Adoption ‘scorecards’ are not credible, say councils

11 May 12
The government’s assessments of individual adoption services, published today, lack credibility and could deter prospective adopters, councils have said.
By Vivienne Russell | 11 May 2012

The government’s assessments of individual adoption services, published today, lack credibility and could deter prospective adopters, councils have said.

The Department for Education issued the adoption scorecards today as part of its drive to speed up the adoption process. They highlight the average time taken for children entering care to be matched with and placed with adoptive families. Ministers want children entering care to be placed with adoptive families within 21 months, and for children to be matched with adoptive parents within seven months of a court agreeing a care order. These thresholds are to be lowered to 14 months and four months respectively over the next four years.

A total of 72 councils are failing to meet either one or both of these two measures, the scorecards show. Children’s minister Tim Loughton said: ‘I make no apology for shining a light on the system to hold local areas to account. I have been clear that we won’t hesitate to intervene where the worst delays are not tackled effectively.’

But councils and professionals disagree. A joint statement by the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives said: ‘The adoption scorecards have the potential to cause unnecessary and avoidable concern in communities where there shouldn’t be any, and may put prospective adopters off. Children waiting for adoption will not benefit from government struggling to get its act together.

‘The data fail to provide a sound basis for comparison across local authority areas. For example, one council’s Ofsted-rated “outstanding” adoption service looks like a poor performer in the scorecard – this is simply not credible. We have engaged constructively with the DfE and are therefore even more disappointed that our shared improvement agenda is undermined by a misleading use of data.’

The statement added that delays in the family court process were being taken out of the equation, even though in some cases it can take up to 20 months.

‘Councils simply cannot risk shifting their focus from the quality of placements to the speed of placements,’ it said.

Loughton said the scorecards were ‘not the be-all and end-all’. He added: ‘We are not asking local authorities to speed up adoptions to the exclusion of everything else – but many more areas need to strike a much better balance between quality placements and the risk of long-term damage to children by leaving them with uncertain futures.

‘The scorecards are a trigger for urgent, detailed discussions to analyse what the problems are in the areas of highest concern.’

The government is opening up discussions with the councils to examine specific issues and to assess their plans Ministers are warning that if they are not satisfied with councils’ responses they will be issuing formal improvement notices, setting out specific targets and timetables.

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