Agenda item

Report from the Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services.

Recommendation:

That Cabinet approve a further 5-year partnership arrangement with Barnsley, Doncaster, and Sheffield to deliver adoption services as part of a Regional Adoption Agency (OASY).

Consideration was given to the report which asked Cabinet to approve a further 5 year partnership arrangement with Barnsley, Doncaster, and Sheffield to deliver adoption services as part of a Regional Adoption Agency (RAA).  In January 2021 Rotherham partnered with Barnsley, Doncaster, and Sheffield Children’s Social Care Departments to create One Adoption South Yorkshire (OASY) as their Regional Adoption Agency. The arrangement was agreed for 5 years and had progressed since this date. The partnership agreement was scheduled to end in December 2025; however, the 4 local authority Directors of Children’s Services agreed to an extension through to April 2026 as a review had just been completed making recommendations relating to the operating model and the associated funding formula.

There was a continued need for Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to deliver Adoption Services. This was a statutory obligation and ensured that children with a care plan for adoption could secure legal permanence through an adoption process when no longer considered safe or in their best interest to remain with their parents or wider family network. The partnership arrangements to date had been a broad success. There had been development since their inception and some of the challenges experienced had been addressed more recently following a review of the operating model by an external consultant.

The proposed revised delivery model would see an increase in flexibility within the RAA enabling more efficient service delivery. This would also address the reduction in adopter approval activity that had been seen in recent years alongside the increase in the need for post-Order support services. These were the services that were offered to families who had adopted a child and required support in the years that followed. This was a national trend, and the local area reflected the general downward trend in permanent homes being provided via adoption.

The continued partnership arrangement would see a move towards a thematic model of working aligning the service under 3 workstreams (Adoption Support, Recruitment and Assessment and Family Finding) rather than 4 Local Authority Adoption Services operating within a RAA almost independently of each other. It also built in capacity for a Keeping-in-Touch Team within Adoption Support (a known growth area) and the potential for a recruitment and assessment front door team. Keeping in Touch (KIT) in adoption referred to agreed, often voluntary, arrangements allowing adopted children to maintain relationships with birth relatives or significant people, supporting their identity and emotional wellbeing. This model would generate the additional capacity by moving resource from the Family Finding team (where work had been reducing) to the other workstreams. It also generated flexibility to manage short term absence and crucially to deliver a consistently high standard of service across the South Yorkshire Region.

The associated cost reduction for RMBC was based on a revision of the funding formula of the RAA. This was based primarily on the reduction in the number of children Rotherham were placing for adoption. There were a variety of reasons for this including a comprehensive and robust Family Help offer, the enhancements in the use of Family Network Activity and an improved Kinship offer leading to more children and young people remaining at home with their parents or wider network. The reduction in costs had been absorbed in the alternative delivery model meaning a redistribution in Service Manager capacity and management of inter-agency budgets. The inter-agency budget was the fund used when the RAA purchase adoptive placements from other RAAs or may income generate from selling placements to other agencies. It was not considered that there would be an impact on service delivery and there were no risks in relation to redundancy based on these proposals.

The implementation plan aimed to move to this model of delivery in April 2026.

Resolved:

That Cabinet approve a further 5 year partnership arrangement with Barnsley, Doncaster, and Sheffield to deliver Adoption Services as part of a Regional Adoption Agency.