Adopt North East, the brand new regional adoption agency, has officially been given the go ahead by the five local authorities supporting the new service.
Councils from North Tyneside, Gateshead, Newcastle, Northumberland and South Tyneside have been working on the proposals which will combine adoption services from each of the local authorities, creating a large regional body.
Adopt North East will create an exciting new service, with the needs of adopted children and families at their heart and the opportunity to provide high quality post adoption support.
Development of the new service has been on-going for over two years, including detailed consultation with adoptive children, families and birth parents helping to shape the new service. The results of these discussions helped identify the most valuable areas of adoption support and how the adoption journey can be streamlined, both of which are key to providing high quality services.
During the engagement a variety of delivery options were discussed, including creating a new standalone agency, providing the new service through voluntary agencies or a hosted model with one of the five local authorities being selected as a host.
The hosted model was selected, and North Tyneside has been allocated as the host authority, with the new service being based at Balliol Primary School, Longbenton.
Cllr Peter Earley, cabinet member for Children, Young People and Learning at North Tyneside Council, said: “Adoption can really change a child’s life and I am delighted we are now in a position to implement the plans for this agency.
“Adoption is such an important responsibility for any council and requires caring and skilled people to make it happen. Working with our partners across the region means we will be able to enhance our provision and simplify the adoption process.
“We are extremely proud of the services we provide for children and young people and our excellent inspections, carried out by both Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission recently, demonstrate that we are well placed to host and lead this agency.
“The council is always seeking adoptive parents for babies and children of all ages and, as part of National Adoption Week, we are holding an open evening tomorrow (October 18) for those interested in adopting. I would really encourage people to come along and find out more.”
The new service is expected to launch in December, initially working in parallel to existing Local Authority service during a period of transition. The staffing and structure is still being designed and will be shaped to provide the highest quality service and to streamline the adoption journey.
Around 50 staff from across the 5 local authorities will join Adopt North East, bringing together an experienced workforce to drive forward the new agency. There will be no staff redundancies as part of the process.
The open evening organised by North Tyneside Council will take place on Thursday 18 October at the White Swan Centre, Killingworth, and anyone interested can drop-in anytime between 6pm and 8pm.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Adopt North East Vision – Excellent adoption services that transform children’s and families’ lives for the better.
Adopt North East is made up of five local authorities:
- North Tyneside Council
- Newcastle City Council
- Gateshead Council
- South Tyneside Council
- Northumberland County Council
The development of the Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) was set out in the Department for Education (DfE) papers Regionalising Adoption in June 2015 and Adoption: A vision for change in March 2016. As part of these papers, the Government has requested all local authorities be part of an RAA by 2020.
It is estimated that the RAA will initially place 123 children per annum (based on the average number of children placed for adoption across the 5 LAs in 2016/17 and 2017/18).
The staff who currently deliver adoption services in each of the authorities will all come together under the employment of North Tyneside Council pursuant to Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE).
