Monitoring and Supervision of Adoptive Placements

1. Frequency

Arrangements for and frequency of visits, including those by Adopt North East staff, for supervising the placement must be made at Placement Planning Meetings and set out in the Adoption Placement Plan.

This will involve at a minimum:

• The child's Local Authority Social Worker visiting the child within the first week of the placement and thereafter weekly visits to be alternated between the child's Local Authority Social Worker and the adopters' social worker until the First Review;
• Thereafter, the frequency of visits will be determined at the child's Adoption Review as per the child's Local Authority's procedures. Where there are any concerns, additional visits should be arranged, with both the child's Local Authority Social Worker and the adopters' social worker sharing responsibility for any increase in frequency

The adopters' social  worker will also carry out monthly visits as agreed in the Adoption Placement Plan - and more frequently if circumstances require. The visits should continue until an Adoption Order has been made or until the placement is terminated.

2. Qualified Social Worker Visits

Visits must be made by suitably experienced qualified social workers or social workers/student social workers who are supervised by suitably qualified and experienced social workers – as stated in the Adoption Regulations.

3. Child Seen Alone

The child should be seen alone (if appropriate according to their age and understanding) at all of the visits, whether undertaken by the child's social worker or the adopters' social worker, and the child's wishes and feelings recorded.

4. Recording

Records of all visits must be made and placed on the Adopter's Case Record on the Liquidlogic LCS case management system. If the adopters' social worker undertakes a visit on behalf of the Local Authority – when the visit was the responsibility of the Local Authority – then the recording should be shared with the Local Authority Social Worker. Between visits, the adopters' Social Worker and the child's Social Worker should discuss progress in the placement and read each other's recording of visits during the monitoring period.

5. Reporting Concerns

Where there are concerns that the placement is at risk of disruption, a Review Meeting must be convened immediately by the child's Local Authority Social Worker.

The procedures to be followed where a placement disrupts are set out in Disruption of Adoptive Placements Procedure - to follow.