Until the adoption order is granted, your child is still a looked after child and is therefore under the care of the local authority. They will share parental responsibility with you until the order is made.

Social work visits

Your child’s social worker should come out to visit within the first week of placement, and then every week until the first formal review. These statutory reviews can be a blessing and a hindrance. It can feel like an extra layer of scrutiny while you’re learning how to be a parent and getting to know your child. But it can also be reassuring having someone to talk to who knows your child.

When our eldest came home, it was our social worker who visited as our daughter’s social worker had left the agency. To be honest, I quite liked the fact that she came around a lot. She was lovely and it felt more like a friend dropping in to check we were ok rather than anything formal.

I appreciate that we were very lucky to feel like that. A lot of people find the visits difficult for a number of reasons, not least because they are unsettling for their child. But they have to take place, albeit on a less frequent basis as the placement progresses.

As with everything to do with adoption, how these meetings take place will vary depending on your agency. If your social worker is from the agency that placed the child, the visits may be split between them so someone comes each week, but they don’t both come. If the placing authority is a different agency to where you were assessed, both may come out. However, it’s done, they’re are a statutory requirement and the visits should be recorded.

The adoption process: Statutory review requirements

Social work visits should be weekly until the first review. The first review should take place four weeks after placement and is a “Looked After Child” review and the social worker might refer to it as a LAC review. The venue of the meetings will usually be in your home so that everyone can see how your child is settling into familiar surroundings.

Don’t feel you have to blitz the house and clean everywhere. They’re expecting the house to look lived in so as long as it’s safe, don’t worry about everything looking perfect. Real life is far from perfect and everyone would worry more if it looked like it was.

Either your child’s or your social worker (sometimes both) should attend the meeting, together with the independent reviewing officer and usually your child’s health visitor. Your child’s social worker should have prepared a report outlining a brief history and everyone’s views on the placement. The role of the independent reviewing officer is to make sure the local authority are carrying out all of their statutory obligations. So if there’s something they promised they’d do and haven’t, the review meeting is the time to raise it.

The second review should take place within three months of the first, and if a third one is needed, within six months of the second review. Reviews continue until the adoption order is granted.

Our experience

Our experience of the reviews was that they were informal. We were very lucky and didn’t have any particular issues following the placement of either child, so it may not be as informal for everyone.

There is a statutory framework for the review so that everyone is satisfied the child’s needs are being met by the placement. How this is covered will vary depending on the social worker. Some may go through every question in that type of format. Others may do it as part of a general chat.

If there are things that you feel are not being addressed by the local authority, this is a chance for you to air them so they are minuted and a plan agreed as to how the issue can be resolved. Make sure there’s a clear plan and it’s clear whose responsibility it is to do what.

Medical visits

In addition to there being statutory requirements for the number of social work visits in the early months of placement, there are increased visits from your health visitor. For a birth
child, health visitors visit regularly during the first six weeks, but then the visits become much less frequent although you can ask them to come out if you have any issues.

When a child is placed for adoption, a health visitor from your area should contact you to arrange to come out. You’ll get your child’s health book (ours are red but the colour changes) which details all of their health visits, immunisations etc since birth. This book is in your child’s birth name and stays that way until the adoption order is granted.

We didn’t ask for new books to be issued for our girls once the orders were granted. We felt that they should stay in their birth names because it’s part of their history and the vast majority of entries were made before the order was granted. Whether you ask for new books will probably depend on your child’s circumstances.

Health visitor

With our eldest, the health visitor was the same one she had been seeing ever since she was born. It was decided it would be of benefit for her to have the same health visitor because she knew of the issues in the first few months of our daughter’s life.

With hindsight, I’m not sure that was the best decision. I often felt that things that weren’t really an issue, were being seen as an issue because the health visitor knew about the history. An example of that is the fact that our eldest didn’t really like lumps in her food.

This was brought up in our initial meeting with her foster carer and medical adviser. We were told it could be a sign that her mouth and throat muscles weren’t developing properly which could lead to speech problems. It’s something that the health visitor made a big thing out of too.

I’d talked to my sister and mum about it and they suggested going back a stage with weaning which is what I did (our daughter was nine months old when she came home). I blended lots of foods until they were smooth and gave her that for the first few weeks with finger food. I gradually made the purees lumpier and she ate them quite happily. It turns out that her issue was that she didn’t like buying pre-made meals. I’ve since read that babies fed bought baby food are more likely to not like lumps. I’ve no idea why that is.

Training in trauma

I was disappointed that the health visitor jumped to the worst-case scenario about our eldest’s dislike of lumps, rather than talking through what she was eating and suggesting trying different things. We had several other experiences of her doing this over the next few years too. I suspect it was due to a lack of specific training about adopted children rather than anything else.

Health visitors are a great resource but our experience is it’s best to be cautious about issues that may be due to your child’s early life experiences. The majority aren’t trained to deal with adopted children and the kinds of issues they are likely to be affected by.

If you have concerns about behaviour or development, I would speak to your social worker about it first. They’ll be able to say whether it’s normal behaviour in the context of your child’s history or something that you need to be concerned about. If it’s the latter, I would ask them who they recommend you seek help from.

Other meetings

There may be other meetings with medical professionals, but those will depend on your child’s circumstances. If they are having treatment, that should continue and will have formed part of the placement plan. You may be asked to attend reviews of this before your child is placed so that you know what stage it’s at and how long it will continue.

Depending on the age of your child when they’re placed, there may also be meetings with nursery or school to review how they’ve settled following placement.

If you enjoyed reading this article, why not buy me a coffee to show your support for the magazine? If you’d like to read more articles about adoption, head over to the home page and have a look at what’s new.

Thankfully, the number of children with a child protection plan due to sexual abuse is at a 14-year low. To continue to reduce this figure, children need to understand what is safe and what isn’t from an early age.

Raising awareness around sexual abuse and empowering and educating children to recognise and report it is therefore key to tackling it. “Use Your W.I.T.S” was written by Norgenta Lata to do just that. It aims to encourage children of all ages to take ownership of their bodies, understand the difference between safe and unsafe touching, and be able to identify when they feel uncomfortable and do not want to be touched.

Use Your W.I.T.S.

The characters of the book are children Norah and Joni. They talk about what it means to use your W.I.T.S. (Walk Away, Instincts, Tell, and Secrets) by sharing how they learn to take ownership of their bodies and understand when they feel safe, and when they don’t.

Norah learns how she can set boundaries and react and respond when she feels unsafe or just doesn’t want to be touched. These are really important tools for young children to have so that they understand what to do if they feel uncomfortable or unsafe when someone touches them.

As well as telling Norah and Joni’s story, the book also contains resources and highlights discussion points to encourage parents and carers to ask children questions and explore the key issues about body safety, boundaries, and consent.

The book is a great resource for all parents. My girls are 10 and six and both got a lot from reading the book with me. It sparked discussions about what is safe touching, what to do if they feel uncomfortable when someone touches them, and the parts of their body that are private.

About the Author

Norgenta Lata is an NHS Mental Health Professional with a background working in Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services. She currently works in adult mental health and has a master’s degree in Psychological Sciences. Norgenta is a passionate advocate for trauma-informed responses to sexual and domestic abuse and is a member of the Awareness and Response to Domestic and Sexual Abuse (ARDSA) network that aims to influence policy and practice across the NHS.

You can buy “Use Your W.I.T.S.” from Amazon, a range of bookshops, and the publisher Austin Macauley. Please note that this is an affiliate link. That means if you click on the link to Amazon and buy the book, I get paid a fee.

If you’d like to find out about other amazing books, head to the book reviews section.

Issuing court proceedings

If either change is not seen within the Public Law Outline (PLO) process, or the risks to the child are felt to be too high, the local authority will issue care proceedings in court. These ultimately ask a Judge in a family court to make decisions about where the child should live.

An interim care order might be sought. This grants parental responsibility to the local authority and means that the child could be placed outside the parents’ care, even if the parents don’t agree. An interim care order might also be granted for the child to stay in the parent’s care, but with the local authority sharing parental responsibility.

Care proceedings cannot be issued until a child is born, but the PLO process carried out before a child’s birth, might decide the local authority will go to court immediately following its birth. This would be the case if there are worries about the baby’s immediate safety.

Care proceedings should take a maximum of 26 weeks (just over six months) to conclude. Where possible, the social worker will have done the assessments of parents and carers before this point, usually during the PLO process. This isn’t always possible in an emergency or if things change quickly.

Even if assessments have been done, the Judge will usually ask that these are updated and will again ask if any family members wish to be assessed to care for the child. The social worker keeps working with the family, offering support, and seeing the child wherever they are living.

Filing evidence

They then file their evidence and determine a care plan for the child based on that evidence. The care plan details where the local authority thinks the child should live, who they should see, and when.

Birth parents will file their evidence in response to the local authority’s case. This is their opportunity to answer what’s being said about them and say whether they think it’s correct or not. They may completely disagree with the local authority’s case which means live evidence is likely to be needed so that the Judge can determine where the truth lies.

It may be that they agree with the local authority’s evidence, but they disagree with the plan as to where the child should live.

The Children’s Guardian from CAFCASS, a social worker from this independent organisation, represents the child in family court proceedings. They are independent and separate from the local authority. They will form a view based on their enquiries in response to the local authority’s recommendations about what is best for the child. The Guardian will report this back to the court.

An Issues Resolution Hearing (IRH) is scheduled to try to resolve any differing views between the local authority, the parents, other people involved (for example, relatives), and the Guardian. The Judge can agree on the final care plan at this stage if everyone agrees. If not, a final hearing is scheduled.

Final hearing

A final hearing can last a few days, but its length will depend on what’s being contested. The social worker, parents, and Guardian will give evidence and can be asked questions by the legal representatives of each person. Other witnesses may also be called, like contact workers, specialists who have provided reports, or any other previous workers. At the end of all the evidence, the Judge will give a judgment based on what they have read and heard about the case.

If the plan is adoption, the local authority will have sought a care order and a placement order. In those circumstances, the care plan will detail any consideration of post-adoption contact with the birth family and matching plans. For an older child, it might include how long an adoptive placement would be sought before an alternative plan is considered. The alternative plan may be long-term foster care.

Once a placement order is granted, the birth parents’ parental responsibility end, and the local authority can place a child in an adoptive placement. The order can be granted without the parent’s consent. Because of this, the judge must feel that there is no other option.

If you require help and advice about local authority concerns about the care of your child, the Law Society can help you find a solicitor in your area.

I thought it would be helpful to highlight the steps that have to be taken if there are concerns about a child’s welfare. Social worker Kate Asprey from Gateshead MBC has written two articles about what’s involved. The first looks at what happens after an initial referral is made. The second looks at court proceedings.

Initial referral about the welfare of a child

If someone has concerns about the welfare of a child, they can ask the local authority responsible to have a look at things. The person makes a referral which is received by the initial response duty team in Children’s Services within that local authority. This referral can come from any professional or member of the public, expressing concern about a child’s welfare – including unborn babies. Most commonly, referrals are made by midwives, health visitors, police and schools.

The social workers and managers in an initial response team decide what to do about each referral. It might be no action is needed. The other end of the scale is that immediate action is needed to see if the child is safe. Or it might be that further investigations are needed. Any historical information held about the child is considered as well as the information contained in the referral.

Child in Need assessment

If further exploration is needed, a Child in Need assessment would be recommended. This assessment can take up to 45 days to give a better understanding of whether the family requires support and if the child’s needs are being met. Taking part in this is voluntary for families.

At any time, it might become apparent that a child or unborn baby could be at risk of significant harm. At this point, a strategy meeting would be held. This is a multi-agency meeting involving a social worker, social work team manager, police representative, health representative and where applicable, education, as well as any other professionals already working with the family.

The family are not invited to this meeting but should be told about it. However, if there’s information to suggest that their knowledge about it would place the child at greater risk, then it’s held without their knowledge.

Section 47 enquiry

If the worries that led to the strategy meeting are felt to pose a risk of harm, a section 47 enquiry will be completed. This refers to section 47 of the Children Act 1989 which puts a duty to investigate on a local authority where they have ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives or is found, in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm’.

This enquiry can take up to 15 days. The social worker contacts all the agencies involved with the family and speaks to the adults and the children. After 10 days, the social worker and their manager decide whether there needs to be an initial child protection conference. This is a formal meeting with the family to decide whether a child protection plan is needed.

Child protection conference

At an initial child protection conference, the parents are given the chance to speak to the independent chair of the meeting first. Then the conference takes place, with everyone having the opportunity to read the social worker report as well as reports from the other attendees, including education and health. Police information and GP information about the whole family is also shared.

Then a decision is made on whether the child is at risk of significant harm. If they are, the category has to be determined from neglect, emotional harm, physical harm, or sexual harm. It could also be decided that the significant harm threshold is not met, and the family could instead benefit from social worker support via a child-in-need plan. This is where the child needs support to promote their health and development. This is usually recommended when parents/carers understand the risks and are working with the support around them already.

Child protection plan

Once a child has a child protection plan, this details what needs to happen to improve things for the child and family. Child protection plans often include support services for parents and aim to make clear what needs to change. The plan is there to help parents improve their parenting skills to support the needs of their child.

Social workers and family support workers can provide interventions to support the changes in patterns of behaviour that have contributed to the risk for the child. A specialist piece of work might be commissioned around the area of concern such as substance misuse, mental health issues, domestic abuse or parenting skills.

If things on the plan are not progressing or it’s felt that the risks to the child are very high, legal advice will be sought. This is in a meeting between the social worker, the allocated manager, the service manager, the independent chair and a local authority solicitor. It will set out what the worries are and discuss whether the local authority should consider issuing court proceedings.

Meeting outcomes

The outcome of this meeting is to either:

• continue with the plan as it is
• go into ‘Public Law Outline’, detailing what needs to change to stop the local authority from needing to go to court or
• to issue Care Proceedings immediately

Public Law Outline process

The Public Law Outline process involves the parents getting free, independent legal advice. They come to a meeting with the social worker, manager, local authority solicitor and their solicitor, where the worries are laid out clearly. They have the opportunity to get advice from their solicitor.

Timescales will vary depending on the situation, but this process means that immediate change is needed. The parents would also be asked who else could care for their child if they’re not able to. This is where they will put forward names of other carers such as grandparents, who may wish to be assessed.

As part of the Public Law Outline process, the local authority might ask the parents to sign section 20 consent for the child to be placed in local authority foster care. Section 20 is a voluntary arrangement whereby a parent consents to their child being in foster care but retains full parental responsibility. This would either be with local authority foster carers or an approved family member.

Police protection

A child could also be placed in foster care through police protection. This happens if the police feel that the child needs to be placed outside of the care of the parents immediately. However, this only lasts for 72 hours. After that time, either parental consent through section 20 or a court order is required to keep the child in foster care.

If you’d like more information or advice about what happens when a child is taken into care, gov.uk is a good starting point.

You can read Kate’s second article here. It picks up from the decision being made to issue court proceedings.