Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure (a) collaboration and (b) information sharing between (i) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), (ii) GPs and (iii) adoption support workers providing care to children with mental health issues.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department provides to schools on providing (a) social, (b) emotional and (c) mental health support to children going through the adoption process.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an independent body to investigate the conduct of local authorities during the adoption process.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to enable adopted children to access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to help ensure adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to provide equal support to foster parents and adoptive parents including through provision of (a) training, (b) respite and (c) financial support.
Answered by Will Quince
Foster parents and adoptive parents receive support in different ways, as their roles and responsibilities differ. Foster parents look after children on behalf of a local authority, and decision-making for the child is shared. Adopters become the child’s new permanent legal parents and make all parental decisions.
We are committed to ensuring foster parents get appropriate recognition, support and training. In July 2018, we published ‘Fostering Better Outcomes’, which sets out our ambitions and priorities for improving the outcomes and experiences of children in foster care.
The government’s adoption strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence Everywhere’ (July 2021), sets out a vision to support Regional Adoption Agency leaders to secure adopters who are well-prepared to meet the needs of children waiting for adoption. It also commits to the development of national standards for adoption support services.
Adoptive parents can access medical support and treatment for mental health conditions from mainstream NHS services. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides support to help adoptive children and families overcome earlier trauma, such as through psychotherapy, family and creative therapies. The ASF has supported nearly 40,000 children to date, and we are investing a further £144 million over the next 3 years.
Most children are adopted before they reach school age, but we recognise the need to support children both before and after adoption. We are seeking to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges and have committed to fund training for all senior mental health leads by 2025.
Looked-after children of school age going through the adoption process are also entitled to support from designated teachers and the local authority virtual school heads. The child’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) will include support when a child has a plan for permanence, such as through adoption. The PEP will identify developmental needs, including any related to attachment and past trauma, and outline support for any mental health needs.
The adoption strategy sets out an ambition that all Regional Adoption Agencies will have strong education policies, working with local virtual school heads and designated teachers to use the best practice to drive high quality support for adopted children in schools across the country.
To support better collaboration and information sharing between health services and local authorities, the adoption strategy sets out a commitment to build on the success of the two current Regional Adoption Agency Centres of Excellence. We will be providing funding to other Regional Adoption Agencies to develop Centres that provide joined up assessment and packages of support across children’s social care, education, and health, including better access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Ofsted is responsible for independent inspection of the effectiveness of local authority children’s social care services. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes consideration of permanence arrangements for children who are looked after, including adoption. Ofsted also reviews the effectiveness of leadership and management, and the quality of professional practice.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will takes steps to help ensure local authority accountability in cases where full mental health information is not disclosed to adoptive parents prior to adoption.
Answered by Will Quince
Adoption regulations, supported by statutory guidance, provide for a full range of information to be gathered about a child where adoption is considered to be the most appropriate permanence option. The child’s permanence report, which is shared with prospective adopters, must include a summary of the child’s current physical and mental health written by the relevant medical adviser. It is in the best interests of children that all accurate information, where known, is shared with adoptive families.
Where an adopter believes that this has not happened, they can make a complaint under the local authority published complaints procedure. If someone is dissatisfied with the response they get from their local authority they can refer the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman.
As part of the implementation of the government’s adoption strategy, achieving excellence everywhere, the department will work with regional adoption agencies to ensure all adopters are given all the health information about the child they will be adopting.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of adoption placements which have been unsuccessful in England in 2020-21 by region.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not hold information on all adoption breakdowns. We do hold information on the numbers of children who return to care who had had a previous permanence arrangement.
Figures by region on the number of children who started to be looked after who had a previous permanence arrangement under an adoption order, are shown in the table. National figures are available in table C1 of the statistical release Children Looked After in England (including Adoption) year ending 31 March 2021 at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
National figures showing the reasons why a child changed placement from a fostering arrangement during a year are also available in the same statistical release in table B4 via the above link. The figures in the attached table show this breakdown by region.
There are many factors that contribute to instability and placements ending in an unplanned way. Since April 2015 we have been collecting the ‘reason for placement changes’ as part of the children looked after data return submitted by local authorities. This helps us to better understand why children move, at a national and local level. However, it is not possible to make a full interpretation of whether these placements were successful or not from the categories described.
Some placement moves are necessary, particularly when part of a plan to find a longer term or permanent home for a child. Planned moves are often in the best interests of the child - a first placement may be organised at short notice due to an emergency and may not be a perfect fit, or a child may need a short-term placement for specialist care.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of foster care placements which have been unsuccessful in England in 2020-21 by region.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not hold information on all adoption breakdowns. We do hold information on the numbers of children who return to care who had had a previous permanence arrangement.
Figures by region on the number of children who started to be looked after who had a previous permanence arrangement under an adoption order, are shown in the table. National figures are available in table C1 of the statistical release Children Looked After in England (including Adoption) year ending 31 March 2021 at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
National figures showing the reasons why a child changed placement from a fostering arrangement during a year are also available in the same statistical release in table B4 via the above link. The figures in the attached table show this breakdown by region.
There are many factors that contribute to instability and placements ending in an unplanned way. Since April 2015 we have been collecting the ‘reason for placement changes’ as part of the children looked after data return submitted by local authorities. This helps us to better understand why children move, at a national and local level. However, it is not possible to make a full interpretation of whether these placements were successful or not from the categories described.
Some placement moves are necessary, particularly when part of a plan to find a longer term or permanent home for a child. Planned moves are often in the best interests of the child - a first placement may be organised at short notice due to an emergency and may not be a perfect fit, or a child may need a short-term placement for specialist care.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adoptions have (a) been completed and (b) broken down in each year since 2010.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department does not hold information on the number of all children in England who are adopted.
The latest figures on the number of children in England who have been adopted from care are published in table H1 of the statistical release, entitled ’National tables: Children Looked after in England including adoptions 2018-19’, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019. Figures for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020 will be published later this year.
The department does not collect information on adoptions that were disrupted. National figures on numbers of children who started to be looked after, and who had a previous permanence arrangement, including adoption orders, are available in table C1 of the above release. However, these figures were collected for the first time in 2014 and should be treated with caution. The information is based on self-declaration and, for several children, the previous permanence arrangement is not known.