Industry News: Children adopted from care falls to lowest in 21 years, government figures show17/12/2021
 Latest figures show continued sharp decline in care leavers, children entering care and looked-after asylum-seeking children The number of children adopted from care fell to its lowest level in 21 years in 2020-21, Department for Education (DfE) figures show. Their number fell by 18% on the year to 2,870, the lowest total since 1999-2000. Delays in family court proceedings during Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the latest annual decline in adoptions, but the number has fallen each year since a peak of 5,360 in 2014-15. The DfE figures also showed the number of children entering and leaving care both fell sharply, by 8% to 28,440 and by 6% to 28,010, respectively, their lowest levels in nine years. But, as the number entering care still outnumbered those leaving, the number of looked-after children increased for the 13th year running, to a record high of 80,850. The rate of looked-after children per 10,000 children remained at 67, the same as the year before. However, the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in care fell by a fifth, a second consecutive annual drop, to 4,070, its lowest level in six years.  Adoptions taking longer
The long-term decline in adoptions from 2014-15 followed two court rulings in 2013, re B and re B-S, which stated that adoption orders should be made only when there was no other alternative, such as placing a child with birth relatives. It now takes two years and two months for a child to be adopted on average, which has increased steadily since 2018, when it was one year and 11 months. In 2021, the average time between a child entering care and being placed for adoption was a year and four months. It then took a further 10 months, on average, for an adoption order to be granted and the adoption to be completed. In its latest adoption strategy, published in July, the government said it wanted to cut waits for children with a placement order to less than 18 months, saying it was “unacceptable” that 1,000 children were waiting longer than this. The government has made this one of its key targets for the next three years. “For children with a plan for adoption, the quicker we can move them out of care and into a permanent family, the better,” said Sue Armstrong Brown, chief executive of charity Adoption UK. “Waiting in care can mean multiple moves to different homes and a high level of uncertainty. This can pile trauma on top of trauma.” The latest figures show that the average age of a child at adoption rose by three months in 2020-21, to three years and three months, the same level as in 2018. Adoptions for Asian/Asian British children and Mixed/multi-ethnic group children leaving care fell by a higher-than-average rate in 2020-21, of 25% and 24%, respectively. In its strategy, the DfE highlighted the long waits faced by children from ethnic minorities and prioritised recruiting more adopters from ethnic minority communities. “We know the pandemic has had a significant impact on agencies in securing permanent homes for children,” a DfE spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that adoption numbers had recovered since the turn of the financial year in April. “Data from the Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board shows that, as of June 2021, the adoption system is recovering, with adoption orders and special guardianship orders back to pre-Covid levels,” they added. More special guardianship orders The number of children leaving care on special guardianship orders (SGOs) increased by 2% in 2020-21 to 3,800, following a 4% dip in the year to March 2020. This meant that a third more children left care on SGOs, around one in seven, than were adopted in the year to March 2021. Most SGOs were granted to relatives or friends – 88% – with the rest mainly to other former foster carers. The average age of children leaving care on an SGO increased by three months to six years and one month. Dr Lucy Peake, chief executive of charity Kinship, welcomed the increase in special guardianship orders but urged the government to offer more support to such arrangements. “Despite significantly more children leaving care on a special guardianship order than an adoption order, support is often not available even where children have complex needs,” she said. “Seventy per cent of kinship carers we surveyed stated that they didn’t get the support they needed from their local authority. “We want to see a government strategy that values, recognises and financially invests in kinship carers who sacrifice so much to give children the love, care and support they deserve.” Andy Elvin, chief executive of fostering charity TACT, also called for the government to offer as much support to special guardianship arrangements as it did for adoption. “Despite successive governments, back to Blair, having a myopic focus on adoption, it is clear that the direction of travel is that more kinship arrangements will be created alongside more foster carers taking SGOs,” he said. “It is about time that serious focus and resource was put into supporting kinship families. Occasional one-off grants aren’t investment, they are window dressing.” Children spending longer in care The number of children leaving care lagged the average for 2018-20 during the first Covid-19 lockdown in England from April to August 2020, but it matched the long-term trend from September 2020 onwards. DfE said the annual decline is likely to have driven an increase in the average length of time care leavers had spent being looked after, which rose by 79 days year-on-year. Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive at charity Become, raised concerns about the increasing number of children who are forced to leave the care system when they become 18. In the year to March 2021, 38% of children that left care had their looked-after status removed on their 18th birthday, , up from 31% in 2017-18. She called on the children’s social care review to “reimagine the concept of ‘leaving care’ to ensure care-experienced young people are offered the support they need and deserve as they move into adulthood”. The number of children entering care lagged the average for 2018-20 consistently across the year to March 2021, with the largest year-on-year decline in January 2021, the start of the third national lockdown. Elvin said while the fall could be due to lockdown measures, it might also be a sign of “better preventative work with families or increased use of kinship arrangements”. But Cathy Ashley, chief executive of the Family Rights Group, expressed concern about the growing number of children in care overall. “Many professionals feel overstretched and overwhelmed and too many children and families do not get the direct help they need early enough to prevent difficulties escalating,” she said. “The lack of resources, poverty and deprivation are making it harder for families and the system to cope, and this has worsened during the pandemic.” Charlotte Ramsden, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: “Referrals to children’s social care reduced significantly during the periods of national lockdown which was a worry for us, however, local authorities up and down the country worked hard to make sure they were there providing support for those children and families who need it the most. “We are only now seeing some of the emerging signs of the impact of the pandemic with families presenting greater complexity of need, but the lasting impacts will remain with us for years to come. It is essential that we have both the capacity and resources to meet these needs as quickly as possible.” Sharp fall in asylum-seeking children in care The number of asylum-seeking children fell by 20% on the previous year, likely driven by travel restrictions during the year. Following the drop, asylum-seeking children accounted for 5% of all looked-after children in March 2021, down from 6% a year earlier. However, numbers remain higher than the period between 2004 and 2015. Kent and Croydon had the most asylum-seeking children in their care in March 2021, with 291 and 211 children, respectively. This reflects Kent being a major port of entry and Croydon being where a Home Office asylum intake unit is based. Most asylum-seeking children – 52% – were in the care of local authorities in London or the South East in March 2021, a decline on 56% the year before. The situation has seen Kent stop taking asylum-seeking children into its care twice in 2020 and 2021, and Croydon’s level of unaccompanied children implicated in its significant financial problems. This Home Office has sought to tackle the concentration of aslum-seeking children in a few authorities by relaunching its voluntary national transfer scheme, in July this year, so that responsibility for children is distributed more evenly between regions. Anti-trafficking organisation Love 146 said the 20% annual fall is likely linked to a 15% drop in the number of children arriving in the UK and claiming asylum during the same period. But it expressed concern that the Home Office had placed some asylum-seeking children in hotels over the past year despite the decline in numbers. The Home Office’s use of hotels as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers has increased since March, with 70 children in such places in September this year. “This highlights the significant need for trained specialist carers, particularly as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic starts to lessen and routes for unaccompanied minors to seek asylum in the UK start to re-open,” a spokesperson for Love 146 said. Source: www.communitycare.co.uk The Fairer Fostering Partnership believes that we need to build relationships in any system that we envision for children who cannot live with their birth parents. The current social care system does not support this and, in some cases, even discourages it.
Clear examples of this are when foster carers are not given full delegated authority for the children and young people they are looking after, or they do not receive appropriate financial support to do so. We believe that children, young people and care experienced adults need to be consulted and listened to and given the power to co-design, co-create, and co-produce the services they are entitled to. We also believe that as a sector there is much expertise that is not being tapped or even considered by Government which could drive innovative change. To this end we have submitted our ideas to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care (IRCSC). Read our full 'Vision for Children in Foster Care' submission. NB The Fairer Fostering Partnership submitted each idea separately to the IRCSC via the online call for ideas portal.  Location: Yorkshire & East Midlands
Closing Date: Ongoing Team Fostering is an ethical not for profit fostering agency with a strong reputation and track record for providing high quality, value for money fostering placements for looked after children. We pride ourselves on our values and we expect our staff to commit to and demonstrate these values in their everyday work. Our Form F Assessors contribute to the provision of a first-class fostering service for children by assessing prospective foster carers. Sessional Form F Assessors undertake assessments for Team Fostering on a self–employed basis. We require individuals with the necessary skills and experience to undertake detailed home studies of prospective foster carers and to write high quality assessment reports. Key Tasks:
For a discussion around rates of pay and conditions, along with other benefits, please contact Louise Thwaites (Recruitment Manager) on 0191 257 6806. Please note access to a car and the ability to drive is essential in this role. You will also be required to undertake some evening and weekend work. To apply, please complete an Application Form and Equal Opportunities Form (available below) and return to hr@teamfostering.co.uk Please note Team Fostering do not accept CV's. Full details and application documents here  Location: Bristol Salary: 41,250 p.a. [£40,500 p.a. Salary + £1,500 p.a. OOH + £750 p.a. Homeworking allowance] + Mileage: 45p. per mile Closing Date: 23/01/2022 Interview Date: 31/01/2022 Hours: 35 hour per week As a ‘not for profit’ organisation, TACT put the needs of our children and carers first and look to appoint individuals who are as passionate about this as we are. We know that we cannot provide this level of care without our staff which is why we are proactive in looking after the wellbeing of our employees. As a homeworking organisation, we pride ourselves on the flexibility this brings, along with our flexible working opportunities to enable you to have a healthy work / life balance. We also provide a full and active wellbeing calendar and activities, along with your input to ensure you get the most from it.
As a foster care charity, TACT invests all surplus income into services, staff, carers, and child development. This means that we have been able to invest unique projects like TACT Connect, our ground-breaking scheme for our TACT care experienced young people and adults, our expanding TACT Education Service and our new Health Service. It is not surprising that this had led to us gaining 'outstanding’ levels of employee engagement in a recent Best Companies Survey this year. Come and join us and be part of our amazing team of professionals who put young people at the heart of every decision. Our vision is to provide better lives for our children and young people. Find out more about our values here. We are looking for a Deputy Manager who has experience in Fostering and who is looking for a step up into Management. Core Tasks include:
Main Requirements:
More information in the Job Description. TACT offer an excellent employee benefits package including:
More information in the Job Information Pack. Closing: Sunday, 23rd January 2022 (by midnight) Interviews: Monday, 31st January 2022 Full details and application documents here  Mo and her husband have been fostering for ten years. Her parents fostered and she always knew it was something she wanted to do one day. Mo explains what makes Christmas magical for her fostering family
Our young person Mo currently fosters a thirteen-year-old girl who has been with her for two years. She can’t imagine life without her now. Mo says, “She’s an angel. She will get things wrong and has gone through a lot. But we can’t image her not being here. It wouldn’t feel right if we weren’t fostering her. She’s staying with us for the long term. We treat her as part of the family." What Christmas looks like “We change the Christmas for the child. For example, the idea of having lots of people around with hundreds of presents can be way too overwhelming for some children, so sometimes we’ve kept Christmas simple”. Mo and her husband have a big family with lots of children and grandchildren around. The young person who lives with them now loves a busy Christmas and can’t wait for all the family to visit. Before she came to us, she’d never had a Christmas stocking “What our young person is most looking forward to is the meal and the games. The main reason is knowing everyone is here, happy around the table, playing games, watching the Christmas film and playing Secret Santa. We're games people and create a lot of fun, it’s so lovely how excited she gets. "Before she came to us, she’d never had a Christmas stocking. I’ll never forget the first time we gave her one. Her face lit up and she couldn’t believe there was so many presents. "They were just tiny things, but she said thank you for every single one. I kept saying you don’t need to say thank you for every one. She was just so grateful." Christmas traditions Mo helps nurture the relationship with her young person's birth family. She also creates Christmas traditions to help build a sense of identity and positive memories for her young person. “Our young person still has contact with her family, so we make a point of her always having her own Christmas tree in her room with her presents and cards from her birth family. I take photos of her opening them and send it to them. "Every year when the main Christmas tree goes up, the children choose a Christmas decoration for the tree. Then we take a photograph of the tree and what year it is. "The plan is when they’re 18 they take all the decorations they’ve had every year and can put it on their own tree when they move out. It creates memories for them and something they can always keep for themselves. Part of the family "Another tradition we’ve started is Christmas breakfast together. The children and grandchildren come over and we have crackers, gifts, cappuccinos, lattes, eggs and bacon. I make my own crackers and buy individual presents to put in them for everyone. My young person loves it! "We want to show her that Christmas can be fun. She may not be able to be with her family, but she can be part of ours”. https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk  Location: Cymru Regional Office, Cardiff Contract type: Permanent Hours: 37 Salary: £43,096 - £55,371 (Full Time Equivalent) Closing Date: 12 December 2021 Interview Date: 21 December 2021 The role of Assistant Head of Business is an exciting opportunity within Barnardo's to lead on the development of Barnardo's fostering and adoption services across Wales.
Working within a charity, you will be a member of the family placement UK Senior Management team developing and driving our business strategy, and ensuring high quality practice to meet the needs of commissioners, carers, children and young people. You will work with stakeholders in identifying their requirements and providing the most appropriate solutions for them. This post covers Wales and will be based either within a Barnardo's office, or from your home address within the nation. When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable). This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described. At Barnardo's we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. Our safer recruitment processes mean that the safety and welfare of the child is paramount at every stage of the process and therefore, we adopt rigorous scrutiny in our pre-employment checking. This post is subject to a range of pre-employment checks including a Criminal Records Enhanced Disclosure for the successful candidate. About Barnardo's At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role. Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's. Full details and application documents here  Location: Mobile Position Covering Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Salary: £20,808 - £21,848 Contract Type: Permanent / Full Time Closing Date: Friday 17 December 2021 Job Reference: SCT3700
Full time, 38 hours per week (we would also welcome job share arrangements) Supporting Young People Leaving Care In this busy role, no two days will be the same as you support Young People to live independently in the community. As a Transition Worker for Break – Staying Connected Service, you’ll work with numerous agencies to help make a difference to the lives of young care leavers in the community. Working both within the Young Persons home and in a variety of other settings, you’ll develop personal, flexible and realistic support packages based on people’s individual circumstances. Ultimately, this role is all about helping young people to realise their full potential, so you’ll develop strength-based plans, complete risk assessments and identify opportunities for them to get involved in their communities. That means you’ll also build relationships with the Young People. Delivering support to all young people to make a positive transition into adulthood, improve young people’s chances to progress successfully through education to employment, helping them to acquire the skills to live independently, whilst supporting them to make positive, informed choices about their lives The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic, creative and motivated with a professional, caring and calm approach. You will need to be able to demonstrate commitment, flexibility and imagination. You will also need to be creative in problem solving and be able to work well using your own initiative and within a team. If you are interested in enriching the lives of the people we support, especially those who are living within the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area, please take a look at the Essential Job Information and apply. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive and supportive employer and recognise that working with young people, although incredibly rewarding, is not without its challenges. Therefore, we want you to feel appreciated for the life changing work you are doing. You will receive comprehensive training, company pension scheme, have excellent career progression opportunities, and be working in a warm and welcoming work environment – amongst many other things. Essential Information: Location: This position will involve regular travel across various locations within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The logistics of this will be fully discussed at interview however please do contact us prior to this for further information if needed. Salary: The current salary scale for this post is £20,808 - £21,848 per annum, depending on qualifications. (The maximum job rate potential is £22,888 which is performance related). At appointment: The actual salary will be £20,808. Hours: 38 hours per week (we would also welcome job share arrangements) Closing Date: Tuesday, 28th December 2021 Interviews: The first interview which will be a Safe Care/ Warner style interview, which will be held on Tuesday, 11th January 2022. If successful after the first interview, candidates will then be expected to attend a second formal interview, which has been scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 12th January 2022. We anticipate that each interview should last around 60 minutes. Please note, all invites to interview will be sent via email. Please regularly check your emails, including any spam folders, for further communication from us. Failure to attend an interview may result in your application being withdrawn To comply with the Immigration Asylum & Nationality Act 2006 and additional amendments, and UK Border Agency (UKBA) requirements, all prospective employees will be asked to supply evidence of eligibility to work in the UK. We will ask to see and take a copy of an appropriate official document as set out in the UKBA guidelines. Do not send anything now, further information will be sent to you should you be invited to interview. We are committed to equality of opportunity. Your current immigration status will not be taken into account when assessing your application against the selection criteria for the post. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Full details and application documents here  Location: Liverpool Transition, Preparation & Moving On Service (L7) Contract type: Permanent Hours: 37 Salary: Up to £43,305 per annum Closing Date: 8 December 2021 Interview Date: w/c 13 December 2021 Are you an experienced Registered Manager with proven Outstanding/Good outcomes with Ofsted?
Do you want to be part of a brand new innovative residential support service for young people in Liverpool? Can you achieve transformational change for looked after young people who have a range of complex needs? If you're passionate about the children in your care and can show understanding, tenacity and consistency of care – this may be the opportunity for you! History of Service Barnardo's Transition, Preparation and Moving-On Service is a new service commissioned by Liverpool City Council to deliver residential support services in line with statutory requirements within a therapeutic approach. The service consists of two homes with 4 and 5 beds respectively. Objectives of Service The aim of the service is to provide a nurturing environment within two high quality homes. The homes will meet the needs of children and young people who have experienced trauma, neglect, rejection and whose basic needs have not been met. The homes will provide a truly therapeutic environment that can meet the needs of young people who require support to manage their behaviours safely, develop their resilience and prepare them for the demands of future life with their own families or in other settings. When completing your application please refer to your skills, knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described. For an informal discussion about the role please contact: Stuart Ainge Children's Services Manager/Responsible Individual 07706 001238 About Barnardo's At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role. Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's. Full details and application documents here  Location: Lincolnshire Leaving Care Service Contract type: Permanent Hours: 37 Salary: £18,278.00 - £24,493 Closing Date: 31 December 2021 Interview Date: 13 January 2022 Barnardo's work in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council to deliver its Leaving Care Service for young people aged 16-25.
We have been inspected by Ofsted and have achieved an ‘Outstanding' grade for the service we provide. Following a recent re-commissioning of the service we are looking to recruit a Project Worker to work across the region with our teams based in Lincoln, Louth, Peterborough and Sleaford. We also have some Care Leavers based out of County. Initial Specific Responsibilities To carry out pathway plans, statutory visits and risk assessments for Lincolnshire care leavers. Within Lincolnshire the Signs of Safety model is used across County as an assessment tool. Supplementary Information
When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described. About Barnardo's At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role. Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's. Full details and application documents here  Sally* wasn’t prepared for the devastating news. With support from her Action for Children social worker and a bereavement service, Sally broke the news to her foster child. Years on, Jack* lives with Sally and she continues to support him
In solidarity with National Grief Awareness Week, Sally reflects on her experience of sharing possibly the most difficult news for any child to receive: the death of a parent. How do I do this? Being a foster carer is an amazing but challenging job. You'll have good days and bad days, but nobody could prepare me for the news I had to share with my foster child, Jack*. The day I found out Jack's mum died was a day I’ll never forget. Panic and worry took over and my thought processes disappeared. The question I kept asking myself was, ‘how do I do this?’ I knew as a foster mum I needed to get this right We’d just celebrated his seventh birthday. It was my job to tell this little boy his mum had died, but what words do I use? When do I tell him and how will he react? How will I react? I knew as a foster mum I needed to get this right. I was given lots of support from Jack’s social worker. He’d even offered to tell Jack instead of me. I was dreading seeing this little boy hurt, but I felt it should be me that told him. I felt every one of his emotions I remember thinking about where we could go that’s memorable, and with no distractions. So, I collected him from school and took him to a spot we had visited before. My heart was beating so fast, every time I tried to get the words out, I swallowed them back down. I took a deep breath and shared the news. We sat for thirty minutes chatting and answering questions. I offered cuddles and tried to help Jack process what I'd told him. I contacted a bereavement counsellor to ask for support I felt every one of his emotions, I knew he was going to need me more than ever. The next few days were difficult, we spent time together talking and I offered lots of cuddles. A few days passed and another dreaded conversation was coming. How do I start to explain what a funeral is to a little boy aged only seven? I contacted a bereavement counsellor to ask for support. Afterwards, I spoke to Jack explaining what happens at a funeral. Giving him space to ask all the questions he needed to. The Goodbye day Jack decided not to go to his mum’s funeral. We chatted about different ways we could say goodbye to someone who had died. It helped to use my own experiences to talk this through. Jack decided he wanted to send a photo to his mum in heaven. We visited the local beach with a bunch of flowers he’d picked out, a photograph and a balloon. Jack had lots of questions, and honest answers were the best way to help him process his grief Jack let go of the balloon with the items attached, to heaven. ‘The goodbye day’ was very sad but memorable, my children were also there to support Jack. My foster child had lots of questions, and honest answers were the best way to help him process his grief. If I didn’t know the answer, I would tell him that but also reassure him that I would find out. Remembering mum We remember mum now in many ways. At birthdays and Christmas, Jack speaks openly about his mum and that really helps. When you’re a foster carer, things can happen completely out of the blue and it can feel scary. This was a horrifying situation for my foster child to experience. But we as a family give Jack support, empathy, and love - through the good days and bad. We’re making new memories while never allowing Jack’s memory of his mum to fade. But we as a family give Jack support, empathy, and love - through the good days and bad Many children in foster care suffer loss. This can be from the experience of being separated from their birth family, from bereavement, or from childhood trauma. They need caring foster families like Sally's who offer empathy, understanding and support. *The names in this story have been changed to protect the identity of the child and carer Find out about the support Action for Children offers their fostering community. https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk |
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c/o TACT The Courtyard 303 Hither Green Lane London SE13 6TJ |