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Adoption services improving at 'inadequate' council, say inspectors

Ofsted has praised a council for improvements in finding permanent homes for looked-after children through adoption, two years after rating its children's services as "inadequate".

Inspectors carried out a monitoring visit at Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council's children's services last month with a particular focus on adoption.

They found a greater focus on early planning for finding permanent homes for children since the council was handed Ofsted's lowest rating in April 2016.

Once identified as being suitable for adoption, the majority of children were found to be matched and placed with adoptive families swiftly. Inspectors attributed this to improvements in tracking and monitoring systems.

They also found that reports provided an accurate picture of children's circumstances, and social workers carried out good-quality assessments of prospective adopters.

"The local authority has worked hard to ensure that the importance of securing early permanence for children looked-after is embedded across the children's workforce," states Ofsted in a letter to Dudley Council's acting director of children's services Sue Butcher.

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