Disruption of Adoptive Placements

A disruption is the premature ending of a placement of a child/ren that has been placed for adoption. Disruptions can occur both before or after an Adoption Order is made.

A decision not to proceed with a potential adoptive placement during introductions is not considered a disruption for these procedures.

The concept of disruption was first developed in relation to adoption placements but can also be applied to foster placements.

The use of adoptive placements for a wide range of children and young people, many of whom present significantly challenging behaviours, inevitably involves an element of risk. It is not reasonable, therefore, to expect a 100% success rate. Nevertheless, when disruption occurs, it is often experienced as an unexpected and traumatic event, and the feelings of all those involved frequently are centred on failure.

The purpose of a disruption meeting is to look at the sequence of events, and to learn from the experience in order to:

• Gain information about the child to inform future planning so the child's needs can be met;
• Look at the quality of preparation, matching and support offered to the child and family;
• Enable people to share views and feelings about the placement disruption;
• Help the family recover from the experience;
• Highlight areas for development in practice;
• Recognise that the disruption was not the fault of any one agency or individual;
• Produce a clear record for the child or young person of why their placement disrupted.

All those involved with the placement, therefore, usually attend the meeting. 

Disruption meetings must take place where an adoptive placement ends in the following circumstances:

1. Where an adoptive placement breaks down prior to the granting of an Adoption Order;
2. All post order adoptions should consider having a Disruption Meeting where the disruption involves a child placed by the Service and the Adoption Order is under 3 years. Adoptive parents, post Order, have full legal responsibility for their adopted child. The Reparative Care Team offer a service to children placed for adoption and equally offer a service to any adoptive family living in the Bailiwick. RCT are to be involved in all post order disruptions where this action is identified.

The timing of the Disruption Meeting may vary. It is important that the meeting is not held too soon after the placement breakdown when participants may be defensive, or too long after when participants may be less able to recall the contributing factors. Meetings are convened no sooner than 28 days following disruption and no later than 42 days afterwards. This is to allow time for those involved to recover and be able to reflect on events. When an out of jurisdiction placement is involved, the agency with responsibility for the child usually organises the disruption meeting.

Disruptions do not happen overnight. There is usually a process leading to a disruption and all parties involved, the prospective adopters, child's social worker and supervising social worker will have been working together so all reasonable attempts will have been made to support the situation. There is often a fine line between a desperate cry for help and a plea for closure as the symptoms may be almost identical. Families under pressure will ask for more of everything in an attempt to make it come out right. The carers will become more despondent, the children more disturbed and the social workers more anxious.

This is a point that a Placement Support Meeting should be convened. The meeting should be chaired by the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO).

The prospective adopters and all social workers concerned should attend together with their Managers. The Team Managers should have discussed options, including their financial implications, with their Service Manager before the meeting and be empowered to make decisions. Consideration should be given to other people in the Team around the Child as appropriate to attend, e.g. CAMHS, relatives etc.

All decisions must be recorded so there can be no doubt about what action will be taken.

A Placement Support Meeting is not like a routine review and should not be a substitute for other scheduled meetings. The agenda will depend on the presenting situation and should be focused on questions such as: What helps? What doesn't? Its purpose is:-

• To demonstrate support for the prospective adopters and the child;
• To try to move on and not get stuck;
• To share and acknowledge feelings rather than apportion blame;
• To identify issues leading to placement difficulties;
• To agree the child's and prospective adopter’s current needs;
• To make plans to provide for needs or to state clearly if any needs cannot be met;
• To set time limits for action and dates to monitor progress;
• To hear and understand the child's wishes and feelings;
• To leave the door open for continuation or disruption.

If there has been a Placement Support Meeting before a disruption the prospective adopters are less likely to demand an instant ending.

Planning disruptions should be as careful a task as planning introductions. If prospective adopters still wish to end the placement they should be ideally as involved in the child's move away as they were when the child/ren came to them.

Wherever possible, a Planning Meeting should be organised with the prospective adopters, chaired by the Team Manager for the child with the Team Manager for the prospective adopters and relevant social workers and other colleagues including the Reparative Care Team who will likely be already involved. The child's needs will be the focus. It should discuss:

• Who will say what, when and where to the child(ren)?
• Consideration of the most appropriate alternative placement;
• Who would be the best person to move the child and how and when this should be done;
• How will the child's belongings be transferred?
• The appropriateness of continuing contact between the prospective adopters and the child;
• The birth parents present situation and clarification of who should advise them of the change of plan;
• The child's current legal status and how this may be affected by the change of plan.

The prospective adopters should be given as much support as possible during this difficult time. They should be advised that a review and discussions will take place at a later time, after a Disruption Meeting, about whether they should or wish to be considered for the placement of another child.

If prospective adopters wish to end the placement after lodging the same procedures 4-5 should be followed. Additionally, the supervising social worker for the prospective adopters must immediately notify the Court and Family Proceedings Advisor and Legal about the change in plans. The prospective adopters, or their Advocate, should notify the court in writing that they wish to withdraw their application.

At any point up to the granting of an Adoption Order, the social workers involved in the placement may become concerned about the care of the child by the prospective adopters or they may have received information which raises child protection concerns.

If there are any concerns or allegations of child abuse or neglect against the adoptive parents then Child Protection Procedures must be followed. 

If the concerns are more generalised about the care of the child and not raising issues of significant harm, then the social workers must discuss the situation with their Managers and the Service Managers e.g. if there are concerns that the relationship between the prospective adopters and child is not positive and not improving over time. Consideration should be given, according to the circumstances as to whether a Placement Support Meeting is appropriate and if so these procedures should be followed.

It may equally be appropriate to call a Strategy Meeting.  The areas to focus on in the meeting should include:

• The areas of concern and the evidence available to substantiate these;
• To look at the child's and prospective adopter’s current needs and whether more support can meet these needs or whether any needs cannot be met;
• The views of the social workers and consideration whether the placement should continue to be supported or disrupted;
• The implications for the child of this change of plan, including consideration of the most appropriate alternative placement;
• Who should inform the prospective adopters of the decision not to continue to support the placement;
• Who would be the most appropriate person to move the child from the prospective adopter's home, and how and when this should be done;
• The birth parents present situation and who should advise them of the change of plan;
• The child's current legal status and how this may be affected by the change of plan;
• Future contact needs of the child and prospective adopters.

The prospective adopters should have been visited and involved in discussions before the Strategy Meeting so that they will be aware of the concerns and will have had time to consider the area of difficulty or dispute and consider their future plans. The prospective adopters must be visited again immediately after the meeting and advised of the outcome. They should be advised to seek legal advice.

In some circumstances and ideally, it may be possible to work with the prospective adopters to prepare the child for moving, in which case the Planning Meeting, as in Section 5, should be convened. In other circumstances it may be that prospective adopters are either too distressed or too angry to be involved, and the social workers should be prepared for a request to remove the child at the time.

The prospective adopters must be served notice of the Service's intention to remove the child and the child must be returned to the care of the Committee within 7 days of notice. Legal should be consulted about the drafting of this notice. The birth parents must also be notified in writing that the placement has disrupted.

The social worker for the prospective adopters must offer whatever support and help the family need after the child has been removed. Discussions will take place later, after the Disruption Meeting, about whether the prospective adopters should be reassessed and either deregistered or reapproved for further children.

If concerns are highlighted after the application has been lodged in court, then the child cannot be removed without leave of the Court. In such circumstances legal advice must be sought.

A Child in Care Review must be held no earlier than 28 days after the date when the child is returned. This is a formal review and may run alongside, but is separate from, a Disruption Meeting.

The most difficult disruptions can be those involving sibling placements, when the request may be for the removal of only one child, often the oldest.

Social workers have to assess not only whether the children would do better together or apart, but also have to balance the value of an established placement for one against that of an unknown future for the intact group.

There may be an apprehension that if the oldest child is "pushed out" then the next will follow in due course, but this is not borne out by feedback from disruption meetings. What is apparent is that the child, who has already been damaged, may be further traumatised by preferential rejection.

Social workers have to assess on a case-by-case basis whether specific concerns or needs of the children argue for a different decision.

Research shows that sibling placements are as stable as or more stable than the placements of separated siblings and the norm is that siblings should be kept together.

Siblings are likely to recreate patterns in their adoptive families that replicate their experiences in their birth families entailing problematic interactions and behaviour patterns. Consideration must be given to obtaining specialist help with sibling relationships if this is an identified problem.

There are also "high risk" behaviours such as harmful sexual behaviour and levels of aggression. Consideration must first be given to appropriate support and whether there has been any response to this. If it is minimal then separation may be inevitable.

If separation occurs then the consequences of this must be addressed for the children

• Children will experience loss and grief related to the separation regardless of the quality of the relationship;
• Siblings need to know why they are separated;
• There needs to be clear contact arrangements for the future e.g. direct contact, cards, letters, telephone calls. The implications for the confidentiality of the adoptive placement of the remaining sibling must be addressed if the separated sibling has contact with their birth family reinstated.

Participants required to attend the Disruption Meeting will vary depending on the nature of the disruption. The Head of Service will chair Disruption Meetings.

Careful consideration must be made by the chairperson in regard to who should be invited (and ultimately, attend).

The attendees should always include the prospective adopters/ adopters and the child's social worker and supervising social worker and their respective Team Managers. In addition consideration will be given to inviting the following participants;

• Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO);
• Previous carers and their supervising social workers for the duration of the child in care’s placement;
• Present carers;
• Relevant Service Managers;
• In some cases it may be appropriate for the child/young person to attend the meeting. The social worker should carefully consider and discuss with the child/young person the implications of their attendance. The final decision will rest with the chairperson. The child’s social worker will ensure that the child’s views and feelings are given to the meeting in the most appropriate way;
• Child’s advocate / representative;
• Previous childcare social workers, including child’s social worker at the time of disruption;
• Designated Teacher from school currently attended, previously attended and at the point of disruption;
• Health representatives e.g. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, or Health Visitor;
• Birth parents / family.

Participants who decline an invitation or are unable to attend will be required to present their views in writing.

If a child in care is unable to attend the Disruption Meeting (prior to an Adoption Order being granted), it is the responsibility of their current social worker to obtain their views and opinion.

It is the responsibility of the Family Placement Service to obtain the views and opinion of current or previous carers who are unable to attend the meeting.

The social worker for the child, in consultation with the supervising social worker, will be responsible for arranging the disruption meeting, with the chairperson. Where a disruption occurs post Adoption Order and the social workers for the child or adopters are no longer involved the Reparative Care Team will arrange the meeting.

The child’s social worker will invite people and will forward the agenda to those invited to enable them to adequately prepare for the meeting and bring relevant information with them.

The child’s social worker should prepare for the meeting by ensuring that they are familiar with the child's case records, and these should be available for reference at the meeting. The social worker should prepare and bring to the meeting a flow chart denoting the child's significant life events and changes of care giver.

The supervising social worker should prepare for the meeting by ensuring familiarity with the background of the prospective adopters. This is particularly important if the prospective adopters will not be attending the meeting.

It is imperative that as much information is made available to the chairperson in advance of the meeting to allow time for analysis. At the time of invitation to the Disruption Meeting a written report will be requested from the following:

• Child’s social worker;
• Carers’ supervising social worker;
• Other significant agencies including the Reparative Care Team if the disruption is post adoption.

The child’s social worker will also provide the chairperson with access to the file in order to inspect relevant records.

It may not be appropriate for all those invited to attend for the whole of the meeting, as some participants may be anxious about sharing sensitive personal information. The social worker should inform the chairperson if this situation should arise, as the chairperson will need to take this into account when managing the meeting.

When a person with significant information, (e.g. the prospective adopter) is unable or unwilling to attend the meeting, the chairperson should consider meeting with the person outside of the meeting to seek their views and perception of events.

A Placement Disruption Meeting will follow a set agenda which is available to staff

The disruption meeting will consider the following matters:

• Reasons why the child came into care and details of the child’s life experiences and history
• The prospective adopters/adopters background, including recruitment and preparation;
• How, and why the child was matched with the particular family, including the consideration of the match at Panel (if relevant), and the views of the family;
• The process of introducing the child to the family;
• The child’s history since being in placement and any significant events;
• The child’s placement experience;
• The prospective adopter’s/adopter’s placement experience;
• The disruption and subsequent events;
• Plan for the child’s future;
• Learning points, recommendations and actions.

The meeting will be supported with a minute taker and the chairperson will be responsible for producing a record of the meeting which identifies any areas of improvement in practice and learning form the disruption together with actions where required.

A Placement Disruption Meeting Template is available for staff. The chairperson is responsible for forwarding copies to those present and to the Service Managers for the Child Social Work Team and Family Placement Service.

A copy of the minutes will be placed on the child’s file by the child’s social worker and on the carer’s file by the supervising social worker

The child’s social worker and supervising social worker will present a brief report of the disruption, and any significant conclusions from the disruption meeting, to the Fostering and Adoption Panel.

Where there has been an adoption breakdown prior to the granting of an Adoption Order the prospective adopters approval status will be Reviewed.