£16million boost for children in care ‘The best news that children awaiting adoption could possibly have hoped for’. That is the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA) response today to Government plans for a massive investment in the voluntary adoption sector. A top-level announcement tomorrow, Thursday, is expected to reveal plans for a £16 million injection in the further development of adoption services to help reduce the growing numbers of children in care across the UK. “This will be stunning news for the 4,650 children in the UK who are ready to be placed for adoption and who are waiting for that new beginning,” said CVAA Director, Chris Smith. “This level of funding over the next three years - the biggest ever in the sector - will provide a massive boost to their prospects of being part of a new family. It will also give hope to those older children, children in sibling groups, and those with a significant additional needs whose prospects of being adopted have been all but hopeless.” Voluntary sector adoption organisations, including the 23 members of the CVAA in England, will be invited to apply for funds to implement strategies that will help address the national shortage of adopters not just for those currently waiting, but the 700 who are adding to the list each year. The funds may be used for awareness-raising and myth-busting activities, social worker recruitment, preparation and support initiatives and other infrastructure projects, all of which will help increase the capacity of the voluntary agencies to boost the level of successful and sustainable adoptions. CVAA leadership team member Norman Goodwin added: “This level of funding can help bring about a sea-change in the adoption statistics but we have to recognise that these are the nation’s children and regardless of the services and facilities we are able to invest in, we can only be successful if we are able to persuade and inspire individuals, couples and families to come forward and provide these new homes.” The CVAA will continue to raise the bar on adoption service standards, and pioneer new recruitment initiatives, working in collaboration with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and other partners including BAAF and Adoption UK. Increased dialogue with ADCS and collaboration between Voluntary Adoption Agencies and individual Local Authorities is already reaping benefits for children and needs to continue. 2. “We’ve already proved how effective we can be,” added CVAA Chair, Jan Fishwick. “The £1million which was divided this year between our 23 agencies has proved a tremendous investment, delivering an increase of 20% in the number of children placed in adoptive families and, most significantly, a 43% increase in the number of prospective adopters approved and ready to provide a family. “It’s great to see the Government acknowledge the importance of the voluntary sector with such extensive funding. It will enable VAAs to grow even more and to work creatively and collaboratively to find families for those children who have waited far too long.”
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 09:30:00 +0000
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