Adopted children and LAC status - petition

[Lilka]

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/14435

Anyone here interested in signing? Petition to give adopted children legal status after adoption (Either by retaining LAC status, or by a new legal definition). Hopefully we can draw this to attention. None of our childrens problems vanish by adoption, they still need the help they would be entitled to in care

Thank you :)

Very interesting - thanks, Lilka.

Lilka - I can't open your link but I am unclear as to your suggestion. The whole idea of adoption as you know is so that a child's future is secured and to return to LAC with 6 monthly reviews etc would not be a normal life for a child.

I absolutely agree that the children's problems don't disappear once they are adopted (far from it) especially as the child gets older and issues from the past often lie dormant until adolescence and then emerge with a vengeance and I am aware of the high break down rates in adoption, which I don't find surprising, given the way that pre-placement experiences of abuse/neglect will manifest themselves in all kinds of ways, creating huge challenges for adoptors. I have seen marriages break up and families left in tatters with trying to cope with a disturbed and disturbing child with no support.

Legally Post adoption support should be available but I know how seldom this actually gets provided, and even if it is, it often isn't helpful, as so many social workers seem to blame the adoptors for "over reacting" or other such nonsense. You may get a referral to CAMHS and wait ages for an appt only to find that there is no real help from them. Most problems are caused by lack of secure attachments in the child's earliest weeks, months and years (especially the first 3 years) aren't they and these children are affected to a greater or lesser extent through the lifespan.

There are a few centres that have good success rates with attachment disorder children (The Keys Centre ) is one - not sure where it is - think Nottingham and Family Futures is another (there was a TV programme in the fairly recent past called "A home for Maisie) featuring Family Futures, but needless to say they are hugely expensive and I cannot imagine any LA willing to provide the funding, given the fact that their budgets have been slashed by this govt.

All very negative I know - are these the sorts of issues you were thinking about?

NN, I think the petition is asking for adopted children to have some kind of status that allows them to quickly access specialist support but also consideration in primary school admissions etc. It does seem very strange that a child in foster care is given priority in school admissions, but a newly adopted child is given no consideration whatsoever.

Hmm - but how is a child going to "quickly access specialist support for themselves" I think I've outlined the small range of support that is available - oh forgot to say play therapy is good but again is very expensive.
I didn't realise a LAC (or as we have to say now "Child Looked After" - don't ask!) were given priority in school admissions. I know that there has to be a member of staff who takes the lead on LAC or CLA - i think mostly the best thing for a child in short term foster care is to stay at their own school, as there are enough changes, without changing school, but i know this isn't always possible.

I still think adoption is different - what sort of priority do you envisage for adopted children. I thought school admissions were related to a geographical catchment area and if an adopted child lives in that area then they will be admitted. I can understand parents of a newly adopted child having a quiet word with the class teacher in private to explain the situation. Mind I'd be careful about that, because my son and dil are both prmary school teachers and say that some of the staff (fortunately a minority) have no notion of confidentiality.

Am I missing the point here?

OK, let's take school admissions as one example. At the moment, LAC children are given top priority in community school admissions. But it they get adopted when they are 4, they will be given no priority at age 5 for any school. For some adopted children, this is clearly fair enough as they will have no particular needs. For others, it may be particularly important that they go to a school near their home, or indeed a school away from a particular area, or they may need a particular kind of school.

Last year I was applying for a reception place for my dd1 (not adopted) - I arrived in the area late and wanted to get into one of a number of oversubscribed schools. The council said I was toast and would have to take a place at a school two bus rides and some miles away (I don't drive). I asked if it would make a difference that I was adopting a baby two weeks before the start of term, and didn't want to be spending up to three hours a day dealing with public transport when I should be settling her at home. I was told this could not be taken into account (partly because they don't take younger siblings' needs into account at all, to be fair).

Now, I hope that by the time my dd2 starts school herself she will not have needs that require her to be given priority over other children. So I'm not making the case out of self interest. But it seems to me that a recently adopted child should be given some kind of special status because they quite clearly have special needs.

Beyond that, I suppose that the idea is that some kind of special status would make it easier for adoptive parents to navigate the system and claim what they need, just as parents of SN children often say statementing is important in getting their needs met.

Taking school admissions as an example, if a child has particular medical or social needs as an adopted child, they can go down the 'medical and social need' route of admissions, just like non-adopted children.

Adoptive parents are adopting rather than long-term fostering, so that they are legally parents.

In my LEA, for the purposes of admissions criteria, adopted children are given priority as LAC for 12 months post adoption.

That sounds reasonable, MCTH.

I'll keep on with school admin as an example

Say a child moves in at 3 and order is finalized before applying for school. That child may well be severely emotionally disturbed. That means the parents may well try for a statement. But I'm telling you now, in some counties, getting a statement for a child like that is basically two year fight (hopefully not longer) with all claws out. It's not as easy to get a statement as with a profoundly autistic child or child who is very severely physically disabled. Most families get rejected first time, many the second try as well. So the parents have to try mainstream. That means looking round every school and trying to find the one that can cope with a child who will have alot of problems. If you manage to find a good one, then I think the child should be able to go! I'm not suggesting full LAC status, nor was the petition, but a legal status such as 'Former LAC' or something similar, that will allow them to keep priority with admissions to schools and other services they may need.

I have lived having one of my children in a school that was terrible. Not terrible academically but they had no understanding of trauma, of PTSD or my daughter in general. It was hell. She was distressed at school, took it all out on me at home, and eventually her behavior in school became terrible as well. They wouldn't listen, they wouldn't modify the way they dealt with her compared to the other children etc. She was there for nearly two years, and learnt next to nothing. After we finally won a statement, she was able to move to a fantastic special school (same as her sister went to) and she blossomed

But had she been in a different school to start with, things could have turned out different. My son goes to the other local primary, and they are just great. Really understanding, everything her school wasn't. Sadly they were full in DD2's year when she arrived...but why should another family with a young child like DD2 have to go through the same if there is a far better school they coul get into if they had priority??

This hits quite close to home, which is why I posted it here

NanaNina - to open it, you need to highlight it, copy it, paste it into your browser, press enter. I understand why full LAC status isn't appropriate but I strongly feel we need something

Lilka and Hester - I understand the points you are making about school admissions. Is a community school different from other primaries Hester?
Hmm I'll have a try Lilka to open your link but my IT skills are seriously limited!

community school = state school that serves all children in the community i.e. not faith or specialist school, NN.

Of course, you could argue that if our children's services were adequately funded, responsive, tailored and sensitive, it would not be necessary to give special status to adopted children. But that clearly is not always the case.

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/14435

there - now a link you can click on NN. The petition is just a brief description and then you can sign if you like

Thanks Lilka - I have signed the petition.

Hester - agree with what you say about children's services and I believe it is going to get worse and worse, given the slashing of budgets that this govt are intent on doing to all public services. There is another thread on fostering, with carers saying that some LAs are expecting carers to agree to undertake all transport to bps, otherwise they will not be approved. The problem is of course that it is the govt making the cuts and then LAs having to cut their services as a result. Sadly it is going to be the most deprived and disadvantaged people in society who are going to most effected.

Better shut up as I could rant about the Tories for ever and a day!

Believe me NN so could I!

I have blogged about why the e-petition is so important. Please take the time to read. Thank you.
www.sallydonovan.net/

I enjoyed your blog, Sally; thank you

I've signed for this very worthwhile petition. The school admissions issue is a real problem for us potentially. Our nearest school is heavily oversubscribed and as a result many children are sent to schools in other parts of the borough. That would be a disaster for us as extended birth family live near some/all of these schools (not exactly sure) and we could well have birth family members attending those schools.

'other social/medical reasons' might pick this up then again they might not - and then what? Send our DD to a school where she might meet members of her birth family. I'm getting frantic about this and we are two years away.

This is such a big issue - our DD has a brother who was adopted by a different family. His SW wrote to the schools admissions with a letter carefully explaining why he needed to go to a partic school - it made no difference.

I doubt if it will make the 100,000 needed - but then there are so few adopters out there. This is one simple thing that could help make our lives as adopters a bit easier - it's not a big ask.