VAA Closure guidance

Advice for regional adoption agencies on what to do when a voluntary adoption agency closes.

VAA Closure

VAA closure guidelines and appendix ( PDF, 583.27 KB)

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Introduction

Key messages

Introduction

This Practice Guidance was commissioned by the National Adoption Strategic Team on behalf of the Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs) to set out guidance on how the RAAs, local authorities (LAs) or other voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) in the region need to respond when a VAA closes.

The need for this guidance was identified following the closure of Families for Children, a VAA based in Devon, in August 2022 which impacted on the 3 RAAs and 1 LA in the region as well as another VAA, all of whom responded to the need to support adoptive families, prospective adopters and adoption support services which were affected by the closure.

Interviews were initially completed with the CEO of Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA), the RAA Service Managers from Adopt South West, Adoption West and ASPIRE,

as well as the Service Director from PACT. The purpose of these interviews was to understand the process that was followed, the challenges that were encountered and the solutions that were developed. The interviews also discussed the impact of the closure on prospective adopters, adoptive families, birth families, and adopted adults, as well as the impact on managers and social workers in the agencies receiving referrals of families, services, and adoption records.

A number of templates were developed by Adopt South West and ASPIRE in response to managing the issues they were confronted with and Adoption Focus has shared templates of letters they sent, which have been shared with the permission of these agencies in the Appendices for others to adapt and use as required.

Key messages

Several key messages have been developed during the work that underpins this guidance, as set out below:

The welfare and best interests of children should be the first and foremost consideration when VAAs and RAAs are working together to manage the closure of the agency, as well as the transfer of responsibility for all work being undertaken with children, families, and prospective adopters.

Agencies should work together to ensure that children and adoptive families experience minimum delay and disruption as the transfer process is progressed.

The value in all the RAAs impacted by a closure and any VAAs in the region working together to ensure there is a swift response to families to minimise the uncertainty of the situation they find themselves in when their agency closes.

The need to prioritise an immediate response for adopters who are being linked or matched to children or who have children placed with them.

For VAAs and RAAs to have a shared message when communicating with prospective adopters and adoptive families impacted to provide reassurance that the agencies are working together to get the best outcome for them.

An open and honest dialogue between the VAA and RAAs, once the decision to close has been made public, about the families and cases that need to be transferred to ensure those families get the support they need.

Adopters still in assessment are recognised as a valuable resource for children waiting for adoption.

Although the organisational challenges of transferring records will inevitably impact the work with adopted adults and their relatives, they should be provided with information and sources of support while recognising the importance to them of their search for an understanding of their adoption.