Summary of consultation with Adopters Together

Held on 4th October 2017

SCIE Offices, Pall Mall

Background

The views represented in the meeting are based on the experiences of different members of Adopters Together and their wider network. This consultation took place in order to hear testimony from across the sector from those care for children and young people.

Attendees

  • Adopters Together- Megan Starling (MS)
  • Adopters Together- June Leat (JL)
  • Adopters Together- Dave Bagshaw (DB)
  • Adopters Together -Sarah (teleconference)
  • Adopters Together -Sue
  • SCIE- Lucy Milich (LM)

LM welcomed the group and advised she had reviewed the materials sent by the group. This included a series of cases for consideration, from group members, and a conference presentation given by Dr Mair Richards of the POTATO group for a Respect conference on 19th September 2017 entitled ‘Working with Young People: Making a Difference’. LM confirmed after the meeting that SCIE would be unable to include these cases on the SCIE website.

MS highlighted the recent BBC media coverage of adoption on 26th Septemeber 2017 about 'adoption in crisis'. 3000 parents responded to a BBC survey and a quarter of respondents indicated they were in crisis, and at risk of their children re-entering care. MS greatly appreciated this SCIE co-production meeting with AT as indeed a timely consultation with adoptive parents, in the light of this survey. It was suggested that if each of these children were returned to care the bill to the tax payer could easily amount to £750 million. Thus, investment in adoption at this juncture, seems of critical importance.

Summary