Disruption of Adoptive Placements

1. Definition of Disruption

A disruption is the premature ending of a placement of a child that has been placed for adoption.

A decision not to proceed with a potential adoptive placement during introductions is not considered a disruption for these procedures.

A placement can disrupt by being requested by the adoptive parents, by the placing authority or the child and a different procedure may then apply.

Disruptions can occur both before or after an Adoption Order is made.

2. Placement Support Meeting

Disruptions do not happen overnight. There is usually a process leading to a disruption and all parties involved, the prospective adopters, child's Social Worker and support Social Worker will have been working together so all reasonable attempts will have been made to support the situation. There is often a fine line between a desperate cry for help and a plea for closure as the symptoms may be almost identical. Families under pressure will ask for more of everything in an attempt to make it come out right. The carers will become more despondent, the children more disturbed and the Social Workers more anxious. In this case, a Placement Maintenance Meeting should be convened. 

Internal Matches with Birmingham Adopters:

• If this is an internal match with Birmingham adopters, the meeting should be chaired by the Family Finding Team Manager where this arises within the first 6 weeks of placement;
• If the situation arises after 6 weeks, the meeting will be chaired by an Adoption Assessment and Support Team Manager;
• Where the placement is an Interagency arrangement, the meeting will be chaired by the Interagency Support Manager;
• The prospective adopters and all Social Workers concerned should attend together with their Managers. Consideration should be given to other people appropriate to attend, e.g. CYPMHS, relatives etc.

All decisions must be recorded so there can be no doubt about the proposed plans and who is responsible for each action and a timescale set. A date to review the actions should also be set at the end of this meeting.

A Placement Maintenance Meeting is not like a routine review and should not be a substitute for other scheduled meetings. The agenda will depend on the presenting situation and should be focused on questions such as: What helps? What doesn't? Its purpose is:

• To demonstrate support for the carers and the child;
• To try to move on and not get stuck;
• To share and acknowledge feelings rather than apportion blame;
• To identify issues leading to placement difficulties;
• To seek to understand the needs of all parties including the child;
• To make plans to provide for needs or to state clearly if any needs cannot be met;
• To set time limits for action and dates to monitor progress;
• To hear and understand the child's wishes and feelings;
• To leave the door open for continuation or disruption.

If there has been a Placement Maintenance Meeting before a disruption the carers are less likely to demand an instant ending.

3. Planning Meetings

Planning disruptions should be as careful a task as planning introductions. If prospective carers still wish to end the placement they should be ideally as involved in the child's move away as they were when the child came to them.

Wherever possible, a Planning Meeting should be organised with the prospective adopters, chaired by the Team Manager for the child with the Team Manager for the adopters and relevant Social Workers. The child's needs will be the focus. It should discuss:

• Who will say what, when and where to the child?
• Consideration of the most appropriate alternative placement;
• Who would be the best person to move the child and how and when this should be done;
• How will the child's belongings be transferred?
• The appropriateness of continuing contact between the adopters and the child;
• The birth parents present situation and clarification of who should advise them of the change of plan;
• The child's current legal status and how this may be affected by the change of plan.

The prospective adopters should be given as much support as possible during this difficult time. They should be advised that a review and discussions will take place at a later time, after a Disruption meeting, about whether they should or wish to be considered for the placement of another child.

4. Disruptions After Lodging

If prospective adopters wish to end the placement after lodging, the same procedures 2-3 should be followed. Additionally, the prospective adopters must be supported to notify the Court and CAFCASS about the change in plans. The prospective adopters, or their solicitor, should then notify the court in writing that they wish to withdraw their application.

5. Identifying Concerns

At any point up to the granting of an Adoption Order, the Social Workers involved in the placement may become concerned about the care of the child by the prospective adopters or they may have received information which raises child protection concerns.

If there are any concerns or allegations of child abuse or neglect against the adoptive parents then Child Protection Procedures must be followed. The Practice Guidance: Safeguarding Children Placed for Adoption also applies.

If the concerns are more generalised about the care of the child and not raising issues of significant harm, then the Social Workers must discuss the situation with their Manager and the Interagency Support Manager. For example if there are concerns that the relationship between the prospective adopters and child is not positive and not improving over time. Consideration should be given, according to the circumstances, whether a Placement Maintenance Meeting, as in Section 2, Placement Support Meeting is appropriate and if so these procedures should be followed.

It may equally be appropriate to call a professionals Placement Strategy meeting. This should be chaired by the Area Team Manager with Adoption and Area Social Workers and their managers attending. The Area Team Manager will have had prior discussion with the Interagency Support Manager. The areas to focus on in the meeting should include:

• The areas of concern and the evidence available to substantiate these;
• To look at the child's and carer's current needs and whether more support can meet these needs or whether any needs cannot be met;
• The views of the Social Workers and consideration whether the placement should continue to be supported or disrupted;
• The implications for the child of this change of plan, including consideration of the most appropriate alternative placement;
• Who should inform the prospective adopters of the decision not to continue to support the placement;
• Who would be the most appropriate person to move the child from the adoptive home, and how and when this should be done;
• The birth parents present situation and who should advise them of the change of plan;
• The child's current legal status and how this may be affected by the change of plan;
• Future contact needs of the child and prospective adopters.

The prospective adopters should have been visited and involved in discussions before the strategy meeting so that they will be aware of the concerns and will have had time to consider the area of difficulty or dispute and consider their future plans. The prospective adopters must be visited again immediately after the meeting and advised of the outcome. They should be advised to seek legal advice.

In some circumstances and ideally, it may be possible to work with the prospective adopters to prepare the child for moving, in which case the Planning Meeting, as in Section 3, Planning Meetings should be convened. In other circumstances it may be that prospective adopters are either too distressed or too angry to be involved, and the Social Workers should be prepared for a request to remove the child at the time.

6. Notice of Intention to Remove a Child

The prospective adopters must be served notice of the agency's intention to remove the child and the child must be returned to the care of the Children's Trust within 7 days of notice. Legal Section should be consulted about the drafting of this notice. The birth parents must also be notified in writing that the placement has disrupted.

The Social Worker for the prospective adopters must offer whatever support and help the family need after the child has been removed. Discussions will take place later, after the Disruption Meeting, about whether the prospective adopters should be reassessed and either deregistered or reapproved for further children.

7. Notifications After Lodging

If concerns are highlighted after the application has been lodged in court, then the child cannot be removed without leave of the Court. In such circumstances legal advice must be sought.

8. Review of the Child

A Looked after Child's Review must be held no earlier than 28 days or no later than 42 days, after the date when the child is returned. This is a formal review and may run alongside, but is separate from, a Disruption Meeting.

9. Siblings in Disruptions - Practice Issues

The most difficult disruptions can be those involving sibling placements, when the request may be for the removal of only one child, often the oldest.

Social Workers have to assess not only whether the children would do better together or apart, but also have to balance the value of an established placement for one against that of an unknown future for the intact group.

There may be an apprehension that if the oldest child is "pushed out" then the next will follow in due course, but this is not borne out by feedback from disruption meetings. What is apparent is that the child, who has already been damaged, may be further traumatised by preferential rejection.

Social Workers have to assess on a case-by-case basis whether specific concerns or needs of each child argue for a different decision.

Research shows that sibling placements are as stable as or more stable than the placements of separated siblings and the norm is that siblings should be kept together.

Siblings are likely to recreate patterns in their adoptive families that replicate their experiences in their birth families entailing problematic interactions and behaviour patterns. Consideration must be given to obtaining specialist help with sibling relationships if this is an identified problem.

There are also "high risk" behaviours such as sexualised behaviour and levels of aggression. Consideration must first be given to appropriate treatment and whether there has been any response to this. If the response to treatment is minimal then separation may be inevitable.

If separation occurs then the consequences of this must be addressed for each child:

• Children will experience loss and grief related to the separation regardless of the quality of the relationship;
• Siblings need to know why they are separated;
• There needs to be clear contact arrangements for the future e.g. direct contact, cards, letters, telephone calls. The implications for the confidentiality of the adoptive placement of the remaining sibling must be addressed if the separated sibling has contact with their birth family reinstated.

10. Disruption Meetings

All adoption disruptions should have a Disruption Meeting. The Disruption Meeting will be held no sooner than 28 days and no later than 42 days after the placement breakdown and will follow a set agenda. The appropriate timing varies after disruption as everyone needs some time to recover from a disruption before they can reflect on what happened. The important thing is to enable children and families to regard disruption meetings as an integral part of placement support.

Disruption Meetings are an opportunity for all those involved to look in an open way, and with the benefit of hindsight, at the issues that may have contributed to the placement breakdown so all can learn from the experience. The purpose is:

• To enable participants to share information and feelings about the adoption process, the placement and the disruption without assigning blame;
• To identify factors that have led to disruption;
• To identify what has been learnt from the placement about the child, and to use this to plan further for the child;
• To identify with the adopters what has been learnt about the placement and to highlight what support will be needed to come to terms with the disruption;
• To highlight areas for development in practice and policy.

It needs to be recognised that a Disruption Meeting will be stressful for all concerned, particularly the adopters, and attention must be paid to creating a comfortable atmosphere.

The Disruption Meeting is always chaired by an independent chair, not a Team Manager or IRO, who has previous line management responsibility for the child or carers.

• In the case of an Interagency Placement or Internal Placement with Birmingham adopters, where the disruption occurs before 6 weeks of placement, the Family Finding Team Manager will identify an Independent Chair for the Disruption Meeting;
• In the case of an Interagency Placement, the Interagency Support Manager will identify an Independent Chair for the Disruption Meeting if the disruption occurs after 6 weeks of placement.

The Adoption Team Manager and Social Worker will act as convenor of the Disruption Meeting with responsibility for the preparation, co-ordination and liaison necessary. They will:

• Agree with the Chair a suitable date;
• Make sure all parties are consulted about dates, travel and childcare arrangements, and have the support they require in order to participate in the meeting;
• Book a suitable venue with refreshments;
• Send out invitations and maps.

Disruption Meetings usually take the whole day.

Careful consideration must be given about who should attend the meeting. Everyone who has been involved before, during and after the placement could have valuable observations to make. Consider:

• Previous and current carers;
• The prospective adopters;
• Therapists;
• Teachers;
• Health professionals;
• All the Social Workers and their Team Managers;
• Independent Reviewing Officer;
• Relevant others, e.g. grandparents.

If carers want to bring their solicitor they should be advised that the function of the meeting is not adversarial and helped to feel confident that a lawyer will not be needed. If they insist our Legal Department must be consulted.

Consideration must always be given to the child's attendance or contribution to the meeting. This depends on their age, understanding and particular circumstances. Their Social Worker must talk to them about how they can be involved and should they not attend how their wishes and views can be conveyed to the meeting. This can be a variety of ways e.g. tape, video, letters as well as coming to all or part of the meeting. Some Chairs of the meeting arrange to meet the child beforehand.

REPORTS:

The following reports must be sent to the Chair a week before the Disruption Meeting:

• Child's Placement Reports;
• Prospective Adopters Report;
• Matching Report and Adoption Support Plan;
• LAC Reviews held after placement with prospective adopters;
• Any other relevant meetings, e.g. Placement Support Meeting.

The Chair is independent and will have their own way of running Disruption Meetings. However, they are commissioned by Birmingham City Adoption Agency who have the following expectations that they:

• Read all the background paper in advance;
• Draw up an agenda which should ideally be circulated before the meeting. A 'typical' agenda should include: the child's history with birth family, the child's preparation for adoption, the prospective adopters experience from application to matching, reasons why the match seemed a good one, the introductions and move, the child's time with the adoptive family including help offered, the disruption, the child's present situation;
• Sum up at the end of the meeting and include any recurring themes, concerns, or lessons to be learnt, practice issues and recommendations;
• Agree to complete their own summary of the Disruption Meeting together with an action plan for the child and the previous adopters, feedback on our agencies practice and any suggested recommendations.

Full minutes, covering every person's contribution, must be made of the Disruption Meeting. The minutes will be very long and an experienced minute taker will be needed. A minute taker from the Adoption Service must be arranged.

Minutes should be completed in a draft report and sent to the Chair within 10 working days of the meeting.

The Chair is responsible for checking and distributing the minutes to all the participants of the Meeting together with their own summary and action plans. Any policy or practice recommendations should only be sent to the Managers and Social Workers.

The Disruption Meeting Report including the Chair's summary and recommendations on policy and practice should be sent to the Service Manager Adoption who arranges for it to be considered by the Adoption Panel.

11. After the Disruption Meeting - Adopters Review

After the Disruption Meeting and the report being completed, there must be a review of the adopters by the Adoption Team Manager. This should focus on the impact of the disruption and whether it is appropriate to recommend the continuing approval of the adopters. It should be noted that adopters have gone on from a disruption to create a successful family with other children.

This Adopters review together with the original PAR, Matching Report, Panel Minutes and Disruption Report must be presented to Adoption Panel for them to recommend either the continuing approval or withdrawal of approval of the adopters. The relevant document should be sent to the Panel Administrator 10 working days before the Panel meeting.

12. Disruptions Post Adoption Order

Adoptive parents, post order, have full legal responsibility for their adopted child.

The Post Adoption Service offer a service to children placed for adoption for up to 3 years after an Adoption Order. They equally offer a service to any adoptive family where they live in the city, after 3 years from the Adoption Order. There is a Duty Helpline Service available Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm on 0121 303 1010.

The Post Adoption Support Team is to be involved in all post order disruptions where this responsibility is identified.

The Post Adoption Support Team will have already been notified of all adoption placements that are at risk of disruption and they will have a copy of the child's Adoption Support Plan and date of Adoption Order.

13. Identifying a Disruption

A potential disruption may become known to the Post Adoption Support Team. If adopters contact, or become referred to the Post Adoption Support Duty Helpline, where there is any ongoing problem or risk of a disruption.

The Post Adoption Support Team is able to offer immediate telephone advice, support and counselling to adopters in need of support. They also offer allocation to a Social Worker for an Assessment of Adoption Support Needs within four weeks of referral.

If the adoption placement looks imminent of disruption then the Post Adoption Support Team will refer to CIAS/MASH for assessment. The Post Adoption Support Team will continue to offer support to the adopters as required. Consideration should be given to arranging a Placement Maintenance Meeting as in Section 2, Placement Support Meeting.

If the adopters request the child to be removed and there are concerns of child abuse or neglect, the Child Protection Procedures must be followed by the child's Social Worker. In this instance the adoptive parents are the child's legal parents and the procedures as for birth parents apply.

If the child and adopters live outside of Birmingham, even though the 3 year rule applies to adoption support issues, the Local Authority/Trust where the child lives must be notified to instigate their Child Protection Procedures.

14. Siblings in Contact

The practices issues in Section 9, Siblings in Disruptions - Practice Issues apply if there is a disruption that may involve decisions about separating siblings. Childcare Workers must contact the Post Adoption Support Team directly in the following circumstances:

• Siblings are being separated;
• Letterbox or direct contact is already in place;
• Before any consideration is made to contact the child's birth family.

15. Disruption Meetings

All post order adoptions should consider having a Disruption Meeting where:

• The disruption involves a Birmingham child and the Adoption Order is under 3 years ago (where ever they live) and any future plan for the child is likely to be adoption.