1. The Journey to Permanence via Adoption
4th October 2018

2. Liz Spaven & Helen Hartness

3. Knowledge and Skills Statement: Achieving Permanence
Permanence means making a long-term plan for how a child will be cared for which lasts throughout their childhood. There are a range of options for permanence, inside and outside of the care system.
All should deliver good outcomes, giving children a sense of security, continuity, commitment, identity and belonging to ensure future positive life chances. Permanence options for children include: returning home to their families; living with kinship carers, including special guardians; living with adoptive families; living with long-term foster carers; or living in residential care. They also include where an existing short-term placement is being made permanent.
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4. Why is Northumberland different?
Child Permanence Workers (CPW)
Role & responsibilities:
Guide and support social workers in making a permanent plan for children
Work directly with all professionals important to the child
Work directly with birth family
Direct work with children

5. Role & responsibilities continued:
Completing Child Permanence Report
Planning, managing introductions
Family finding
Life Story Work
Supporting child & adopters through transitional stages

6. How does the role of the CPW enhance the child’s journey to adoption?
Dedicated role
Advocate for the child through the journey to adoption
Skill based team
Consistency of worker for the child
Feet in two camps - adult assessments and child’s assessments

7. Child led family finding
The ethos is the right adopter for our children not the right child for the adopter
Children’s profiles - strengths of our family finding process
Children alive via profiles
Children Waiting Meetings
Child focused not adult led

8. Profiles of Children Reflects voice of the child Good photos
Circulated via School 360 database
Adopters approach the service
Early notification
External family finding and timeliness of this

9. The Child’s Journey……..

10. Any Questions