ADOPTION SUPPORT
HISTORY
Adoption
Support was established in 1994 as 'The West Midlands Post Adoption
Service' with the aim of providing an independent support and advisory
service for anyone in the region who had been affected by adoption.
The service was initially managed by British Agencies for Adoption and
Fostering as a pilot project to test the need for such a service.
Funded for just two years, the service was only available to people
who lived in four West Midlands local authority areas.
Within the two year life of the
pilot project the value of the service had been proved beyond doubt
and a charitable company was established in 1996 to manage the future
growth and development of the service. Since then the original four
local authority subscribers have been joined by a further five and the
original staff team of two workers has grown to 13 full plus numerous
volunteers. Adoption Support's helpline is now open four days a week
and the range of services provided has been expanded year on year,
something we intend to continue in the future.
REGISTRATION
In order to operate and provide
services to those who need them, Adoption Support has to meet the
National Minimum Standards for Adoption Support Agencies. These
standards are assessed by Ofsted during regular inspections that take
place at our premises. Our most recent inspection was carried out in
March 2007 and our inspection report was published in June 2007,
confirming our registration as an Adoption Support Agency with
'excellent' outcomes in many areas of work.
Ofsted make public the content of all inspection
reports on their website. The full contents of our latest
report can be found
here.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
As a Registered Adoption Support
Agency, Adoption Support is required to have a formal statement of
purpose which provides details of who works for the agency, what the
agency's aims and objectives are, what government body regulates us
and how service users can make a complaint. Please
click
here
for the full text.
MEMBER OF CASA
The
Consortium of Adoption Support Agencies (CASA) was initiated in 2003
by several adoption support agencies with the initial aim of providing
support across the consortium to enable the member agencies to plan
and prepare for their respective inspections. The consortium has
subsequently been involved in many other areas and now provides a
national forum where adoption support agencies can discuss issues
relating to the provision of adoption support services. The
organisation aims to represent the views of service users and work in
partnership with other agencies to establish itself as a powerful
voice, contributing to the shaping of national policy and practice.
AREA OF OPERATION
Adoption Support is partly funded
by a number of local authorities in the Midlands. Anyone living within
one of these local authority areas is entitled to access the majority
of our services at subsidised rates. The 9 authorities that presently
subscribe to our services are:
| Birmingham |
Solihull |
| Coventry |
Walsall |
| Dudley |
Warwickshire |
| Herefordshire |
Wolverhampton |
| Sandwell |
|
Some authorities do not subscribe
to our full range of services. It is possible that people who live
outside these local authority areas may still qualify for a subsidised service,
depending upon which authority arranged the adoption. Furthermore,
anyone living outside our subsidised local authority areas can access
our services at our normal rates (see here). If you need
support and are unsure whether you qualify for a subsidised service, please call our helpline.
