6.3.3 Adoption and Permanence Panel

The role of the Adoption and Permanence Panel is to consider:

• Whether a child should be placed for adoption. If Panel recommends that a child should be placed for adoption it must also consider whether an application should be made to the Court for a Placement Order and the arrangement that the agency proposes to make for allowing any person contact with the child.
• Whether permanence via long-term fostering is in the best interest of a child.
• Whether applicants are suitable as prospective adopters or long term foster carers. When the Panel recommends that the prospective adopter is suitable to adopt a child, the Panel may also give advice about the number of children the prospective adopter may be suitable to adopt, their age range, gender, likely needs and background.
• Whether an individual child should be placed for adoption with particular prospective adopters. At the same time Panel is required to consider:

• Reports regarding placement disruptions (See: Disruptions Meetings Procedures) and progress in relation to permanence planning for the children considered by Panel. This will include notifications of any six-month Adoption Review (see: Adoption Plan Reviews Procedures) held for a child who is subject to a Placement Order but has not yet been placed.

Membership of an individual Adoption Panel should not exceed more than ten members and must include:

• An Independent Chair
• Two Social Workers each with at least three years’ relevant post-qualifying experience in child care social work, including direct experience in adoption work.
• One elected member of the local authority from the Children, Families and Schools Sub-Committee.
• The Medical Adviser to the adoption agency
• Three independent members. At least two of the independent members should have personal experience of adoption, such as adopted adults, adopters or relatives of an adopted person

The Membership of the BHCYPT Adoption and Permanence Panel therefore comprises:

1. An Independent Chair
2. An elected member of the Children, Families and Schools Sub Committee
3. The agency Medical Adviser (Vice Chair)
4. An adopted adult
5. An adoptive parent
6. A foster carer from East Sussex County Council
7. Two qualified Social Workers from the local authority
8. Practice Manager - Fieldwork - BHCYPT
9. Head of Service, Fostering and Adoption - BHCYPT
10. Education representative
11. An independent member who is both an adopted adult and foster carer for an Independent Fostering Agency and has personal experience on issues facing people from black and minority ethnic communities.

The responsibilities of the Chair include:

• Deciding who will attend Panel in addition to Panel members
• Ensuring that all Panel members contribute fully to the Panel’s recommendation and to ensure that where Panel members have serious reservations these are recorded in the minutes of the Panel’s meetings.
• Ensuring that all Panel records are accurate
• Involvement when a Panel member appears unfit, unwilling or unable to continue
• Involvement in deciding when a matter is urgent and when an additional Panel meeting may need to be convened.
• That there is clarity concerning the reasons for Panel's recommendation and accurate recording of such.
• The promotion of good practice and consistency of approach and fairness by Panel members in assessing Carers.

There are four independent members on the BHCYPT Adoption and Permanence Panel. These members are not elected members or employees of the local authority and have personal or professional knowledge and experience of adoption and/or fostering.

The Panel Administrator will minute Panel meetings. The minutes will record:

• Date of Panel
• Attendance at Panel
• Apologies for absence from Panel
• Name of applicants/adopters/foster carers/child
• Purpose of presentation to Panel
• Issues raised by Panel members
• Areas discussed with Social Workers and applicants/carers/children
• The positive factors and potential difficulties/risk factors
• Any legal advice given
• Recommendation reached together with the reasons for the recommendation
• Any advice to the agency from the Panel
• Whether the recommendation was unanimous and if not the reasons and reservations of those not able to support the recommendation
• Any request from Panel for further information, amendments to reports or reporting back to Panel
• Any business for discussion

The Panel will consider cases with the following minimum timings:

• A Child’s Permanence Report and whether the child should be placed for adoption: 45 minutes
• Approval of prospective adopters or foster carers: 1 hour
• Placement of children with particular adopters/foster carers: 1 hour - 1.5 hours (at the discretion of the adviser)
• Progress report on children approved for adoption/permanence:15 minutes
• Disruption reports: 15 to 30 minutes
• Review/re-approval of adopters/foster carers: 30 minutes
• Termination of approval: at discretion of Agency Adviser

The relevant Managers and staff from the Fostering and Permanence Team, in liaison with the Agency Adviser, should try to prevent cases booked for the Adoption and Permanence Panel being deferred by carefully scrutinising all reports prior to submission. On occasions the Agency Adviser may have to defer a case being included in papers for circulation to Panel members if insufficient information, evidence or analysis has been provided. This decision will be made in consultation with the relevant Social Worker and their Manager.

Once Panel papers are circulated to members, a decision to defer a case before the meeting should be made as early as possible by the Chair and/or Agency Adviser. Deferring a case at a Panel meeting causes much distress to applicants/carers and prevents time being available for other cases. This should be avoided if possible.

The Fostering and Permanence Teams’ Managers, the Agency Adviser and the Chair have the power to defer a case before Panel. However consideration at a Panel meeting may reveal a significant gap in information, evidence or analysis that was not clear before an individual contribution is made or a pattern or theme emerges from collective discussion. This could lead to a case being deferred at a Panel meeting. This underlines the value and purpose of an Adoption and Permanence Panel with its different professional and lay perspectives carrying out a quality assurance role.

Nevertheless it is hoped that deferment will normally be a rare occurrence, as it is has proved so far in the Panel’s history. If a regular pattern of deferment were to occur this would be a matter of serious concern. Panel would need to arrange urgent discussions with the Head of Fostering and Adoption Services and the Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) and scrutinise its own performance.

Once papers have been circulated to Panel members, if the Chair considers a report has significant gaps in information, evidence or analysis or is of a poor quality she will contact the Agency Adviser (or Panel Administrator in the absence of the Agency Adviser) to discuss her concerns. The Chair should either:

1. ask for the case to be deferred or
2. if there is sufficient time available, ask the Agency Adviser to ask the Supervising Social Worker, in consultation with their Manager, to write a supplementary report for tabling at the Panel meeting. It is understood that the latter will not normally be a feasible option because of time constraints.

Normally the decision to defer a case before a Panel meeting will be made by the Chair in consultation with the Agency Adviser or the Agency Adviser in consultation with the Chair and relevant Manager. If a Panel member has concerns about the adequacy of a report prior to a Panel meeting and considers the item should be deferred, s/he should contact the Agency Adviser to discuss their concerns. If, after discussion, serious concerns are maintained the Agency Adviser should contact the Chair to recommend the case is deferred prior to the Panel meeting. The Chair will decide whether to accept or reject the recommendation. It is understood that because of members’ time constraints, this option would be rarely used.

Once the Chair or Agency Adviser has made a decision to defer a case prior to a Panel meeting the Agency Adviser should contact the Supervising Social Worker and their Manager immediately so as the applicant’s/Carer’s attendance at Panel can be postponed and explanations and future plans discussed with them.

At the Panel meeting, after minutes and matters arising, the Chair will inform members that the case has been deferred and give the reasons for the deferment. The Chair will clarify any questions or queries members may have and in consultation with the Agency Adviser inform Panel, if known, when the deferred item will be presented to Panel.

After the Panel meeting the Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) should be informed by the Agency Adviser.

If during the Panel’s initial consideration of a case, serious concerns arise about the adequacy of a report in terms of insufficient information, evidence or analysis, the Chair, in consultation with the Agency Adviser, should either:

1. clarify through questions and discussion with members whether they wish to recommend deferment or
2. on the basis of the concerns expressed, make a decision to defer consideration of the case and give the reasons for the decision.

Once the Panel has made a decision to defer considering the case and has clarified their reasons for doing so, the Chair and Agency Adviser will leave the meeting and explain briefly to the applicants/carers and Supervising Social Worker and Manager (if present) that the item has been deferred for further information to be obtained. The Chair and Agency Adviser will then meet the Supervising Social Worker and Manager separately in a confidential setting and explain the reasons for the deferment and clarify what further information the Panel will require. It will also be clarified with the Supervising Social Worker and their Manager which future Panel the item has been deferred to; normally the deferred item will be considered at the next Panel meeting.

There may be some occasions when, prior to the Panel deciding to defer an item, members may wish to try to clarify certain queries or issues with the Supervising Social Worker and their Manager within the Panel meeting. Panel may consider that further clarification could confirm that the case should be deferred or that queries can be answered sufficiently and clarify that the assessment work was carried out satisfactorily but not fully recorded in the report. On such rare occasions, prior to this discussion, the Chair or Agency Adviser will leave the meeting and ask the Supervising Social Worker and Manager to join the meeting and leave the applicants/carers in the waiting room explaining to them that a number of points in reports need to be clarified before the Panel decides to invite them in. If the verbal responses the Supervising Social Worker and Manager give to the Panel’s queries are sufficient to fully answer the concerns raised, the Panel will ask for the assessment report to be amended and the application can be considered fully and not deferred. If the responses clarify that there is still significant assessment work to be carried out, the Panel will confirm the item is deferred until the outstanding work is completed. The Chair and Agency Adviser will leave the meeting and with the Supervising Social Worker and their Manager explain to the applicants/carers that the item has been deferred for further information to be obtained.

After the Panel meeting the Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) should be informed.

The Panel will require the following reports

• Approval of children for adoption and permanence via the Child’s Permanence Report with supporting documents.
• Approval of prospective adopters: Prospective Adopters' Report, chronology, financial verification, written references and other supporting documents.
• Approval of prospective foster carers. Foster Carers’ Assessment Report and supporting documentation.
• Placement of a child with particular prospective adopters: Child’s Permanence Report (updated as necessary), Prospective Adopters’ Report, a completed Adoption Placement Report, all relevant Panel minutes and the proposed Adoption Support Plan.
• Placement of a child with particular prospective foster carers: Foster Carer’s Assessment Report, Child’s Permanence Report, a Matching Report and all relevant Panel minutes.
• Six monthly progress reports on children approved for adoption and long term fostering: a completed Progress Report, and all relevant Panel minutes
• Six monthly reports on children for whom a Placement Order has been obtained but no placement identified. A copy of the Adoption Review held to reconsider the plan and outline whether the child should still be placed for adoption, and all Panel minutes.
• Review of approved adopters awaiting placement: a completed Prospective Adopters’ Review Report, all supporting documentation, the original Prospective Adopters’ Report and all relevant Panel minutes
• Adoptive placement disruptions: Summary of disruption meeting, action plan, recommendations and all relevant Panel minutes
• Review of foster carers' approval - annual Foster Carers' Review Report
• Rescinding of the approved adoption plan for a child: a completed Rescinding Report, original Child’s Permanence Report and all relevant Panel minutes. N.B. If the child is already placed for adoption under the Adoption Agencies Regulations and the request to rescind is because the status of this placement needs to change, then the Panel will also require the Prospective Adopter’s Report, the Adoption Placement Report and all relevant Panel minutes.

• Recommendation for a child to be placed for adoption or long term fostering (also to include decisions on rescinding): child’s Social Worker and his/her supervisor.
• Approval of prospective adopters or foster carers: assessing Social Worker and his/her supervisor.
• Placement of a child with particular adopters or foster carers: child’s Social Worker and his/her supervisor and the prospective adopters/foster carers' Supervising Social Worker.
• Progress reports on children approved for adoption and permanence: not required unless requested by Agency Adviser or Chair
• Disruption reports: not required unless requested by Agency Adviser or Chair.
• Review/re-approval/termination of adopter’s approval: Supervising Social Worker and his/her supervisor.
• Foster carers' review of approval: Supervising Social Worker

NB: The Assistant Director – Quality and Performance has delegated responsibility for making the decision on behalf of BHCC and is the designated Agency Decision Maker.

Where an applicant/carer is not in agreement with the decision made regarding their suitability as an adopter or foster carer, and/or the Adoption and Permanence Panel's recommendation, the following representation procedure will be followed.

• FOSTERING MATTERS. The carer(s) should write directly to the Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) within 28 days. The Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) may meet with them to discuss their concerns and then refer the matter back to the BHCYPT Adoption and Permanence Panel. The Panel will re-consider the matter taking into account the applicant's/carer's comments and concerns and will make a recommendation. This recommendation will be communicated to the BHCYPT Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) who will make the final decision.
• ADOPTION MATTERS. The prospective adopter(s) may choose to make a representation directly to BHCYPT or to an Independent Review Panel (IRP). If a representation is made directly to BHCYPT, the prospective adopters must write directly to the Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) within 40 working days. The Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) may meet with them to discuss their concerns and may then refer the matter to the Adoption and Permanence Panel of a neighbouring local authority. The Panel will consider the matter taking into account the applicant(s)’ comments and concerns and will make a recommendation. This recommendation will be communicated to the BHCYPT Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) who will make the final decision. If the applicant makes a representation to the IRP he/she should directly notify the IRP of his/her wish to do so within 40 working days from the date of the qualifying determination. BHCYPT will forward all relevant information to the IRP within 10 working days of being informed of the need to do so. The IRP will review the matter and notify the BHCYPT Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) of its recommendation and the reasons for it. The BHCYPT Agency Decision Maker (Adoption) will make the final decision.

The report should include:

• number of children approved for adoption and permanence, age, gender, ethnicity
• number of adoptive applicants approved, ethnicity, family structure, geographical location
• number of foster carers approved, ethnicity, family structure, geographical location
• number of matches of children with families approved
• work of the Panel and the service
• strengths and weaknesses of current provision
• quality of work presented to Panel
• specific issues arising for Panel over the past year
• recommendations regarding the operation of Panel and the provision of adoption and permanence services in Brighton and Hove.