Coram-i Adoption Diagnostic

This document describes the potential partnership work between your local authority and Coram-i, to build on good practice in adoption to facilitate early permanence for young children.

By utilising an Adoption Diagnostic Analysis tool, we are able to measure the current performance of your local authority’s adoption service and its wider adoption function. Coram-i will then create a report that identifies areas of improvement, so that a plan to increase the speed and volume of adoption placements can be developed in your local authority. The Adoption Diagnostic Analysis tool builds on Coram-i’s previous work with other local authorities in England.

The Adoption Diagnostic Analysis and report will be able to
highlight:

  • The profile of children placed for adoption in relation to the profile of looked after children in your local authority.
  • Timescales and potential drift in children’s adoption journeys, focusing on the five stages of the adoption process. Namely, care entry to the Independent Review Officer’s (IRO) recommendation for adoption; IRO to Agency Decision Maker’s (ADM) agreement of adoption plan; ADM to Placement Order (PO); PO to adoptive placement; and finally adoptive placement to Adoption Order (AO).
  • Detailed analysis of the 10 shortest and the 10 longest adoption journeys experienced by children adopted.
  • Permanency planning and timescales for children under five entering care who remain in care two years later, by looking at placement moves, legal status, health needs and changes to permanency plans (e.g. from reunification to adoption).
  • The adopter’s journey and timescale from initial contact, application, assessment and
    approval to placement of child.
  • The analysis will also be able to provide indicators of the resource efficiency of the adoption
    service by reporting:

    • The unit cost of placing children for adoption.
    • The productivity rate of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in relation to the number of hildren placed for adoption and adopters recruited.