Agenda item

This report covers the second full year of operation of the regional Adopt London North (ALN) from April 2021 to March 2022. 

The report provides a summary of the work over the last year, examples of changes and improvements ALN are making and an insight int the challenges resulting from the current level of demand.

Ms Lydia Samuel, Adopt London North, presented the item. A discussion was held as Members sought further clarification and commented on various areas of interest. 

The Committee heard that:

•   One of the difficulties with CAMHS was that often some young people were seen as low risk when assessed in crisis because they had supportive parents and were seen as having a stable home environment.There had been individuals who had been released from hospital after suicide attempts. However, there was a project underway across London to try and get funding nationally to help improve pathways and have more clear areas of responsibility for adoption support and CAMHS responsibilities.

•   Through the adoption support fund, therapy could be provided for every family that needed it.  The type of therapy could be decided upon their need and this could include family therapy. A total of £5,000 worth of therapy could be accessed per year. There was difficulty when the issues bordered into clinical need and CAMHS involvement would then be required.

•   CAMHS could be invited to a future meeting.

•   The issue needed to be brought forward to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

•   Haringey always had a relatively high number of adoptions in comparison to the other North London boroughs. The boroughs may have differences in the sizes of their populations. Some of the experiences of Haringey related to the number of single parents where there was a combination of challenges such as substance use, mental health and experience of domestic abuse.

•   People who foster normally continued to foster, although some people went on to adopt.

•   People intending to go into adoption needed to meet a financial stability threshold and this was a particular challenge for those who lived in London. The participants  would normally need to have spare bedrooms and adequate space. It was likely that the cost of living crisiswould have a negative effect on those who came close to meeting the criteria for adoption.It was likely to have a less immediate effect on fostering, but fostering was likely to be affected. Efforts were being made to target financial assistance for those looking to go into adoption. 

•   Some local authorities had been able to allocate housing for foster carers. This was more difficult to do for those looking to adopt did not have a child identified to them and therefore was not yet approved for adoption. However, even if an individual was approved to adopt, they were told they could not increase their property size unless their home was overcrowded.

•   The adoption orders had been affected by the delays in the courts partly due to the coronavirus crisis. Proceedings were also generally taking longer. As children got older, it became harder to get them into adoptive placements.

•   Even when the court process was efficient, there was still pressure on timings. The service was now moving to more strategic operating model to ensure that any issues that aggravate delays would have a mitigated approach.

•   If there was an early permanence arrangement in place whereby the prospective adopters were fostering until the adoption was confirmed, then those carers would receive a fostering allowance. They would also have access to adoption pay and adoption leave. There was more intense and willingness to consider early permanency.

•   They will also other existing adoption allowances. Some families received them based on the needs of the child or based on their own needs and would receive them until the child is an adult. However, these allowances were based on the child. Those requiring financial support would be best served by being attached an allowance to them at the beginning before a child was allocated them. The North London boroughs were committed to this type of approach. 

•   The assessment process was meant to take about six months. The first stage of the process was taking longer and would take around four months and stage two process was taking about 5 months - a total of nine months.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.