BAAF closure: the factors behind its demise

Although a statement issued by BAAF last Friday revealed that "significant changes and prevailing economic conditions" were to blame for its closure, the details on why a long-standing and seemingly secure organisation collapsed so abruptly were missing.

A member of staff at the organisation, who wishes to remain anonymous, said employees became aware BAAF was exploring cutbacks earlier this year when they were told operations would be moving to cheaper premises at the end of the year once the current lease expired.

Although potential new premises were found, staff were later told that the move had been postponed because it was unaffordable.

But it was only last Monday (27 July) that staff were called into a meeting to be told by chief executive Caroline Selkirk that the organisation was facing “financial pressures” and “changes in the sector” and would not be continuing in its current form.

Staff were told that a number of them would be transferring to Coram on 31 July and, while BAAF would do what it could to keep as many of the remaining staff as possible, there would be some redundancies.

So exactly what challenges was BAAF facing?

Financial pressure

BAAF's most recent set of accounts, published on 31 March 2014, state that there were a number of ongoing developments within the sector, including the Adoption Leadership Board, which could affect BAAF's positioning within the sector.

More tellingly, the report warns that a growing proportion of BAAF’s income is generated by major projects.

The report stated that it was “increasingly important that such projects meet project objectives and timeframes, are delivered within acceptable budget limits and meet any specific compliance requirements e.g. in relation to IT standards."

However it has seemingly struggled to do this.

After running the National Adoption Register for a number of years on behalf of government, BAAF was also awarded a lucrative government contract to establish the Adopter Access Pilot – the idea being to increase numbers of adoptions by allowing would-be adopters to search the register and view videos and photos of children.

The pilot had been due to launch last September, but in November, CYP Now revealed that it been delayed by security concerns. It is still yet to launch.

Speaking to CYP Now earlier this year, Selkirk was unwilling to shed light on the specific reason for the hold up.

The pilot is still yet to launch.

Instability at the top

The organisation has also experienced a high degree of churn in the chief executive role in recent years.

Following the departure of David Holmes in December 2012 to Family Action after seven years at the helm of BAAF, the organisation has experienced a high turnover of chief executives.

The post was filled initially on an interim basis by Shan Nicholas, until former Contact A Family chief executive Srabani Sen was appointed on a permanent basis in December 2013.

However, Sen lasted only six months at the organisation before leaving to take up “exciting opportunities”. She has since established a firm providing consultancy for not-for-profit organisations.

Following Sen’s departure, Barbara Hutchinson stepped up as interim chief executive until the appointment of Caroline Selkirk, formerly deputy executive at NHS Tayside in Scotland.

One member of staff said that action should have been taken earlier to save the organisation.

“We fail to see how the organisation got into this mess,” the former employee said.

“They must have been able to see the writing on the wall some time ago.”

The 2013/14 accounts also highlight risks around “work volume” and “capacity risks”, stating that BAAF operates a “lean environment” and said that work would be condicted in 2014/15 to avoid risks associated with "single points of failure", whereby the entire system fails if part of the system stops.

Chair of trustees Anthony Douglas, who is chief executive at the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) is yet to comment on BAAF’s closure.