The government announced this week a shake up of the way the national adoption register is run and confirmed that Baaf Adoption and Fostering would be the register’s new operator, writes Haroon Ashraf.

The register will offer a targeted referral system, allow adoption agencies a choice of referral methods, and expand the adopter self-referral system, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) said this week in a circular to adoption agencies and councils.

“For children, the adoption register will increase the involvement of experienced social workers, ensuring that increased consultancy will be available for workers or children where there is difficulty in finding a match,” Baaf deputy chief executive Barbara Hutchinson told Community Care.

The new changes have been welcomed by adoption experts who claim they will make the process faster and more efficient.

Others are hopeful that Baaf might do a better job than the register’s previous administrator, Norwood adoption agency.

“It is likely that, as Baaf runs a variety of services relating to adoption and are nationally associated with adoption, that it will be better used,” explained Anne Turner, a principal officer at Camden Council’s children and families unit.

The register

The register is a database of children awaiting adoption and potential adopters wishing to adopt. It has been run by Norwood on behalf of the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly since it began in 2001.

The new choice of operator was not a performance-related issue, a DfES spokesperson told Community Care, adding that their relationship with Norwood had been extremely productive.

However, the figures reveal that Norwood made just 132 matches since it began operating the register compared with 250 matches last year alone by Baaf in their Adoption and Fostering monthly magazine.

Ruth Fasht, Norwood's director of fostering and adoption, defended her agency’s record: “The register was set up in a rigid way,” she said. By contrast, Baaf will be able to work to its own rules and procedures.

Adoption takes time

Adopting a child is a complex and time-consuming process. It can take more than a year to place a child with a suitable family. 

Currently, when a child is put up for adoption, local authority adoption agencies and voluntary adoption agencies send information about the child to the national register, which holds the data but does not use it.

Local agencies then have three months to find a local match. If this fails, the child’s details are published on the national register and a wider search begins.

The case goes to an adoption panel when a suitable family is found.

If the panel is satisfied with the match, the child and family go through an introductory and settling-down period. If successful, the case is referred to court for the child to be legally adopted.

New way forward

From 1 December, in order to speed up the process in cases where it is likely to be difficult to find a match for a child, a local agency may refer a child’s details to the national register for immediate release if they feel it is in the child’s best interest to do so.

The new targeted referrals system also means agencies will no longer have to immediately refer every child to the national register. Instead, they will only be obliged to pass on children’s details after three months of local searching, which should significantly cut down on paperwork, Baaf said.

“I am pleased that there is no longer a requirement to refer every child or family so that we will be able to concentrate, at least initially, on local searches.  This clearly makes sense,” said Janine Rowe, a team manager for Westminster Council’s new families team.

The expanded adopter self referral system will include a new helpline, which will help prospective adopters to contact the register directly for general advice and information on possible matches. Potential adopters can fill out self referral forms to advertise themselves on the national register.

The new system will also allow adoption agencies and councils to make referrals through a secure website, rather than using a laborious paper-based system.

“The new measures … will help reduce delays and the paperwork required in making referrals,” Rowe said.

Norwood’s Ruth Fasht admitted that the improvements were a good idea. But she warned that all processes must be child centred, not just better for agencies and the system.