Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Children’s Services . To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families.]

Further to the report to Cabinet of October 2016 which gave in principle agreement to the proposal that Haringey, Enfield, Islington and Camden become the Adopt London North Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) in accordance with the requirements for authorities to be part of an RAA by 2019 in the Children’s and Social Work Act 2017

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 The Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families introduced the report which sought approval of a business case (that included the proposed operating and financial model) for Adopt London North Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) and for the London Borough of Haringey to be part of the new North London Regional Adoption Agency.  

The Cabinet Member outlined that moving to regionalised adoption function was part of a national policy and there were legal powers compelling all local authorities to move to a regionalised adoption agency model. Haringey had already been working with neighbouring boroughs, Enfield, Islington, Barnet and Hackney to form ‘Adopt London North’ which would be hosted and led by Islington Council. The Cabinet Member drew attention to paragraph 6.6, of the attached report which set out services to be included in this regional agency.

The Council already worked with these local authorities as part of the North London Consortium, and the proposed RAA would seek to enhance this by better targeting the recruitment of prospective adopters, speeding up the matching and placement of children for adoption, and also providing high-quality adoption support for families.

RESOLVED

1. To agree the Business Case for the new Adopt London North Regional Adoption Agency that includes the proposed operating and financial model and attached as Appendix 1.
   
   
2. That the London Borough of Haringey enter into the Adopt London North Regional Adoption Agency partnership arrangement that will comprise the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington. A draft copy of the Partnership Agreement is attached as Appendix 2.

3. That the London Borough of Islington host the Adopt London North Regional Adoption Agency and to delegate the Council’s adoption functions to the London Borough of Islington for the purposes of these arrangements and as set out in Schedule 2 of the draft Partnership Agreement.

4. To give delegated authority to the Director of Children’s Services in consultation with the Lead Member for Children, Education and Families to implement the arrangement for Adopt London North including entering into and signing off the Partnership Agreement and any other agreement between the London Borough of Haringey and the other participating authorities, in order for the regional adoption arrangement to be implemented in July 2019.

Reasons for decision

The decision seeks to implement the government’s policy and legislative agenda of promoting regional adoption agencies, with the aims of better targeting the recruitment of prospective adopters and speeding up the matching and placement of children for adoption. This is a mandatory requirement and one which if not progressed risks intervention from government.

Alternative options considered

The Department for Education (DfE) noted in its evaluation of Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs) that local authorities were free to decide the size and makeup of the RAAs and to choose from one of four broad models:

a)        a single local authority hosting on behalf of other local authorities;

b)        a joint venture between the local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies creating a new voluntary adoption agency;

c)         a joint venture between the local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies under a local authority trading company; and

d)        outsourcing service delivery to an existing voluntary adoption agency.

Additionally, the delivery model for the RAA must address the DfE minimum expectations of RAAs as outlined below:

a)        a single line of accountability with the ability to act on behalf of the               individual authorities;

b)        core functions transferred to the RAA;

c)         a pan-regional approach;

d)        functions transferred to the RAA need to include recruitment, support and matching;

e)        a head of service with line management responsibility for staff;

f)          pooled funding; and

g)        partnership with the voluntary sector.

Delivery model options were considered early in the process, including the creation of a new single entity to deliver adoption services. However, creation of new single entities is time consuming and costly and has not been a preferred option elsewhere where regional adoption agencies have been established.

All options considered assumed governance of the RAA through a board comprising senior representatives from all local authorities with representation from voluntary adoption agencies, adopters and adoptees.

The preferred option for adoption services across North London is the combining of the six London Boroughs’ adoption services with one Borough becoming the host authority. This preferred model for North London addresses DfE requirements and proposes to work collaboratively with the three other RAAs across London – namely Adopt London West (Ealing), Adopt London South (Southwark), Adopt London East (Havering).