Supporting Adoption through Structure

Recent amendments to Australia’s New South Wales Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 require the Courts to consider a care plan of adoption for children who are unable to safely return to their family... [ view full abstract ]

Recent amendments to Australia’s New South Wales Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 require the Courts to consider a care plan of adoption for children who are unable to safely return to their family and for whom guardianship is not appropriate. This change enshrines the principle of permanency for children through the provision of a “family for life” that lasts beyond childhood. However, there are few organisations in New South Wales who are currently accredited to undertake this work or who are prepared for this major change to their agency’s focus.

Barnardos Find-a-Family has been finalising adoptions for children in out-of-home care since 1985, with approximately half of the children in the program exiting care through adoption. In 2012 the agency made a strategic decision to focus on securing open adoption for a larger number of children under the age of 5 years where the court had made the decision it was not safe to return home. This objective was underpinned by the agency’s belief that young children should not spend their life in a care system which is known to be unstable and insecure. This presentation will explore the strategies that have supported Barnardos in achieving this goal and how these may assist other organisations.

The commitment and belief in adoption from Boards, senior management and operational staff is critical as a main driver of change and must be embedded in corporate plans and reflected in strategic plans and targets. Equally important is the ability of organisations to be proactive, to prepare for growth and change and to be able to identify barriers to achievement of goals.

The method used to achieve the objective was to review and consider the role of program and team structure in achieving the outcomes required. It had been revealed through a small research project that there were barriers to securing adoption orders in a timely manner which were within the agency’s control to change. Furthermore, another research project provided the agency with an analysis of workload required in the first year of placement. With the benefit of this knowledge, specialist teams with lower caseloads were created to focus only on this very young age group. The teams were located in newly acquired office space and set up prior to acceptance of referrals, which enabled time for training and further skilling up of all staff, both caseworkers and managers.

The first specialist adoption program manager was appointed in 2012 with 8 adoption staff. By 2014, there were 3 specialist teams and 21 staff and by February 2016, 7 teams and 36 staff were working with 127 children with care plans of adoption.

The results of this planned and structured approach has seen an increase in entry to the program of children under the age of 5 years from 29 as at 1 January 2014 to 86 at 29 February 2016. Associated with this has been an increase in the number of adoption applications for children under 5 years: 67% of all current adoption applications are for children under 5 years and 50% of all finalised adoption orders since 1 January 2014 have been for children in this age group, compared with 20% in the preceding 28 years.

We conclude from this that a planned approach influenced by research and experience is critical in achieving objectives. Furthermore planning and reflection are key to ongoing success and must be a constant feature as organisations change and adapt to meet agency goals.