Adoption providers and commissioners must break down barriers
By Joe Lepper Friday, 15 January 2010
UK adoption services should be urgently overhauled to ensure councils and agencies work better together, according to the leading figure in the adoption sector.
Consortium for Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA) chair Norman Goodwin, who is also chief executive of adoption agency Adoption Matters Northwest, says that the "them and us" attitude between providers and commissioners needs to end.
He says that closer working between the two would speed up delays in finding a new family for children. Agencies can provide valued support to councils to recruit potential adopters and help reduce delays in the legal process, he adds.
He said: "Some children are already waiting 40 per cent longer than they were twelve months ago.
"These delays are estimated to be costing as much as £35,000 per case in continuing care and other costs, which flies in the face of the need to deliver savings across local government."
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