4.10.12 Planning for Adoptive Placement

Planning for the possible long-term care of children away from their birth parent(s) should commence as soon as it is becoming apparent that being brought up in the care of their birth parent(s) or other holders of Parental Responsibility may not be possible. The planning should be based on the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families. In such scenarios, adoption should be considered as one of a range of options for permanence.

As soon as care planning takes place, the social worker should begin to collect information which will be required for the Child’s Permanence Report.

Every Looked After Child must have a Permanence Plan by the date of his or her second Looked After Review. When an adoption plan is being considered in relation to a Looked After Child either as the preferred Care Plan or the Parallel Plan, this should be ratified at the child’s Looked After Review.

Consideration of the likelihood of permanence should be held at the first Looked After Review, held within 28 days of the child becoming Looked After. This Review will discuss twin or triple track planning for permanence, including adoption where appropriate. Efforts must be made to ensure that the birth parents/holders of Parental Responsibility are fully aware of the fact that adoption is being considered as one option of care planning. Efforts must also be made to identify any possible carers within the family or friendship network. Consideration should be given to the value and feasibility of a Family Group Conference. Work should continue on acquiring information for the Child’s Permanence Report. (See Policy Document in Guidance AD9: ‘Investigating Family Options for Looked After Children where the Alternative would be Adoption’).

A Children’s Social Care Legal Planning Meeting will be held to consider timetabling, including filing completed assessments and expert evidence. If adoption is one of the Parallel Plans, the date of the Adoption Panel consideration of whether the child should be placed for adoption should be scheduled for a date soon after the reports are due to be received. If these are likely to be necessary in their entirety for the Adoption Panel consideration of whether the child should be placed for adoption, the Court should be asked to give leave for reports to be disclosed to the Adoption Panel.

Core Assessments should be completed within 35 working days and prior to the date of the second Looked After Review (three months following the first). If, during the course of the assessment, it is becoming clear that neither the birth parents or other holders of Parental Responsibility, nor any members of the extended family are suitable to parent the child, a provisional booking should be made for the Adoption Panel to consider whether the child should be placed for adoption - see Section 3, Authority to Place for Adoption.

Following a decision by the Agency Decision Maker that the child should be placed for adoption, the Care Plan should be submitted, along with an application for a Placement Order. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Care Plan might need to be filed prior to the Adoption Panel discussion regarding whether the child should be placed for adoption to avoid unnecessary delay. In such circumstances, at the time of filing the Care Plan, it will be necessary to indicate to the Court that no Adoption Panel recommendation or agency decision has yet been made and the timescale for this to happen.

If assessments have not been completed in time for the second Looked After Review, or another option for the care of the child emerges at a later stage of the planning process, a further Looked After Review should be held once the outcome is known, in order that the plan to proceed towards adoption may be ratified, if it remains appropriate, or changed if it is no longer appropriate.

As part of the planning process, the child’s social worker should ascertain and record the views of the following people about the options for achieving permanence for the child:

• the child, where he or she is of sufficient age and understanding
• the child’s parent(s)
• anyone else with Parental Responsibility for the child
• any other relevant person, such as a relative, carer or Children’s Guardian where Care Proceedings have been initiated.

The views of the above parties will be sought particularly in relation to the contact and identity needs (relating especially to religion and culture) of the child.

Written information and explanations must be given to birth parents and others with Parental Responsibility after an early Looked After Review which identifies several options for permanence. Parents must be provided with information about the implications of different permanence options.

Written information must again be provided to the birth parents after the Looked After Review which identifies adoption as the plan. This should include information on the general implications and procedures in relation to adoption. This includes Placement Orders, the giving of Parental Consent to Adoptive Placement, the process for the placement for adoption and applications for Adoption Orders.

During counselling, children’s social workers should advise birth mothers of the agency’s duty under human rights legislation to counsel and seek the views of the father whether or not he has Parental Responsibility. Some birth mothers may be reluctant to identify the child’s father or have concerns that he will be contacted by the agency. Social workers should not enter into arrangements where the mother’s consent to place the child for adoption is conditional upon their not contacting the father. This would undermine the agency’s obligations to children and fathers.

The pragmatic position is therefore to assume that the default position of the agency is that fathers without Parental Responsibility will be approached unless it is not in the best interests of the child to do so.

Children’s social workers will provide information to and seek the views of fathers who do not have Parental Responsibility. Legal advice should be taken in the following situations:

• Where there is concern that contacting the father may not be in the best interests of the child.
• Where the mother is requesting that the father should not be contacted.
• Where the father’s identity cannot be established.

If the decision is made not to contact the father, then the date and reasons need to be fully recorded on the child's Adoption Case Record.

Consideration by the Adoption Panel of whether the child should be placed for adoption must take place within 2 months of the Looked After Review that recommends adoption as the only plan. To avoid delay, the child’s social worker must make a booking with the Admin. Officer (Adoption) as soon as the early Children’s Social Care Legal Planning Meeting has taken place; this is most likely to be prior to the 4 months (second) Looked After Review.  (It may be necessary to factor in Fostering and Adoption Panel dates, i.e. multiple planning options, so that a realistic timeframe is set by the Court when listing the case to final hearing.) 

• Confirmation of or any changes to the provisional date must be made to the Admin. Officer (Adoption) at the earliest opportunity.
• If there is any change of plan which indicates that the Adoption Panel booking will not be required, the worker must notify the Admin. Officer (Adoption) immediately of the need to withdraw the booking.
• Within 4 weeks of an Adoption Panel booking being made, a family finder will be allocated by an Adoption Team Manager.  See Placement for Adoption Procedure
• The worker must continue to provide counselling for the child - see Section 4, Preparation of Child for Adoption. The child's preferred method of communication should be known and there should be no assumption that a child is unable to communicate.

The child’s social worker must discuss with the parents their views on the adoption plan, and arrange the necessary counselling and support for both of the birth parents and any other significant relatives.  This is currently provided by After Adoption Yorkshire. For detailed procedure, see Section 5, Counselling and Support for Parents.  If either or both of the parents decline or refuse counselling and/or support, then this should be recorded, including the reasons, in the child’s file and Adoption Case Record. 

In conferring with the parents, the agency must spell out the reasons for adoption and how the provisions for contact may change, and this must include an explanation of the change in the legal status of contact at the point a Placement Order is made and the power for the parents to apply for a Contact Order under section 26 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.

The family finder must ensure that the adopters of any siblings already adopted (or placed for adoption) have been informed of the adoption plan for this child.  They should, wherever possible, be informed of the birth of subsequent children, for their child’s own information, and to request health and development information about the child for the information of the child needing adoption and to inform planning.   They should also be informed of the plan for the child so that they may volunteer their interest in adopting if this seems appropriate to them. A pro forma letter is available for this purpose.

Should the adopters of any siblings already adopted express an interest in being considered for this child, initial enquiries as to their suitability, and any subsequent assessment, should be made as quickly as possible - see Assessment and Approval of Agency Adopters Procedure.

In all the above situations, active family finding should not commence until the outcome is known.

Presentation to the Adoption Panel:

To enable the Adoption Panel to consider whether the child is suitable to be placed for adoption, the child’s social worker must present the following reports:

1. A front sheet stating what is being reported, the reports included, the recommendations sought and who will be attending Adoption Panel
2. The Child’s Permanence Report (including the Medical Adviser’s comments) signed by the child’s social worker, the manager and the parent (if willing), and a photograph of the child, together with Form EC (the parents’ comments).
3. The child’s health report and the health information obtained in relation to the parents (where the Medical Adviser so advises).
4. Legal advice about parental consent and the option of seeking a Placement Order.

Note that the health summary by the Panel's Medical Adviser will be part of the Child's Permanence Report. The medical forms will be sent out only to the Medical Adviser for the relevant Panel, and will only be shared with members of Panel on the recommendation of the Medical Adviser. (See also Section 6, Child’s Adoption Medical)

The child’s social worker will send 16 copies of the relevant reports to the Admin. Officer (Adoption) at least 13 working days before the relevant date of the Adoption Panel. The papers will be sent to all the members 11 days before the Panel meeting.

The child’s social worker (together with his or her manager if appropriate), and the identified family finder will attend the Panel meeting during consideration of the matter. 

(N.B. Where the social worker is seeking a recommendation at the same time in relation to a proposed placement of the child with particular prospective adopters, the procedure set out in the Placement for Adoption Procedure must also be followed.)

The Panel will consider the written reports and any additional information presented verbally.  The Panel will make a recommendation to the Agency Decision Maker.  Where the Panel recommends that the child should be placed for adoption, it must consider and may give advice as to future contact arrangements for the child, and whether an application for a Placement Order should be made.

The other route to adoption is by the giving of Parental Consent to Adoptive Placement - see 3.2, Parental Consent to Adoptive Placement. The Panel may express a view about whether obtaining Authority to Place for Adoption should be via Parental Consent or the Placement Order route. 

The recommendation and advice will be recorded in writing, together with reasons, in the Panel’s minutes.  A copy of the relevant minute must be held on the child’s Adoption Case Record.

After the Adoption Panel

After the Adoption Panel, the Professional Adviser to the Panel will send the written recommendation and advice, together with the reports considered by the Panel, to the Agency Decision Maker, who will make a decision based on these documents within 7 working days.  The decision will be recorded in writing, with reasons, and entered on ICS.

Where the Agency Decision Maker is minded to disagree with the Panel recommendation, he/she must first discuss the case with another senior officer with the appropriate experience, who should not be a Panel member.  This discussion must be recorded and placed on the child’s Adoption Case Record.

The Admin. Officer (Adoption) will communicate the decision to the child’s social worker, who will convey orally the decision to the birth parents with Parental Responsibility within 2 working days of the Agency Decision Maker’s decision. 

The child’s social worker will write to the birth parents informing them of the decision within 5 working days.

The child’s social worker will also ensure that the child is informed of the decision in a timely and age-appropriate way.

The child’s social worker will ensure that preparation of the child for adoption continues with the aim so far as possible that:

• The child has an understanding of the reasons for the adoption plan and what adoption will mean,
• The child has an opportunity to express his or her wishes and feelings about the future, and
• The child has information on his or her birth family, which is kept safe and provided to the adopters and the child at the appropriate time

The agency has a duty to:

• Provide a counselling service for the child (counselling is defined as ‘giving information, advice and support, and can include therapy for the child)
• Explain to the child in an appropriate manner the procedures for and the legal implications of adoption, Placement Orders or the giving of Parental Consent to Adoptive Placement and advance consent to an Adoption Order
• Provide the child with appropriate written information about the above matters as relevant and ascertain the child's wishes and feelings regarding: The child's preferred method of communication should be known and there should be no assumption that a child is unable to communicate.
• The possibility of placement for adoption with a new family and his adoption
• His religious and cultural upbringing
• Any contact with his parent or guardian or other relative or with any other person the agency considers relevant.

As part of the above, the child will be given a Children’s Guide to Adoption as soon as adoption is part of the child’s Care Plan. Any discussions with the child should be fully recorded in the Adoption Case Record Guidance may be sought from the Seen and Heard Project where there are issues relating to communication.

Where a child’s wishes are not acted upon, for example a child’s wish to be placed with his or her siblings, this should be explained to the child, with reasons, and should be fully recorded in the child's Adoption Case Record.

See also Guidance in relation to Life Story Work.

If either or both of the birth parents refuse to accept or do not receive the written information, this should be recorded, including the reasons, on the child’s case file and Adoption Case Record. 

Where the parents’ address is known, the child’s social worker should personally deliver or arrange for delivery by hand of a copy of the information to the address and record this on the Adoption Case Record.

The child’s social worker must also seek to ascertain the parent’s views on the matters set out in paragraph 5.8 h. and k. and offer to arrange independent support for both birth parents (including unmarried fathers). The purpose of the support is to ensure that the alternatives to adoption have been explored and the implications of adoption fully discussed. It also offers the parents the opportunity to express their views in relation to the plans for the child, and to be involved in planning for the child’s future wherever possible. 

Where the offer of support is accepted, the social worker should make the necessary referral to After Adoption Yorkshire. In some cases, this will already have been arranged through the child's Independent Reviewing Officer. The relevant referral forms are held by the child’s social worker’s admin team, and should be completed by the social worker, who then obtains the birth parent’s written consent to the referral. The forms are sent to the Service Adviser, Adoption and Fostering Unit, who forwards them to After Adoption Yorkshire. The Independent Reviewing Officer should notify the Service Adviser, Adoption and Fostering Unit, of all decisions to implement an adoption plan, in order that a referral data base may be maintained and, if necessary, outstanding referrals pursued.

The counselling and support will cover the following areas:

1. Explaining the key stages of the adoption process and likely time-scales
2. Explaining, where appropriate, the procedure for seeking a Placement Order
3. Explaining the parents’ legal rights, including the right of the unmarried father to seek a Parental Responsibility Order, Residence Order or Contact Order in relation to the child
4. Explaining the role of the Adoption Panel
5. Explaining the role of CAFCASS in witnessing consent or acting as the Children’s Guardian
6. Explaining the way the Adoption Contact Register works and how an adopted adult may seek information about the birth family in the future or register a wish not to be contacted
7. Explaining how prospective adoptive parents are assessed
8. Ascertaining the parents’ views on the adoption plan, including the selection of the adoptive family, any specific ethnic, cultural or religious needs of the child, and any plan to separate a sibling group. Their views on these issues should be recorded.
9. Dealing with grief and loss
10. Where the parents are consenting to the adoption, explaining the process for witnessing their consent, their right to state that they do not wish to be informed of an adoption application, and that they have the right to withdraw their consent at any time up to the making of an Adoption Order, but the restriction of their rights to do so after an adoption application has been made.
11. Ascertaining the parents’ views on adoption contact including whether they would wish to meet the adoptive family and if so, how they might prepare for this. Also they should be given a written explanation of their right to place an ‘expression of wish’ on the child's Adoption Case Record as to whether or not they wish for their adopted child (once that child has reached the age of 18) to make contact with them or be contacted by them. (Ref against sec 2 guidance) 
    
    They should be informed of the adopted person’s right to place a Veto on his or her Adoption Case Record.
12. Explaining how the parents may be able to provide information to be passed to adopters, for example, on the child’s birth and early life, which may be of benefit to the child

As soon as the adoption plan becomes part of the child’s Care Plan, and there is a provisional date to attend Panel, the child’s social worker must request an adoption medical for the child. It is essential that all medical information is obtained in sufficient time for the Medical Adviser to provide a summary which can be incorporated into the Child’s Permanence Report. The summary (finalised at Adoption Panel) must then be submitted as part of the application for a Placement Order. Therefore medicals should be arranged as early as possible, ideally at least 6 weeks before the Adoption Panel which will consider the child.

Occasionally, this can be done even before a Looked After Review has recommended adoption as the plan (e.g. where there are already Court proceedings and the child may still be subject to a Twin Track Plan, especially if the parents are reasonably co-operative. Note: All medical forms will be seen by the Medical Adviser only- other Adoption Panel members will have sight only of the summary unless the Medical Adviser considers otherwise. (In some cases, the Medical Adviser may consider that there is already sufficient up-to-date health information on the child and a further medical examination is not required.)

It is essential that the child’s social worker attends the medical to give any information that is required. The Profile of Behavioural and Emotional Wellbeing Annex C or D forms should be taken to the medical.

The Medical Adviser will complete and photocopy the back 2 pages of the IHA-C, and give these to the social worker. The Medical Adviser will indicate on the form that this summary is provisional only. The child’s social worker is responsible for arranging for this summary to be incorporated into the Child’s Permanence Report and must therefore seek clarification of any terms/spelling used by the Medical Adviser whilst attending the medical. 

The Admin. Officer (Adoption) must email every Panel agenda to every Medical Adviser. Then the Medical Adviser who did the medical will know which Medical Adviser will be at the Panel meeting and will send the Form IHA-C or IHA-YP to this Medical Adviser. The Medical Adviser will keep the form if s/he is to be on the relevant Panel.   

In preparation for the specific Panel, the Professional Adviser to the Panel will check that the Medical Adviser is in possession of the relevant Medical Forms.

This information provided by the Medical Adviser will be added to the Child’s Permanence Report by the social worker as the medical summary (see above).  It will be made clear on the Child's Permanence Report that this is a provisional summary only, to be added to if necessary after the Panel discussion. Any information that emerges from the Panel hearing as recorded in the minutes will be appended to the Child’s Permanence Report. This Summary will also be used for the Annex B Court Report for a Placement Order.  

The child’s social worker must record on the Child’s Permanence Report what efforts have been made to obtain medical/health information concerning birth parents and siblings (see below) and the reasons if this has not been obtained.  

The final minutes of the Adoption Panel will be sent for correction/approval to the Medical Adviser in attendance at the relevant Panel meeting, rather than the Medical Adviser who will be attending the Panel which will be considering the minutes. The Medical Adviser will be asked to send any corrections to the Admin. Officer (Adoption), or to the Medical Adviser attending Panel.

The local authority has a duty to ensure that birth parents rights are adhered to in the following areas:- 

1. The child’s social worker will ascertain and give due consideration to their wishes and feelings about the planning for a child, and will record these; 
2. The child’s social worker will notify the birth parents in writing about the extent of their exercise of Parental Responsibility and the reasons for this decision: This will include a decision about how, if at all, they will be allowed to participate in the reviewing process for the child; (a leaflet is available for this purpose) 
3. Their views on the exercise of Parental Responsibility will be recorded on the Adoption Case Record; 
4. Decisions about the exercise of Parental Responsibility must be considered at each Adoption Review and a written record of the decision kept on the Adoption Case Record and sent to parents. 
5. The exercise of Parental Responsibility by birth parents will most commonly be via their contribution to the Looked After Review see paragraph 7.4
6. Birth parents will be informed if a placement disrupts and the child moves to another placement. 
7. Birth parents will be notified in writing about contact arrangements. The letter will also advise about the legal steps available under Section 26 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 to seek a Contact Order 
8. Birth parents can ask for their Adoption Support needs to be assessed in relation to contact issues and should be advised of their right to do this. 
9. Prior to the child's placement for adoption, the local authority, or following the placement, the prospective adopters cannot cause the child to be known by a different surname without the written permission of the birth parents and all other holder of Parental Responsibility or the leave of the court. 
10. Prior to the child's placement for adoption, the local authority, or following the placement, the prospective adopters cannot remove the child from the UK for more than one month without the written permission of the birth parents and any other holder of Parental Responsibility, or the leave of the court. 
11. It is a legal requirement that birth parents are notified by the local authority at the beginning of  the court process when an adoption application is made except where birth parents have given their consent to the adoptive placement under Section 19 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and have told the agency that they do not wish to be notified. 
12. The agency will encourage and support birth parents to contribute information, photographs and other memorabilia that will record key information for the child’s future use. 
    
    Birth parents will be notified in writing about post-placement contact arrangements, how they will receive information prior to adoption and the arrangements for indirect contact following the making of an Adoption Order. The letter will also cover the arrangements that are planned, if any, for a meeting between adopters and birth parents. The letter will also advise about the legal steps available to parents to seek a Contact Order. 
13. Birth parents will be informed if a child dies before the making of an Adoption Order and be consulted about their wishes and feelings about the funeral arrangements. 
14. Birth parents will be informed if a placement disrupts and the child moves from the prospective adopters to another placement. 
15. The ability of the agency to enable birth parents to exercise their Parental Responsibility is dependent on birth parents notifying the agency where they are living and allowing social workers to contact them.

The Adoption Review provides an opportunity for decisions regarding the sharing of Parental Responsibility and any necessary modifications. See Monitoring and Supervision of Adoptive Placements Procedure. The requirement before a Placement Order, or Parental Consent to Adoptive Placement is obtained, is that the views of birth parents, others with Parental Responsibility and any others of significance to the child should be sought prior to any Looked After Reviews wherever practically possible. 

Looked after Reviews will continue after the making of a Placement Order. Adoption Reviews are held under the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005.  Although the positive obligation under the Children Act 1989 to seek the views of the parents and other family members ceases, from the point that a Placement Order or Parental Consent to Adoptive Placement is obtained, this is a neutral legal provision, and should not be taken to mean that it is unnecessary to consider the views of parents. Those with Parental Responsibility and any others of significance to the child will usually  have a part to play in that Reviewing Process. Prior to each Adoption Review the child's social worker and the Independent Reviewing Officer will consider how the parents' views should be sought and represented at the Review.

It is important to note that, irrespective of whether the parents attend the Adoption Review, one of the key safeguards for the parents, who may wish to seek legal advice about revoking the Placement Order, or to change their mind about their consent to the adoptive placement is the receipt of information about how the plans for the child are progressing - or, indeed, not progressing. Hence the importance of receiving notice of the outcome of reviews including key events concerning the child. 

Where parents have been attending Looked After Reviews up to the point where a Placement Order is made the expectation is that they would normally continue to attend Adoption Reviews, at least before detailed plans are being discussed for the actual placement for adoption. Consideration will need to be given to the impact of the making of the Placement Order upon parents. In those circumstances where attendance at reviews is considered to be disruptive to the planning process, parents will not be invited. Alternative arrangements will be made to ensure their views are represented. See Monitoring and Supervision of Adoptive Placements Procedure. 

Where parents have not been attending reviews before the Placement Order is made the expectation is that this will not change. The way that parents have been involved in the planning process will continue. 

Consideration must be given to the appropriateness of the venue and to how confidential matters, such as those relating to family finding, will be handled and recorded.  Once a prospective adoptive family has been identified, the need to protect the anonymity of the family must be the deciding factor when considering whether to invite birth parents, others with Parental Responsibility and any others of significance to the child.  

Notification of the outcome of the Review- Consideration must be given to how and by whom relevant information from the Review will be shared with birth parents, others with Parental Responsibility and any others of significance to the child. This will take the form of either the minutes or, more likely at the stages a placement has been identified, a summary of key points. If the minutes are not sent, the information given needs to be sufficient to enable the parent to identify both the key positive and negative (if any) aspects of the child's care plan and circumstances, so enabling them to get legal advice if required, on an informed basis.  

Once a family is identified, all workers need to be aware of the critical need, in most cases, to avoid breaching the security, or disclosing the identity, of the prospective adoptive placement.  It will be prudent for a nominated worker to take responsibility for the dissemination of the minutes/letter to the parents, rather than treating it as a routine administrative task.  

Once the agency has Authority to Place for Adoption, the child will be the subject of regular Adoption Reviews, chaired by an Independent Reviewing Officer.  The first Adoption Review must be held within 3 months of the agency obtaining authority to place the child for adoption (either through a Placement Order or Parental Consent to Adoptive Placement and thereafter, at least every 6 months.

Each Review must consider:

• Whether the agency remains satisfied that the child should be placed for adoption;
• The child’s needs, welfare and development, and whether any changes need to be made to meet the child’s needs or assist their development;
• The existing arrangements for contact, and whether they should continue or be altered. Assessment should also address how to deal with unauthorised or unmediated contact through social networking sites.

Where the child has not been placed for adoption at the time of the first six month review the review should:

• Establish why the child has not been placed for adoption
• Consider whether the child should be placed for adoption
• Consider what further steps it should take to arrange for the child to be placed, including consideration of a review of the adoption plan and/or a possible change to long-term fostering/separation of siblings.

The family finder should attend these Adoption Reviews in order to provide information about the family finding steps that have been taken and to discuss, if appropriate, what further steps might be taken.

In all cases, where Authority to Place for Adoption has been obtained but it is becoming apparent the child will not have been placed within 9 months of obtaining this authority, the child’s social worker must present a Report Back to Adoption Panel and the following arrangements will apply: 

1. Eight months after the obtaining of Authority to Place (and thereafter at 6-monthly intervals where necessary), the Admin. Officer (Adoption) will send a ‘Report Back to Adoption Panel – Child’ Form to the child’s social worker.  A copy of the request must be given to the family finder.
2. The social worker will book a date for a Panel discussion, which should be as soon as possible following the 6 months Adoption Review.
3. The paperwork will be submitted in the same way as for all other Panel bookings.
4. If there is a proposal for a change of plan, the paperwork will include the Child’s Permanence Report and minutes of the Panel that recommended that the child should be placed for adoption.
5. If the Report Back contains a proposal regarding a change of plan, consideration will be given to the child’s social worker attending Panel, accompanied by the family finder if family finding issues have a bearing on the proposed change of plan.
6. Panel will give an indication of timing of subsequent Reports Back if these are considered necessary.
7. The minutes of the Panel discussion will be placed on the child’s Adoption Case Record.