Bristol City Council has a Permanency Policy (2002) based on the National Adoption Standards for England (2001) with a new requirement that:
A plan for permanence must be produced for all looked after children at the four-month statutory review.
Where the care plan at this review is twin-tracking adoption, we should then convene the next review within four months.
The Permanency Policy lists the options for a child to live away from their birth family including, adoption, kinship care, a residence order (in the Adoption and Children Act there is provision for these to be extended until the child is 18 years), long term fostering, residential (suitable for a very few children, but should not be viewed as failure) and special guardianship. Only adoption provides legal permanency, but this needs to be weighed up against other factors.
Some key points on the Guidelines to the Permanency Policy:
- Responsibility for ensuring that permanency plans are made rests with the social worker and team manager in their work with the birth and extended family.
- Permanency plans should be in place for looked after children at the second looked after care review (National Adoption Standards 2001).
- The first task will be to consider the ability of the child's birth family and/or wider kinship network to provide safe permanent care within a reasonable period of time.
- Where reunification to their birth home is ruled out, other options to secure the child's future care and provide the necessary stability, need to be given due consideration.
- LAC (98)20 and the National Adoption Standards 2001 say that adoption should be considered in all cases where permanency is under discussion. It should never be seen as the 'last resort' as for many children it will offer the best outcomes.