Slower adoptions go against the tide

Local authorities in England are under pressure to improve and speed up adoptions, but an American model under trial in Scotland is proposing a slower approach.

The New Orleans Intervention Model, first used in the Louisiana city more than 10 years ago, seeks to reunite children with families where maltreatment has taken place, provided it is safe and in the child’s interest.

Achieving this involves a multi-disciplinary team that works intensively with the child and family for up to a year, and the results seen in the US are positive. Children assessed by the model in New Orleans were less likely to suffer abuse or neglect after returning to their birth families and more likely to settle in well with their foster carers.

The results were strong enough for the NSPCC, Glasgow City Council and local NHS services to decide to import the model to the city. The partnership’s pilot, the Glasgow Infant and Family Team, involves 13 professionals – three social workers, five psychologists, a child psychiatrist, a child psychologist, a co-ordinator and two assistants.

Assessing relationships
Together they assess relationships between children and the family they have been removed from before undertaking intensive work that could last up to a year, to see if they can be reunited. In tandem, the relationship between the child and their foster family is monitored, assessed and given extra support.

At the end of the process, the team makes a recommendation on whether the child should return to their family or be adopted by their foster family.

An evaluation of the Glasgow trial is not due out until next year. But Matt Forde, head of service for Scotland at the NSPCC, says local authorities in England are already in talks about replicating the approach in their area.

One of the advantages, he says, is that it helps both children and parents. “If parents have the chance to overcome their difficulties, they should be given the opportunity to do so through t