child being looked after during the period of respite care and any foster carer providing respite be approved under Fostering Service Regulations 2002.

The responsibility for contact support services remains permanently with the local authority placing the Looked After Child.

Persons to whom Adoption Support Services must be extended: Adoption Support Regulation 4

See Adoption Support Services table.

Adoption Support Services Adviser

The Senior Social Worker in the Adoption and Permanency Team has the role of part-time Adoption Support Services Adviser. The part-time post adoption worker is also able to give advice on contact and adoption support. Copies of all Adoption Support Plans should be given to the Adoption Support Services Adviser and, in particular where there are on-going contact issues these should be discussed with the post adoption worker who should be given copies of any agreements.

The Adoption Support Services Adviser has a role in sign posting adopters and professionals to information about adoption support available, both mainstream and specialist. They may also assist in liaising with other local authorities about the provision of services.

6. Process of Assessment for Adoption Support

Please click here to view a chart showing the Process of Assessment for Adoption Support.

Practitioners should conduct assessments by following the guidance set out in the Assessment Framework and the Initial Assessment and Core Assessment Records should be used.

All the developmental needs of the child should be covered including health, education and emotional needs, contact issues. The needs of the family need to be discussed with them and what is currently available clarified.

The assessment and Adoption Support Plan will need to be completed after consultation with the appropriate Health Primary Care Trust, CAMHS or education departments where any special arrangements may need to be made. Where the child is placed in the area of another local authority, the agencies in that authorities area will need to be consulted as to what services may be available for adopters and adopted children.

A pro-forma for the Adoption Support Plan is available in FPU/Adoption Team (see Annex A: Adoption Support Plan Guidance Notes). The social worker for the child and the social worker for the adoptive parent should liaise with each other and with the family and other relevant people and complete the plan. A copy to be kept on the child’s file and the adopters file.

A full assessment may not always be necessary if the service to be provided is one-off or simply advice and information. However, it is helpful for adopters to have a copy of the assessment plan document giving details of the support services available to them should they need them in the future.

7. The Adoption Support Plan

An Adoption Support Plan (a pro-Forma is available) will set out clearly:

The objectives of the plan and the key services to be provided;
The time scales for achieving the plan;
Those responsible for implementing the plan and the respective roles of others; what should be provided, when and by whom;
The criteria that will be used to evaluate the success of the plan;
The procedures that will be put in place to review the services to be provided and the plan
Financial Support.

In preparing the plan, the agency should carry out consultation with the appropriate persons, including, where the child is placed in the area of another local authority, the relevant agencies in that authorities area. In these circumstances the prospective adopters should be assisted with any cross-boundary issues that may arise.

The Adoption Support Plan should include the proposed financial support (see below and Adoption Financial Support Procedure) and have been agreed by the Designated Manager (Adoption Support).

Financial support

Financial support is intended to supplement existing means of support available to adoptive parents and the child or children being adopted. Adopters must be given advice of entitlements to employee’s rights to leave and pay, benefits, tax credits and allowances, and these should be taken into account when considering amounts of financial support.

Financial support cannot normally include payment of remuneration for the care of the adoptive child, other than where a foster carer is adopting the child they previously fostered in which case the element of remuneration can be paid for two years and reviewed - there is flexibility to continue that payment if deemed necessary.

Families should be encouraged to access all benefits and tax credits to which they are entitled. Financial support cannot duplicate any other payment available.

Financial support can be paid:

Where necessary to ensure adoptive parent can care for the child;
Where the child needs special care incurring extra expenditure by reason of disability, illness, emotional difficulties or behavioural difficulties as continuing consequences of past abuse or neglect. In these circumstances and enhanced adoption allowance may be paid, - see Means Testing;
Where special arrangements to facilitate placement are necessary by reason of the age or ethnic origin of the child or where siblings are placed together or with a child with whom the child has previously shared a home;
For costs of contact visits including travel;
Where LA considers it appropriate to contribute to:
1. Legal costs of adoption;
2. Introduction costs;
3. Expenditure for purpose of accommodating the child including provision of furniture and equipment, alterations and adaptations to a home, provision of means of transport and provision of clothing , toys and other items for the purpose of looking after a child.

Payment of financial support under (b) is intended where the child’s condition is serious and long term.

Financial support under (c) is payable so that the local authority can facilitate the placement of a child for whom it may be difficult to find prospective adopters able to meet the child’s needs.

Financial support may be paid periodically as a regular allowance if considered necessary. The local authority which agreed the financial support for the looked after child on placement continues to have responsibility for such payments until the child is 18 or the payments cease for other reasons. (See procedure for Financial Support for conditions and agreements). All on-going allowances are means tested.

Means Testing

The Local Authority MAY disregard means in respect of:

The initial costs of accommodating an adoptive child - i.e. settling- in grant (the local authority may want to means test any contribution to a significant home adaptation);
Recurring contact costs;
Any special arrangements or special care - i.e. the local authority can guarantee a financial package for a child who may be difficult to place;
Where an element of remuneration to an ex-foster carer is considered.

The Local Authority MUST disregard means in respect of:

Legal costs, including court fees where an adoption order is applied for a Looked after child;
Introductions expenditure for purpose of introducing a Looked After Child to a prospective adopter.

The Local Authority may set any conditions they consider appropriate and may suspend or terminate payments if these conditions are not complied with. Where an annual statement is not provided the Local Authority must give 28 days notice in writing before suspending or terminating any payments.

Adoptive families will need to complete a financial assessment form provided by the Business Support Officer in the Adoption and Permanency Team. This should be returned to her. The Business Support Officer will then forward this form with the evidence documents requested to the Finance Department for assessment. The Adoption Manager will check and sign the payment agreement. The Adoption Business Support Officer will write to the family outlining the conditions and payment assessed.

Annual postal reviews will be the responsibility of the Business Support Officer in the Adoption and Permanency Team.

Once the Adoption Support Plan is agreed, a copy should be sent to the recipients and to any party involved in the delivery of the plan. The recipients of the proposed support will have 28 days to consider the proposals and make representations to the local authority about the proposed plan. Any representations made should be considered by the Designated Manager (Adoption Support), who should inform the recipients of the outcome of the consideration. The person assessed must be given notice of the outcome of their assessment and the notice must contain the following information:

Statement as to the persons needs for adoption support services;
The basis upon which financial support is determined, if relevant;
If financial support is to be paid, the proposed amount that would be payable and any conditions attached to the payment, frequency of payment and period for which support is to be paid. The consequences of failing to meet the conditions must be clarified;
Where financial support is to be a single payment, when that payment is to be made;
Whether the local authority proposes to provide the person with adoption support services;
The services, if any, that are proposed to be provided;
Where the local authority is required to prepare a plan, the notice must include the plan and the name of the person nominated to monitor the provision of services in accordance with the plan;
The arrangements and procedure for review of the support services and financial support.

Where services are being provided during the placement period, the services should be reviewed at each Adoption Review.

The Adoption Support Plan will be submitted to the Adoption Panel when a matching recommendation is being considered. See Placement for Adoption Procedure.

A copy of the plan should go to all those involved in implementing it, and to the recipients of services (or appropriate adult).

A plan is not needed where services are being provided on a one-off basis - the relevant information should be covered in the notification letter.

The Adoption Support Plan should be reviewed at the Reviews of the Adoptive Placement- see Reviews of Adoptive Placements Procedure – or, at any time if there is a significant change of circumstances, within four weeks of the notification of the change.

After the Adoption Order has been made, the Plan should be reviewed if a change in the persons circumstances is brought to the notice of the local authority. This is most likely to be the Post Adoption Worker.

The format and content of any Review will depend on the circumstances of the case. It may refer to only one element of the Plan or be relatively minor in which case an exchange of correspondence may be sufficient. However, where the change of circumstances is substantial, such as a serious change in the behaviour of the child, it may be appropriate to conduct a new assessment of needs involving other parties.

Urgent Cases (Adoption Support Regulation 21)

It is important that the assessment process does not delay provision where a person has urgent need for a service. ASR 21 provides that where any requirement in relation to an assessment, preparing plan and giving notice delays provision in a case or urgency, that requirement does not apply. The local authority will need to review provision as soon as possible after support has been provided, in accordance with the procedures set out above and in the Guidance.

Recovery of Expenses

The local authority assessing the need and deciding on provision of services is responsible for the funding for any resulting provision. In arrangements where the placing authority is responsible but the adoptive family lives at some distance, arrangements can be made with the relevant local authority in the area where the adopter lives to deliver the services, with that local authority having the option to recover costs. This does not apply to just advice and information.

Annex A: Adoption Support Plan Guidance Notes

There is recognition that many families need and value support and help both through and after the adoption process. It is now a legal requirement that adoption agencies assess a families need for support before a match with a child is made, during the period of time between the beginning of a placement to when an adoption order is made and also after the adoption order has been made.

These notes are intended for guidance in completing an Adoption Support Plan. However, all cases are individual and therefore advice should always be sought from the Adoption and Permanency Team.

Adoptive parents and adopted children should be made aware that they are entitled to support from ‘After Adoption’. This support includes advice about birth records, contact registers and tracing methods, counselling for those involved in the adoption, adoption support groups, advice to adoptive parents about how to explain adoption to children, help to adoptive parents in dealing with difficult behaviour, direct work with children to explore feelings of loss and separation and support to adoptive parents when their adoptive children want to trace their birth family;
The key worker for the Adoption Support Plan in most cases will be the post adoption support worker. However, prior to the making of an adoption order, the responsibility will lie with the child’s social worker to ensure that an Adoption Support Plan is completed as part of the statutory reviewing process;
In relation to an agency placement, the Adoption Support Plan should be completed either when adoption is considered to be in the child’s best interests, or when a match is considered between a child and a prospective family. It should be completed by the child’s social worker in consultation with the post adoption social worker (please see note above);
The Adoption Support Plan is designed to look at a child and their families current needs and also their potential future needs;
The Adoption Support Plan should be reviewed at the child’s initial Adoption Review, four weeks after the commencement of placement;
It should then be reviewed at 6 monthly intervals as part of the statutory reviewing process until the adoption order is made;
In order to review a families need for ongoing support following the making of the adoption order, the key worker should write to the family within six months to enquire as to whether they need further support by means of a continuation to the Adoption Support Plan;
In the case of adoptions predating the introduction of the Adoption Support Plan, the following may make a request for an assessment of their needs:
- An adoptive parent;
- An adoptive child;
- A child of an adoptive parent;
- A birth parent/relative or a person with whom the child has an important relationship.

This assessment will then be undertaken by the post adoption social worker.

See Section 7, Adoption Support Plan.

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