Consolidating the future of the NHS
Consolidating the future of the NHS
The NHS England planning guidance was published at the end of March, and the key word in the document is…
Only recently was the establishment of Regional Adoption Agencies formally ‘announced‘ (the latest in a line of numerous press releases and papers). For those in the sector this was nothing new; it’s been part of a wider narrative of adoption reform and partly announced as far back as June as part of David Cameron’s measures to increase the number of adopters and speed up the adoption process.
In a nutshell, all councils are compelled to join with other councils and voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) to develop ‘regional adoption agencies’ (RAAs) by the end of the current parliamentary term. The idea being that greater scale is central to unlocking a number of ‘structural’ issues in the sector, including placements commissioning, strategic matching, innovation in adopter recruitment, and a more consistent adoption support offer. Whilst the exact model is not prescribed, the expectation is that the new RAA will span the full range of adoption services – recruitment, matching and support – and will result in meaningful collaboration.
IMPOWER have been working with councils to help them make the most of their RAA arrangements. Early lessons we have learnt have included:
Over the coming months, it’ll be interesting to see how other RAAs are shaping up. This policy has its doubters but it comes from good intentions: to find loving homes for children. If done properly, there are big wins for councils, stakeholders, children and families to be had. But we still have a long way to go.