Adoptive parents and foster carers receive excellent support from council services

People considering adopting or fostering a child with Norfolk County Council receive excellent support and training from specialist services which are leaders in their field, according to reports accepted by the council's cabinet this week.

Cabinet members will be updated on the performance of the Adoption Service and Fostering Service when they discuss Annual Reports and Statements of Purpose summarising performance and challenges over the last year.

Cllr Daniel Elmer, deputy cabinet member for Children's Services, said:

"Our Adoption Service is rated outstanding by Ofsted and is a leading light in our regional Adopt East Alliance.

"And our fostering service has recently transformed, launching a New Deal for its foster carers with an improved payment structure and a much wider range of specialist support.

"We have hundreds of children and young people in our county in need of new forever homes or placements in family settings - it's really important people in Norfolk considering becoming adoptive parents or foster carers know that we have high quality services offering them excellent support to do something really special in offering a child a home."

Norfolk Adoption Service approves prospective adopters, prepares children for adoption, matches adopters with children, and provides post adoption support. Last year it placed 42 children in care, 30 of whom were individual children and six sibling groups of two children. The eldest children were six and the youngest five months old at the time of adoption placement.

At the end of March 2022, the team was also supporting 264 children placed with families and providing kinship support to a further 75 families looking after children. Post-adoption support on offer includes family therapy, occupational therapy, nurturing attachments, clinical psychologists, training and workshops, and a buddy service.

Norfolk Fostering Service approves prospective foster carers, matches carers with children in care and provides a wide range of support and training to foster carers. At the end of March 22, it was managing 273 fostering households looking after 353 children in care either on a long-term or short-term basis. It was also managing 41 family and friends placements for a further 57 children in care.

Each fostering household is allocated a supervising social worker and has access to an advice and mediation service and a support and wellbeing service. Support offered includes occupational therapy for children, therapeutic support for foster carers, an intensive outreach service for children with disabilities and a range of training courses.

The service has recently been transformed by its New Deal for Foster Carers which introduced a new fairer payment structure for foster carers and improved training and support. The new payment structure focuses on the needs of children and young people, with higher fostering fees to carers who look after children with the highest needs and those who look after more than one child. The service offers 24/7 wrap around support to its enhanced foster carers who care for children with complex disabilities and young people who need a higher level of support.

Minimum foster care payments vary from around £200 per week to approximately £375-£425 per week with maximum payments between £550 per week to £800-£900 per week.

Find out more about adopting a child through Norfolk County Council's Adoption Service online or call 01603 638343. People from all sorts of different backgrounds, occupations and walks of life can make good adopters. We do not discriminate on the grounds of gender, sexuality or disability. We need adopters for children of all ages. We are particularly looking for adopters for brothers and sisters, toddlers and young children aged four and older, and children with disabilities.

Find out more about fostering a child in care through Norfolk Fostering Service online or call 01603 306649. People from a range of backgrounds can become foster carers and there are many different types of fostering. Experience of looking after or working with children is essential.

Cabinet will consider the report when it meets at 10am on Monday 7 November. Watch the meeting, live or afterwards and read the reports online (opens new window).