WIREDGOV

A new service to speed up the adoption process for children and prospective adoptive parents in Wales will be launched in November 2014, the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas announced yesterday 

The National Adoption Service for Wales will promote adoptions, increase the pool of adopters, and ensure good quality post adoption support is available for those who need it. It is a key element of the Welsh Government’s plans for transforming the way social services are delivered in Wales.  

It will lead to better collaboration and joint commissioning of adoption services, resulting in the eradication of children drifting in care, the more efficient uses of resources for the provision of training and assessment, an improvement in the matching process and the widest choice of placements, through the increased use of Voluntary Adoption Agencies.

The Deputy Minister made the announcement as she launched one of the first elements of the new adoption service – a new secure online register which allows adoption agencies in Wales to access, free of charge, a Wales-wide register of children waiting to be adopted and of approved prospective adopters.  

Gwenda Thomas said:

“I’m very pleased to announce that the National Adoption Agency for Wales will be formally launched in November.

“I recognise and am still concerned with delays in the adoption system and the potential lasting harm this can have on children, robbing them of their best chance of the love and stability of a new family.”

“I refuse to accept that children can be left to drift in the care system and I expect to see an upward trend over the next few years as the National Adoption Service drives up standards and performance.

“That’s why we needed to make a step change in the way adoption services are delivered, and through the establishment of a National Service, which will have the power to deliver services across Wales, we are delivering that change. The new service will address current concerns without losing the undeniable strengths of the existing system, achieving change without detriment.”

The new register (www.walesadoptionregister.org.uk) provides a wider pool of prospective adopters for children in need of an adoptive placement and whose local authorities have been unable to find a placement locally.  It will enable potential matches to be identified much more quickly than would be the case for many children if matches were identified only at a local level.  

The register has also been designed to ‘talk’ to the adoption registers in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, to maximise opportunities for children and prospective adopters where this is appropriate.  

Gwenda Thomas added:

“I am delighted that the new Wales Adoption Register has gone live.  Our investment in a new all-Wales register is designed to help adoption agencies in Wales make potential matches quickly and speed up the adoption process both for children and prospective adoptive parents.”

Following a competitive tendering exercise, the Welsh Government awarded the contract to run the new register to the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) Cymru.

Wendy Keidan, Director of BAAF Cymru, said:

“BAAF Cymru is delighted to have been awarded the contract to operate the first single Wales Adoption Register on behalf of the Welsh Government.

“The Register is an integral part of the National Adoption Service with a key objective of minimising delay in the matching of children and adopters living in Wales. We are very excited to be working alongside our partners in the statutory and voluntary sectors to ensure that the Register will proactively contribute to identifying ‘forever‘ families at the earliest opportunity for children in Wales waiting for a loving adoptive home.”