https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/middlesbrough-highest-number-children-referred-27816460Middlesbrough has highest number of children referred for potential adoption in region
The highest number of adoption orders which sever legal ties between a birth parent and a child were also made in Middlesbrough, compared to other parts of the Tees Valley
By Stuart Arnold Local Democracy Reporter
16:00, 1 OCT 2023
Middlesbrough continues to be the local authority referring the highest number of children for potential adoption of any in the Tees Valley. It referred 74 children for adoption in 2022/23, according to an annual report from regional adoption agency Adoption Tees Valley (ATV), followed by Stockton (51), Redcar and Cleveland (44), Darlington (33) and Hartlepool (21). The number of adoption orders an order giving full parental responsibility for a child to the approved adopters and made on application to a court increased year-on-year from 78 to 84 across the region, the most occurring again in Middlesbrough (26). The report described how more adoptive parents were meeting with the parents of the child from the outset and, nationally, there had been a move towards maintaining these significant relationships through direct and indirect ways of keeping in touch. It said research continued to show that many adopted people wanted to have some form of contact with their birth relatives and “as a whole system we need to continue to review how we move in this direction”.
The number of families approved for adoption increased year-on-year with 55 families having been assessed and approved to adopt across the Tees Valley from the 46 in 2021/22. But there continued to be a need for more families to house siblings and older children (those aged over five) and there weren’t enough adoptive families for children with complex needs. Of the 55 families 58% were in the age 31 to 40 category and overwhelmingly white British (93%).
The report described how new Virtual Reality headsets were in use in ‘virtual schools’ in Redcar and Cleveland and Darlington which enabled adoptive parents to experience the world of the child in a range of scenarios that they may have experienced with feedback suggesting they were “powerful, impactful and helpful”.
ATV is governed by a board of directors which comprise the directors of children’s services for its five partner local authorities Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton who also make financial contributions towards its work. For more information about adoption tees valley visit:
http://www.adoptionteesvalley.org.uk/
