From this month, many adoption agencies in England will be using a new Adoption Support Plan to prepare for a child to join their adoptive family, and to guide their support in the years ahead.
In some ways, this is a piece of boring bureaucracy. It’s basically a new form to be filled in.
In most ways, it’s a triumph for many thousands of people who have responded to the Adoption Barometer survey over the years, telling us that their child doesn’t have a support plan at all. Last year only 44% of new adoptive parents said their child has a written plan for support.
You spoke out, we told decision makers, they acted. Campaigning works!
AUK was on the project group for the creation of the Adoption Support Plan (ASP), and we organised a focus group for adopters to input as well.
But what is it, and what changes will it bring?
Until now, there has been no standard template in England, and no stand-alone document setting out the support needed by a child moving into adoption. This information was supposed to be captured in the child’s Adoption Placement Report (APR). But the Barometer results show that the information about support has too often been non-existent, minimal or poor quality.
The new Adoption Support Plan is a stand-alone document, setting out what is known about a child’s support needs at the time of the match and placement. It is intended to be used as the basis for any assessment of support needs after the child moves into their new family.
The form includes sections about the child’s emotional and behavioural development, identity, education and contact. There is also a section about the support the adoptive family is likely to need in parenting their specific child. It includes details of the people and services that will be providing, or signposting to, the support set out in the plan.
To ensure the Adoption Support Plan is effective, guidance has been developed for social workers and for prospective adopters, who must be consulted during its creation.
The Adoption Support Plan has been developed with local authorities in mind rather than voluntary adoption agencies, but some VAAs will start to use it. We will keep agencies on their toes by continuing to consult families about how it’s going.
Obviously, the goal is to make sure it really makes a difference to children. We want all adopters to be automatically offered an annual review of their child’s support needs, using the Adoption Support Plan as the basis for that conversation. Then we might start to see problems being tackled earlier, and fewer families reaching the stage where they’re facing serious challenges. Adoption agencies tell us very few have the capacity to do annual reviews at the moment. And yet last year’s Barometer showed us that more families than ever are in crisis.
As the new government develop their approach to children’s social care, there are strong economic and moral arguments to ensure the adoption system is properly equipped to support every child, not just when they move into their new family, but throughout their childhood. Settled adoptions start with great plans that are regularly reviewed.
If you’re a prospective adopter and would like to see the format of the ASP, or read the Adopter’s Guide, your social worker should be able to show them to you.
