Govt measures to improve adoption and fostering - anyone read this?

[scarlet5tyger]

article

Only skim read it so far. Pleased to read 8 mil to be invested in adoption (so much less than was used to bail out the banks! Govt priorities right as usual) and hope money will also be invested in foster care.

Interested how they are going to speed up the process for potential adopters by making them temporary foster carers - doesn't sound very safe or practical to me. And where are the extra SWs who are going to carry out these very quick assessments? Are they the same ones who were supposed to come and support me at a first meeting with a violent parent today but were too busy to show up??

Finally, FCs already DO have the right to approve sleepovers/get haircuts/authorise school trips - delegated authority was brought in around a year ago now!

[Bluedolphin1971]

hey I hope your okay after the meeting? I cannot believe the social worker didn't turn up?

[Lilka]

I started a thread in adoptions a couple of hours about this

I'm also a little concerned about fast tracking adopters to short term FC approval

I didn't realise FC's already hadthe right to approve haircuts etc. I did notice stuff in there about the adoption register which I think is already an obligation for LA's eg. referring adopters to it after 3 months if they are not already persuing a match

I also hope you're okay after the meeting

[scarlet5tyger]

Hi Lilka, have replied to your other post also.

And thanks to both of you for your concerns about my meeting. Luckily I've done this job for a number of years now so wasn't surprised by the SWs lack of attendance. Didn't go too badly in the end, although I was shaking going in on my own with 2 little ones, especially with the murder of those 2 policewomen earlier this week playing on my mind. Sadly it's not only the police who are seen as "the enemy" by certain sectors of society, even when you're just doing a job. The area I live in isn't the greatest and even foster carers are seen as part of The System. One of my friends had her window put through only last week by a parent who found out her address. :(

[scarlet5tyger]

Just wanted to add that I'm in no way comparing my situation to that of the 2 officers who died. I grew up in Greater Manchester and have relatives still working for Tameside police, hence the situation playing on my mind today.

[childatheart]

This whole thing of speeding up adoptions and using potential adopters as short term foster carers does not sit comfortable with me at all. We were told on training that no1 priority is to return children back to there birth family, how does this new policy sit? rushing adoptions through, adopters to become short term foster carers- is it a case that birth families will no longer be worked with in the rush to speed up the process?

Where does it leave the child on a short term placement if potential adopters decide it is not working out? Fostering is different from adoption with entirely different remits, I am very concerned at mixing the two.