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Context
The Association of Fostering and
Adoption (AFA) Cymru was established on 7th September
2015. It was formed following the closure of The British
Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) which went into
administration on 31st July 2015. BAAF Cymru
received Core Grant funding from Welsh Government and following a
transparent tending process St.David’s Children Society was
awarded the funds to continue the elements of BAAF Cymru which
delivered independent advice, training and consultancy across the
permanency spectrum. Whilst hosted by St.David’s, AFA
Cymru’s operational delivery of these services is entirely
separate to the core functions of St.David’s and they have
submitted a separate response to the follow up Committee of
Inquiry.
Within the context of our
service portfolio as a knowledge hub and best practice centre for
permanence planning in Wales, the response by AFA Cymru to this
follow up Inquiry will focus on two distinct areas as opposed to
answering the question directly.
·
Recommendation 2
– Early Care Planning for Children
·
Recommendation 15
–Training and upskilling the workforce
Recommendation 2- Early Care
planning for Children (specifically concurrent
planning and Fostering for Adopt(page 11)
This response is informed by
Sarah Coldrick – Legal Advisor AFA Cymru and we hope that
this will be helpful to the Committee.
We agree that initiatives to
support early permanence can show very positive results in limiting
delay and securing better outcomes for children where adoption is
the plan. However there are distinct differences between
Concurrent Planning and Fostering for Adoption.
Concurrent planning
has been in
existence in the UK since the 1990’s. Concurrent
planning requires the identification and delivery of a detailed
rehabilitation plan while the child is placed with carers who are
approved for both foster carers and adopters.
Whilst rehabilitation is being
explored and assessed, carers will work within the plan, supporting
the rehabilitation if birth parents are successful in their
assessments, or placement within the wider family. If the
rehabilitation plan proves to be unsuccessful, the foster carer can
go on to adopt the child if this becomes is the plan at the
conclusion of care proceedings and following the granting of a
Placement Order. Within this planning process the uncertainty
about the final outcome is borne by adult concurrent carers,
instead of by the infant.
Typically concurrency is used in
those cases for babies and very young children (aged 0 -2) where
there is already a poor prognosis, for example where there are
pre-birth factors such a drug and alcohol neo-natal
addiction.
The present regulations for the
approval of foster carers and adopters allow for children to be
placed with concurrent carers. Following specific
recruitment, carers could be could be dually approved under the
existing AA(W) Regs 2005 and FS(W) REGS 2003.
In view of the
evidence from other parts of the UK about the positive outcomes for
children placed within these arrangements, it is disappointing that
no progress has been made in implementing concurrency arrangements
in Wales.
Coram (2013)
reported that the outcomes of 68% of children placed through
concurrent planning were significantly enhanced than children
placed at a later stage of their development. Recent figures
collated by Cambridgeshire Local Authority indicate that 24% of all
their adoptive placements have been made via the concurrency
route.
Concurrency has much to commend
it –
·
Dual approval
provides a cohort of carers who will be willing to actively work
towards reunification until such a time as the court rules it out.
These carers would be recruited, supported and trained to
enable them to undertake this complex task.
·
With adults managing
the uncertainty about the final plan for permanence, infants are
able to attach to carers with whom they can remain for a lifetime
if they are not rehabilitated to their birth parent(s) or wider
family. This is of real benefit for the emotional development
and ongoing wellbeing.
·
The Social Services
and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, has now established a regulatory
framework for Fostering to Adopt. Within this framework
prospective adoptive parents could be approached to consider
Fostering for Adoption during the assessment (PAR) stages when they
can feel quite vulnerable and the desire to become parents as
quickly as possible subjectively can mitigate against any potential
‘risks’ of rehabilitation .
·
As these placements
can result in a child returning to birth families, it is imperative
carers within these projects understand completely the potential
outcome of these arrangements.
·
With proper
resources, Concurrency projects ensure that carers have access to
the intensive and specialist resources and support that they
require to facilitate high levels of contact.
·
Carers benefit from
active peer support from other concurrency carers.
Fostering For
Adoption (F4A) is a relatively new
initiative that was introduced in England in 2013. Amendments
have been made to the Children Act 1989 which impose a duty on
English Local Authorities to consider placing a child
within a F4A placement. Adopters can be approved as temporary
foster carers under REG CPPCR 25A (2010) either when considering
adoption (which could be at the start of care proceedings) or when
satisfied that the child should be placed for adoption.
F4A may apply in one of
following circumstances:
1.
Parents have had one
or more children placed for adoption or other forms of permanent
placement and evidence strongly suggests that their circumstances
have not changed
2.
This is the first
child – circumstances of parents and risks to child are such
that there is no proactive plan to return child to birth
family.
3.
Parents have
indicated that they may want child adopted but not formally
consented.
The use of F4A has gathered real
momentum in England since these changes and is enshrined in the
Children and Family Act 2014. The Westminster Government has
recently announced that it is to place a duty on Local Authorities
to reveal how many children they place with adoptive families
before the full care process is complete in order to encourage the
use of F4A. This is much more aligned to the principles
behind concurrency of placement at start of care
proceedings.
Whilst there is provision for
F4A in the Social Services and Well Being (Wales) Act 2014, the
legislation in it’s current form does not include a clause
directing LA’s to consider placing a child in a F4A placement
if considering adoption.
Prior to placement in F4A
placement, it is imperative that consideration is given regarding
the decision to place. It is our view that statutory guidance
is needed to ensure that good practice is upheld - in particular
Article 8 of the European Convention on the Rights of the Child in
respect of children and their birth family
If F4A is going to be an option
for early permanence arrangements in Wales, the wording set out in
S22 CA should be inserted into s81(10). In its present form
s81 (10) is not workable due to the imposed timescales between
SBPA/ panel recommendation and ADM decision prior to making the
placement.
In its current form this
provision provides little advantage to the child, both in respect
of experiencing disruption from their foster carer, but critically
in being placed as early as possible with a potential forever
family .
Please see diagram below which
sets out the legal differences between Concurrency and F4A and the
legal differences in F4A in England and Wales
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CONCURRENT
PLANNING
AA(W)
Regulations 2005
FS(W)Regulations
2003
Dual approved carers under
both regulations
I
I
Child placed
with concurrent carers (as a foster placement) at start of care
proceedings
I
I
Care
proceedings
I
I
Should be
placed for adoption
decision
I
I
Placement
Order made
(authority to
place)
I
I
Matching
panel recommendation and ADM decision
I
I
Foster
placement becomes adoptive
placement
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FOSTERING FOR
ADOPTION
S81 (10)(11)
SSWBA 2014
AA(W)
Regulations 2005
R
25 CPPCR(W)Regulations 2015
Approved
prospective adopters
(s81(1)(c))
I
I
Child placed
with other short term foster carers at start of care
proceedings
I
I
Care
proceedings
I
I
Should be
placed for adoption
decision
(s81(10)(a))
I
I
Matching
panel recommendation and ADM decision S81(10)(a))
I
I
Carers are
temporarily approved as foster carers (R 28)
I
I
Child placed
with F4A carers
(as a foster
placement)
I
I
Placement
Order made
(authority to
place)
I
I
F4A placement
becomes adoptive placement
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Recommendation 15
–Training and Upskilling the Workforce
It is our belief that it is
imperative that the knowledge base underpinning good permanency
planning needs to be imbedded in both pre- and post- qualifying
training. Student childcare social workers should be trained,
and critically, assessed on their understanding of what
children need to develop physically and emotionally healthy and
secure relationships that are sustainable throughout life.
This assessment should include consideration of their ability to
assess this in practice. We believe that this should form
part of their core skillset and should provide the bedrock of how
we understand children’s needs.
If there is not a sufficient
emphasis on this during pre-qualifying training then we believe it
is unlikely that newly qualified social workers will find time to
develop these core skills once they start work in busy front line
social work teams. We welcome the new CPEL framework led by
the Care Council in respect of ongoing learning and professional
development but this in itself is not sufficient to address the gap
that could be left by an insufficient focus at the pre-qualifying
stage.
We believe that work in the
field of adoption cannot be seen in isolation from the broader
spectrum of permanency care planning for children. This
requirement for positive, nurturing and consistent care – a
secure base –transcends legal status and should be understood
by all childcare professionals.
It is absolutely critical that
if we are to make effective, well evidenced and analytical
decisions about children that the profession as a whole (we include
health, education, mental health and the judiciary in this) has an
in depth knowledge about Attachment Theory and child
development. We all need to understand the consequences for
children of poor early years experiences, and the impact of
disrupting attachments and insecure attachments due to poor /
inconsistent care by birth family members, and through moving
children from one primary caregiver to another whilst being Looked
After.
This understanding also needs to
extend to all caregivers - foster carers, Special Guardians,
kinship carers and adoptive parents. It also needs to be
applied when children are rehabilitated home to their birth
parents.
This was evidenced in Selwyn
et al (2014) in Beyond the Adoption Order. This
research clearly referenced a number of recommendations to improve
training across the carer / child care workforce if we are to
improve outcomes for children. They cited a poor knowledge
base and understanding of attachment theory and child development
as a contributory factor in adoption disruptions. If we lack
knowledge about what children need this will absolutely impact each
stage of the child’s journey – from making early care
planning decisions through to living with temporary carers and on
into permanency arrangements of all kinds.
The research also highlighted
that we need to empower foster carers to love the children they
care for, albeit on a temporary basis. The study highlighted
a significant issue around foster carers having very little
physical contact with infants – this was identified as a
contributory factor to poor outcomes in later years. Hallet
(Cascade, 2015) highlights professionals views that “the
lack of attention and physical displays of affection experienced by
young people involved in social services” had contributed
to their vulnerability to Sexual Exploitation.
Finally we would recommend that
pre-qualifying child care social have developed competence in
communicating with children and ascertaining their wishes and
feelings in meaningful ways.
Through consultations undertaken
by NAS children and young people speak about the importance of
services they receive being ‘adoption sensitive ‘and
‘adoption aware’. As Selwyn (2014) states
adoption is a process not an outcome, and children need to be
helped to understand what is happening in their life. This is
consistent with other research findings over the years.
We have welcomed the progress
made in raising awareness about Child to Parent Violence since the
release of the research and the associated training programme that
is being developed. However we believe this is too limited in
scope and ambition if we are to upskill social workers to make good
assessments, to provide appropriate support to all primary
caregivers and to engage with children and young people.
We wish to draw attention to the
wider findings of the report in terms of areas of work force
development that were highlighted as being significant if outcomes
are to be improved as outlined above and will welcome working with
NAS to implement these recommendation.
We recognise the severe
constraints on training budgets and understand that the priority
that is rightly being given to upskilling the workforce on the
Social Services and Well Being (Wales ) Act 2014
Act.
However we are anxious that
there is a risk if the focus of workforce development is too
narrow. We believe that there are potential consequences of a
poorly skilled workforce within adoption, and across the child care
sector as a whole that will significantly impact on delivering the
adoption reform agenda required to secure the outcomes we all want
to see for all those affected by adoption.
We would therefore recommend
that priority is also given to developing a comprehensive training
suite of materials that can be consistently delivered across Wales
–this training could include
·
Life Story
Work
·
Telling Children
Difficult Information
·
Preparing Children
for Adoption
·
Secure
Base
·
Child
Development
·
Parenting
Teenagers
In order to develop competent
and confident practitioners, these issues need to be robustly
covered in both pre-qualifying and post-qualifying
training.
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