Adoption project due to get final member

Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet is expected to formally commit next week to joining Shropshire Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Telford & Wrekin Council to create the Together4Children adoption agency, scheduled to launch in April.

Mark Sutton, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The new arrangement will let us match children and the right carers more quickly, which provides greater stability for children and more support for parents.

“We want to avoid any delay in finding the right permanent families for the children in our care so by working regionally, we can widen the choice of potential adopters and achieve the best outcomes for children.

“Increasing the number and diversity of potential families across the region will help us to keep siblings together, find loving homes for our older children, and for our children who have other specific needs.”

Backed by the Department for Education, which has invested more than £600,000 in developing the project, Together4Children will focus on achieving permanent placements faster than before.

The Together4Children partnership is one of the first of its type in the country and builds on central government’s goal of creating regional adoption services by joining forces to improve services for all children who need long-term and permanent care.

Mark Sutton added: “We know that children who are more settled get a better start in life: their health and wellbeing, academic performance and long-term employment prospects are all improved.”

The initial partnership will be for two years.