Praise for Hartpool adoption services after 'busy and successful year'

The adoption service in Hartlepool is run by Adoption Tees Valley Regional Agency, which also covers Darlington, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar and Cleveland Councils.

In 2019/20 11 Hartlepool children were placed with their adoptive families, while 12 adoption orders were granted, according to officers at the regional agency.

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Vicky Davidson-Boyd, service manager at Adoption Tees Valley, also noted Hartlepool was best in the region for the time between a child becoming looked after by the local authority and moving in with their adoptive parents.

She said: “In terms of Hartlepool children we had a really good year and I think we were really successful.

“A lot of the Hartlepool children, 86% of them were placed with their adoptive parents within 14 months of coming into the looked after system and that is something we would strive for.

“We would strive for better than that where possible, but it’s really important that the due process of care planning takes place.”

Meanwhile across the Tees Valley a total of 91 children were placed with their adoptive families last year, and Ms Davidson-Boyd said she was ‘really proud’ of the work done.

A total of 50 new adopters were also recruited, slightly under the target of 60, but still a ‘significant success’ according to officers.

For the coming year the target has been increased to 80, due to a higher number of children than expected coming forward for adoption.

It was also noted that more adopters have been approved at this point in this year compared to the previous year, despite having to tackle challenges linked to Covid-19.

The response from the community in the search to find more adopters has been ‘astonishing’ according to Ms Davidson-Boyd, who noted overall it has been a successful year for the agency.

She said: “We’ve had a very busy year, I think we’ve had a really successful year.”

She added: “The biggest challenge is that we are managing a lot more adoption than was expected, and of course a lot more adoption support than was expected, but this is really really good news and something to celebrate because it means those children achieve permanence.”

Councillors on the Hartlepool Borough Council Children’s Services Committee also praised the work done by the adoption service in the town.

Cllr Leisa Smith, chair of the committee, said the work carried out has been fantastic, especially while dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cllr Brenda Harrison added: “Nothing’s stopped throughout the whole time, it’s just doing it in a slightly different way, but it’s worked very well.

“I think overall it’s working very well as a regional adoption agency.”

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