Adoption Reviews

Once an adoption agency has Authority to Place for Adoption, there is a requirement to review the child's case under the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005. Until the child is placed for adoption, this runs alongside the requirement to hold a Looked After Review in relation to the child - see Looked After (Child in Care) Reviews Procedure.

The child's social worker should provide written information about the intended arrangements for Adoption Reviews, to the child (depending on age and understanding), to the prospective adopters (usually this will be part of the Adoption Placement Plan), and to any other person considered relevant, such as the child's parents.

So far as reasonably practicable, all Adoption Reviews will be chaired by the child's Independent Reviewing Officer.

The child's social worker, in conjunction with the Independent Reviewing Officer, will invite relevant persons to Adoption Reviews.

There is no requirement to invite birth parents to Adoption Reviews or to consult them prior to a Review, but the child's social worker, in conjunction with the Independent Reviewing Officer, may consider that their views should be ascertained and reported to an Adoption Review or that the parents should be invited in appropriate cases.

The timescales for holding Adoption Reviews will depend on whether the child has been placed for adoption.

The child's social worker will prepare a report for the Adoption Review, incorporating the views of the child, the prospective adopters and the prospective adopters' social worker (where the child is placed), the birth parents or family members (in appropriate cases) and any other relevant person (for example health visitor or teacher), which should be circulated prior to the meeting.

1. The Adoption Review will consider the following areas:
   1. Whether it remains satisfied that the child should be placed for adoption;
   2. The child's needs, welfare and development, and whether any changes need to be made to meet the child's needs or assist his/her development;
   3. Review the existing arrangements for contact and whether they should continue or be altered;
   4. Where the child has been placed for adoption, evidence of the child's relationship to the prospective adopters and the arrangements in relation to the exercise of parental responsibility for the child and whether they should continue or be altered;
   5. The arrangements for the provision of adoption support services for the prospective adoptive family and whether there should be any re-assessment of the need for those services;
   6. In consultation with the appropriate agencies, the arrangements for assessing and meeting the child's health care and educational needs as a previously looked after child, see Promoting the Education of Looked After and Previously Looked After Children;
   7. Any concerns;
   8. Outstanding Court proceedings;
   9. Where the child is placed for adoption, the timing of the adoption application;
   10. Whether the child has their life book and if not, when will they get it?
   11. The timing of the 'Later Life Letter' from the child's social worker being given to the prospective adopter (this will usually be within 10 working days of the adoption ceremony, i.e. the ceremony to celebrate the making of the adoption order);
   12. The responsibility for providing Court reports and an agreed timescale for the submission of the report (Annex A / Rule 14) to the court;
   13. The frequency of statutory visits undertaken by the child's social worker and visits to the prospective adopters by their adoption social worker;
   14. The frequency of future reviews and the date for the next Review.
2. Where the child is the subject of a Placement Order and has not been placed for adoption by the time of the first six month Review, the Review must also:
   1. Establish why the child has not been placed for adoption and consider what further steps it should take to arrange for the child to be placed for adoption under the remit of family finding; and
   2. Consider whether it remains satisfied that the child should be placed for adoption.
   The Independent Reviewing Officer must ensure that the views of the child are properly understood by the Review and taken into account wherever possible. 
   
   Where the child wishes to take proceedings on their own account, for example to apply for the revocation of a Placement Order, the Independent Reviewing Officer must assist the child to obtain legal advice or establish whether an appropriate adult is able and willing to provide legal advice and/or bring the proceedings on the child's behalf.
   
   The IRO should advise the child about his or her right to appoint an advocate where they have problems or concerns;
3. The Independent Reviewing Officer must also ensure that anyone responsible for implementing a decision taken at the review is identified, and that any failure to review the case or implement decisions made at a Review is brought to the attention of senior managers within the agency;
4. Any decisions made at the Review should be notified in writing to the child (depending on age and understanding), the prospective adopters (where the child has been placed for adoption) and any other person considered relevant by the child's social worker and the Independent Reviewing Officer, such as the birth parents;
5. The information obtained during an Adoption Review, any decisions made at the Review and the minutes of any meeting arranged to consider any aspect of the Adoption Review must be placed on the child's LCS Adoption Case Record;
6. Where a child has been placed for adoption but not adopted within 12 months, the child's social worker must present a further report to the Adoption Panel identifying the length of the delay, the reasons and the steps being taken to address any difficulties; where appropriate the views of the adoption social worker and the prospective adopters also need to be included within the report;
7. Where an agency decision has been made to place a child for adoption but the child has not been placed within 6 months, the child's social worker must present a further report to the Adoption Panel identifying the length of the delay, the reasons and the steps being taken to address any difficulties, including consideration of a review of the adoption plan and/or a possible change to long-term fostering/separation of siblings.

Once an Adoption Order is made, the child's social worker should complete the Child's Adoption Case File Record and ensure that the necessary work has been undertaken to complete the adoption process. They should complete the LCS closure summary to reflect the work completed and complete the audit form that is then signed off by the manager.

The Adoption Case File should then be closed on the system ensuring that the child is linked to the adopters via the correct system pathway. The Adoption Social Worker should also ensure that all necessary work has been undertaken and that the file is closed on the system with a closure summary and LCS audit form that is signed by the team manager.

There may be cases where the child's adoption case file will remain open on the system under the domain of Post Adoption Support if the adoptive family are receiving support or where there is a post box agreement in place. However the case files must reflect the work that has been completed in line with the granting of the Adoption Order. The computer recording system should also record the granting of an Adoption Order and the date it was made.