The senior manager with overall responsibility for the adoption service is the Director of Children & Young People’s Services.
The Director acts as the Adoption Agency Decision Maker and through the Assistant Director for Children, Young People & Families manages the Heads of Service who are responsible for service delivery. The County recently realigned its management structure from one based on geographical Localities to one based on service functions. There are Heads of Service responsible for:
The Children in Care & Care Leavers service includes teams responsible for the care management of children in care, the adoption team and fostering teams, children’s residential units and associated outreach services, and support to care leavers. The social workers who recruit and support adoptive families are thus now responsible to the same senior manager as the social workers who place children for adoption.
The strategic management group, the Children and Families Service Senior Management Team (SMT) meets fortnightly chaired by the Interim Assistant Director - Children, Young People and Families. The SMT comprises the Assistant Director and the 5 Heads of Service.
It is anticipated that a new Director of Early Years and Families and an Assistant Director for Integrated Health and Social Care Services will be appointed in the summer of 2008. The Director will chair a newly constituted SMT, comprising the Assistant Director, the Heads of Service and a Strategic Lead for commissioning.
The adoption service is delivered through
The Independent Reviewing Unit has a responsibility alongside Practice Managers for monitoring the implementation of adoption plans for children and ensuring that timescales are adhered to.
The Operations Manager - Adoption is a member of the Children in Care & Care Leavers Service management group which promotes organisational effectiveness through regular communication, shared responsibility and facilitating the coordination of strategy and working arrangements. Child care policy documents and procedures and practice guidance are available to all staff in printed form and through the Devon County Council intranet.
Archived adoption and other child care records are kept by Child Care Records Clerks managed through the Business Resources management structure. Access to and disclosure of information from closed adoption files is regulated by the Operations Manager - Adoption.
The designated Manager of the Adoption Service for the purposes of Regulations 5 to 8 of the Local Authority Adoption Service (England) Regulations 2003 is the Operations Manager - Adoption, Jonathan Hepworth, Adoption Unit, Devon Social Services, Parkers Barn, Parkers Way, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5UF.
Jonathan Hepworth first worked in local authority adoption services in 1980 and has worked for Devon County Council since 1983. He has been the county’s adoption manager since 1991 and has managed the Adoption Unit since it was set up in 1998. He has a recognised social work qualification (Certificate of Qualification in Social Work and MA in Social Work (University of Kent, 1981)) and an NVQ Level 5 in Operational Management (2005).
The Practice Manager responsible for the recruitment and pre-adoption work with prospective adopters, Brenda Thomas, has worked as a qualified social worker in childcare and adoption posts for Devon Social Services since 1978. Prior to that she had worked as a social worker in three other local authorities, in one case as a team leader. In addition to the CQSW she holds a Cert Ed and an M Phil in Advanced Social Work.
The Practice Managers responsible for adoption support are Jackie Saunders and Katherine Drescher. Jackie Saunders has a B Phil in Social work (1980) and has worked in a variety of previous posts in Devon’s child care service, including specialist posts with responsibility for adoption work. Kath Drescher has been a qualified Social Worker since 1989 and has worked in child care social work in London local authorities and an independent fostering agency and in Devon’s fostering service.
The other staff employed in the Adoption Unit are:
Based at Totnes:
Based at Exeter:
Based at Barnstaple
All the adoption social workers have a recognised social work qualification and most have many years’ experience of local authority child care work including adoption work. They are all registered with the General Social Care Council as social workers and satisfy the requirements of The Restriction on the Preparation of Adoption Reports Regulations 2005.
Specialist advisers to the adoption service include:
Devon County Council has two Adoption Panels constituted in accordance with the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005.
The Adoption Panels have three main functions:
The membership of the Adoption Panels is:
North & East Devon Adoption Panel
Chair – independent – an adopted person
South & West Devon Adoption Panel
Chair – independent – director of a voluntary adoption agency
In addition, each panel has access to the services of:
Devon is a member of the South West Adoption Consortium, a collaboration between 14 local authorities and 3 voluntary adoption agencies. The Consortium is administered by Somerset County Council and works under the direction of the regional Heads of Children’s Services Group. The functions of the Consortium are to increase the range of possible placements which can be considered for individual children and prospective adopters, and to promote (and where necessary co-ordinate) the consistent application of good practice. The Operations Manager, Adoption is the County Council’s link person with the Consortium.
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