Issue - meetings

The Cabinet are asked to approve proposals for the establishment of the Adoption West Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) as outlined in this report.

The purpose for requesting approval at this stage is due to the timescales for achieving commitment from multiple local authorities. In addition, the report seeks to provide certainty regarding each local authority’s commitment prior to formal staff consultation and committing substantial project resources on drafting legal documentation and initiating support service commissioning. 

Councillor Tim Ball addressed the Cabinet as special guardian of three children.  Councillor Tim Ball expressed his concerns that special guardians had not been consulted on this paper.  Councillor Tim Ball also said that special guardians were in different position from adoptive parents.  Special guardians would need a support locally and not from other authorities. Councillor Tim Ball asked the Cabinet to consider position of special guardians locally before accepting this document

Chief Executive responded that he had fully recognised the position of special guardians as different from fostering and adoption.  The proposal in the report would not affect special guardianship; in fact, it would recognise its position in the law.

Councillor Michael Evans moved the recommendations by asking the Cabinet to approve proposals for the establishment of the Adoption West Regional Adoption Agency (RAA).  The purpose for requesting approval at this stage was due to the timescales for achieving commitment from multiple local authorities. In addition, the report would seek to provide certainty regarding each local authority’s commitment prior to formal staff consultation and committing substantial project resources on drafting legal documentation and initiating support service commissioning.

Councillor Michael Evans reminded the Cabinet that, following the general election in May 2015 the context within which the Adoption West project was operating changed with the publication of ‘Regionalising Adoption’ (July 2015).  In this document, the government had set out their proposals to move to Regional Adoption Agencies by the end of the Parliament in 2020 and invited expressions of interest from local partnerships.  The paper had included an emphasis on getting adoption/permanence right for harder to place children whilst ensuring adoption support was available and accessible to these adoptive families and set out three key aims:

•  To speed up matching and improve the life chances of neglected children

•  To improve adopter recruitment and adoption support

•  To reduce costs (through quicker placements for looked after children)

Councillor Martin Veal seconded the motion by saying that officers across the six authorities had worked well and hard for the establishment of the Adoption West Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) and highlighted the great work of Bath and North East Somerset in adoption.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

1)  Note the progress on this project;

2)  Delegate authority for approving the detailed implementation plans, including financial, contractual and legal agreements to the Strategic Director (People and Communities) subject to council policies and procedures. Final approval will be subject to consultation with the Section151 officer, Head of Legal Services and relevant elected member following scrutiny of the fully costed business case.