Devon County Council

Information for the public about the adoption service is available through the County Council’s website, which also provides an online enquiry service.  There is a leaflet for prospective carers covering both fostering and adoption.  Written information is also provided for particular services including:

• The independent support and counselling service for birth parents provided by the adoption unit
• Introductory information pack for prospective adopters
• The County Council’s adoption policies
• The Adoption Letterbox Contact service
• The Educational Psychology service to support the adoption agency
• The Adoption Panel, including arrangements for prospective adopters attending panel meetings.

An annual newsletter is produced by the Adoption Unit and distributed to current and past adoptive families.

The Adoption Unit recruits, trains, assesses and provides support to prospective adoptive parents, including those wishing to adopt a child from overseas.

Children in Care teams undertake the task of planning for permanence and preparing children for adoption.

Children in Care teams work with the child’s birth parents during the decision making process for adoption.  Independent counselling for birth parents is available from an independently supervised adoption social worker.

Contingency planning occurs in appropriate cases in order to minimise delay; however a plan for adoption is not agreed until every possibility of care within the child’s family of origin has been discounted.

The County Council is currently running a pilot concurrency scheme which, with the agreement of the court in care proceedings, allows a child to be placed with foster carers who are also approved prospective adopters and could become the child’s adoptive parents if the birth family proves not able to provide the child with an acceptable level of care.

Children in Care teams and the Adoption Unit collaborate in homefinding, matching, and supporting adoptive placements.

Children in Care teams provide continuing support to face to face contact arrangements.

The Adoption Unit operates the Adoption Letterbox System for managing indirect contact between adoptive and birth families.

The adult adoption counselling service is supported by two dedicated half time adoption social workers. The service includes:

• Mandatory ‘Section 51’ counselling of adopted adults seeking access to their birth records.
• Advice, information, counselling and help with access to records and an intermediary service for adopted adults.
• Advice, information and counselling for birth and adoptive relatives of adopted adults.
• A cross-referenced register enabling links to be made between adopted adults and their relatives when both have an interest in contact.
• We do not currently offer an intermediary service to trace or contact adopted adults on behalf of birth family members, but we will work cooperatively with intermediary agencies.

Plans for meeting anticipated support needs are made at the time when a child is placed with prospective adopters and post-placement support is provided by the Children in Care teams and the Adoption Unit.

The Adoption Unit is the first point of contact for requests for post-adoption support which is not part of an existing support plan.  Where there are child protection concerns or a clear likelihood of family breakdown, referral would be made to the appropriate Assessment team.

Support groups for adopters meet regularly in the Exeter, Totnes and Barnstaple areas.

Other sources of support include the Adoption Medical Advisers, the Educational Psychologist adviser to the adoption service, joint agency teams (JAT), Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHS) and the Joint Agency Child Abuse Team (JACAT).

Financial support is provided to adoptive families in accordance with the Adoption Support Services Regulations 2005.  This includes single sums and, when necessary, regular payments.

Children and adopters are referred to the South West Adoption Consortium and the National Adoption Register in accordance with agreed or mandatory timescales.  National advertising using ‘Be My Parent’ and ‘Children Who Wait’ is employed when necessary to secure a suitable placement without undue delay.

Devon County Council has entered into an agreement with an independent adoption agency ‘Parents and Children Together’ (PACT) for the provision of a specialist intercountry adoption enquiry service.  Prospective adopters wishing to pursue a home study with a view to adopting a child from overseas contract with PACT for this service.