Anyone written to their MP about so few children available for adoption

[oasiswaterpool]

Am thinking of doing this - what response did you get?

[RitaCrudgington]

"available for adoption" is not a great way to put it. The adoption process should be for the benefit of the children needing a family, not for the adults looking to adopt.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Mmm. Maybe they can start a scheme where they can get some total no hopers who will never be allowed to keep their own kids to breed.

[morethanpotatoprints]

OP, children aren't available for adoption. They are placed for adoption usually after they are removed from parents due to abuse and neglect, not always of course some have to suffer for many years before hand.
I am pleased if there aren't many children "available".

[ReallyTired]

Do you mean babies without disabilities or do you mean older children. I assume you want a baby with no emotional baggage. There are older children available for adoption in the UK.

[IsItMeOr]

I agree with Rita, that it's not clear what problem you think your MP could help to address. If all children are happy, safe, etc with their birth families, that is a good thing.

If you have a concern that there are lots of children in care, long-term, in your area, and that adoption doesn't seem to be being considered as an option for them, I guess you might get somewhere...

[ReallyTired]

Do you want commercial surrogacy?

[RitaCrudgington]

If that's what she means (and yes it's an entirely reasonable argument) then that's what she needs to say specifically to her MP. It's not nitpicking to say that it's vital to express your case correctly.

[Lilka]

From my point of view, I honestly don't think it will help (though that depends on what you're hoping to get out of it) - mainly because those few MP's/advisers with an interest/responsibility for adoption are aware of what's going on given that this situation has been ongoing for well over a year, and other MP's can't really do anything useful (IMHO) other than raise their consituents issues with them. The drop in the number of placement orders being issues is partly a court issue, which is outside what an MP can address. That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with writing to one of the couple of people who would be interested (Martin Narey? Edward Timpson?), as long as you're clear what you're hoping for and have a realistic expectation of the likely response - it won't be a change, but maybe if you were wanting to make them aware of how things are working in your area right now, and get a probable reply saying they got your letter, and they are trying to address the issues raised, and have done x recently. That's my take on it anyway.

Side note, if I were writing to Narey etc, I would be asking why agencies are still being encouraged to recruit new adopters given the current climate. No, to other posters, it's not just about babies, the number of children waiting for adoptive homes is lowered very significantly across the board, whether older or younger, disabled or healthy, single or siblings - and given the continued cuts etc over the last few years, I would have thought it would be obvious that it isn't because fantastic support services have suddenly materialised which are enabling some children to remain with their birth families. The pendulum is swinging as it always has - towards more adoptions, then less, then back again, and again...who knows what will happen now. Either way, what will cause a child to be adopted in one year is not the same as in 5 years or 10 years - which doesn't say anything very good about the system.

[oasiswaterpool]

'Available' ready for adoption, waiting for a home what difference does it make how it is phrased? What we should really be concerned about is that there are 90,000 children in care and very few being adopted when we are told that adoption is the best thing for some of these children who do not have a decent chance with their extended families or 'friends' of extended families. The Manager and Deputy Manager of our LA with over 50 years SW experience between them have both said this situation is a disaster waiting to happen another Baby P. They have had to place babies with extended family in their 70's who not surprisingly find it exhausting. We need to stop being so worried about being PC in this country and do what is right for the children. Why have there ever been so many children adopted in the past when all they had to do was hand children over to extended family??

[Kewcumber]

"available" for adoption used to be a perfectly reasonable term that I have used myself ie children with a placement order these days I guess.

[fasparent]

Adoption aside and courts, there are numerous innovative intervention's being trialled some now in practice , aimed at keeping family's and children together. One such is the NHS Community Family nurse partnership's. Which was reported in the Observer last month , is a 3 year project which keeps young mums , baby's, and there partners together from conception too age two, has been successful and is now rolled out national. Was involved in trials and the report.

[oasiswaterpool]

We have seen profiles of children taken from BF put into the care of extended family, removed from extended family and placed back into foster care. The more problems the child has (behaviour, emotional) the less likely the extended family are to take the child we have been told.

[oasiswaterpool]

ReallyTired was really presumptious of you to think I would like to adopt a baby with no problems. No we would like to open our lives and our hearts to a child of around 5-7 with or without problems and no they are really hard to be matched as well at the moment. Be careful who you offend.

[oasiswaterpool]

Vivalabeaver think of the irony of what you are saying. A lot of these birth parents are sadly and through their own misfortune in their own upbringings are to all in tense and purposes very often 'no hopers' who have children are they not? and have to have them removed?

[ReallyTired]

Would you consider long term fostering? There are plenty of children who need foster parents. Foster parents have more access to support to deal with emotionally scarred children.

[morethanpotatoprints]

My apologies for jumping to the wrong conclusion oasis

I have not seen the recent headlines. Will go and read, keeping my almighty gob shut until I have.

[fasparent]

Agree Springtimemama. Example- The actual cost of NHS 3 year Family nurse intervention and weekly support programme which prevents children being placed in care is only around £3000 per family. Using existing service staff., being provided by experienced Community nurses and Midwifes not social workers and such like. Staff who understand issues such as Medical, development, and social problem's.

[fasparent]

Just a point of note, of recent children being moved on too family carer's some are moved with only a few days notice, we are surprised at the amount of voluntary contact and updates family's are sending too us. it is good too have a overview of how the children are settling, early days.

[Tangerineandturquoise]

I have to admit I misinterpreted the title, before I saw the poster.

We waited quite a while for child number 2- but when we went to approval panel it was mentioned that the number of potential adopters had dropped. That was before a couple of judgments in the family court.

HHJ Mumby has said his judgments should not deter children going before the courts for placement orders and to a degree he is right, the right children should not be held back from placement orders because of the wrong decisions by some Local Authorities.

I do think to take a child and raise it as your own- you have to be sure you are absolutely 100% doing what is best for that child. Having children is not a right, but once you have given birth to that child, your rights to that child must be protected until they can be protected no more for the sake of the child- and this threshold is far more tenuous than some people think. The Primal Wound is a good book to read, about that child's bond to it's birth mother that cannot be severed simply by her actions we all know severing that bond causes awful harm to that child-and that harm must be less than leaving the child there.

Yes sometimes LAs wait too long, I am fairly sure for my DC1 the birth mother was allowed to keep going for so long because the CP team had some residual issues about her remaining in her family home for so long and the fall out of her time in foster care.
Decisions are made for lots of reasons- but I do think in cases such as my Dc1 who was eventually removed when a SW who was new to the case took over that fresh eyes need to look at each generation. To achieve that there needs to be more movement of SWs which is hard to do when the profession is under valued.

Adoption cannot be fixed piecemeal the whole process needs to be properly reviewed and looked at as part of a child protection process, and not simply supplementary to it.
I think- not for targets but for success. SWs have seen almost everything at least once before.
Baby Ps mother's prosecution led to a rise in removing of children- and I think Baby Ps trial saved my son's life.
Now Re C-S and other cases will lead to a slowing down of placement orders being granted, until the next Baby P case sadly.

From my prospective what I would be asking for is better protection for adopters once the child has been placed with them- too many of us are being dragged through final rights of appeals, trials to look at the validity of placement orders and although 999/1000 it all comes to nothing, it is a strain for us, a strain we can do without, if we have a child placed, we should be told here you go- we will support you and encourage you and intervene if it all goes wrong- but this child now forms part of your family and no one can change that it has all been sorted out.
On the face of it that would leave too many children waiting for placement whilst legalities are finalized but surely we can tighten the threshold for removal enough that less chances need to be given at the final hurdle.

[fasparent]

As FC's we see all., Adoption's, SGO's, Long-term/short-term care, some sadly as bad and worse as baby P's but survivor's. Every area is always and will be for ever in need for change and improvement such is the nature of thing society sadly.

[mydogistalking]

I suppose it depends on each local authority but from my regional experience there aren't more children "languishing in unsuitable homes" - children are still being brought under the care of children's services at the same rate. However the process to agree placement orders for those children is taking longer as LAs seek to make sure all in-family options have been addressed. There has been updated guidance issued to children's services and the courts etc to speed the process back up again and the tide is starting to turn. The continued recruitment of prospective adopters during this period = great news for the kids that will get those long awaited placement orders in the near future.