Mistrust among professionals stunts efforts to reduce adoption delays

Lack of trust between court officials and social workers, and excessive red tape are among the main causes of delay in adoption cases, according to Ofsted.

The inspectorate’s Right Time report into the experience of nine councils, found that factors in delays included repeated assessments of parents; assessments of other relatives starting too late in proceedings; and “insufficient capacity of local courts to meet demand”.

Assessments of parents and family members added “months, or in some cases years, to the time it took to secure the new family that the child needed”, inspectors found.

Across the 53 cases analysed by inspectors the average length of time for completion of proceedings was 14 months.

Inspectors also found a “lack of trust on the part of the courts in the quality of local authority social work assessments”. This led courts to instead rely on independent experts, which caused further delays.

Social workers also suffered from a lack of status in courts and inspectors found some social workers lacked “confidence and experience in court work”.

In cases of good practice identified by the watchdog, courts, children’s services and court guardian service Cafcass worked together to tackle delays and develop shared practices and procedures.

But inspectors added: “In most areas, however, relationships were more fragile and the impact of any liaison was minimal.”

Ofsted deputy chief inspector John Goldup said: “Decisions to place children for adoption are not easy. They are life-changing decisions that social workers and the judiciary have to make.

“However, the focus must always be on the child and what is best for the child. Part of that is looking at how we can minimise delays wherever possible when adoption is the right decision.”

The report urges councils to closely monitor cases, with a focus on addressing delays working more closely with courts and Cafcass.

The government is being called on to act swiftly on recommendations made in the Family Justice Review’s final report to tackle delays in care proceedings.

Published last November, the report’s recommendations included a six-month time limit on care cases.

Association of Directors of Children Services director Matt Dunkley, said: “Directors of children’s services will be keen to discuss these findings with the judiciary and Cafcass as part of local efforts to increase the speed of decision-making in the courts.”