- Home
- / Procedures
- / Children living away from home
- / Adoption
- / Placing children with adopters
- / Adoption and Permanence Panel
- / Adopters attending panel
Adopters attending panel
The attendance of applicants at Adoption and Permanency Panel is supported by Services for Children and Young People.The Department is committed to making the process of preparing, assessing and approving adopters inclusive, open and transparent. No applicant will be disadvantaged where they wish to attend Adoption and Permanency Panel on grounds of disability, language or communication difficulty. Arrangements will be made to provide an accessible venue and appropriate support.Members of the Adoption and Permanency Panel welcome the opportunity to meet applicants as part of this commitment.Applicants should be encouraged from the outset to regard this as a positive experience. They will however be able to choose whether to attend or not and no judgement will be drawn from applicants not attending. Attendance at Adoption and Permanency Panel is not part of the assessment process. It provides scope for the Adoption and Permanency Panel members and prospective adopters to discuss and clarify their reasons for wanting to adopt, and anything else that either party considers relevant to the application.Applicants are given a list of Adoption and Permanency Panel members before the meeting to ensure that there is no potential conflict of interest.
Actions
Task | Responsible officer | Record required | Timescale |
Inform applicants which panel members will be in attendance in case there is a conflict of interest. | Assessing social worker | Case file | Within 5 working days |
Check with applicants that there is no conflict. If there is ask the Panel chair to ask that Panel member to stand down for that agenda item. | Team manager | Case file | Within 10 working days of Panel meeting |
Encourage applicants to attend Adoption and Permanency Panel if they wish. | Assessing social worker | Case file | During assessment |
Inform applicants of the Adoption and Permanency Panel date as soon as it has been decided if they want to be there | Assessing social worker | Case file | As appropriate |
Send invitation letter giving clear information about the Panel's function, date, time, venue, estimated length and any other relevant information. | Minute taker | Copy of letter on file | At least 1 week before Panel |
Welcome applicants and explain that they will be invited to attend Adoption and Permanency panel for part of the discussion but will not be present as the recommendation is discussed | Panel chair | N/A | At meeting |
Inform applicants orally of Panel's recommendation | Assessing social worker or team manager | Minutes | At meeting or immediately thereafter |
Forward panel's recommendations and draft minutes to the agency decision maker to consider the recommendations | Team manager | Draft minutes | Within 5 working days of panel |
Make a decision | Agency decision maker | Sign recommendation | Within 7 working days of panel |
Pass decision to fostering and adoption team manager | Agency decision maker | N/A | Immediately |
Confirm decision to applicants in writing | Team manager | Letter on case file | Within 5 working days |