A NEW combined adoption agency is being set up across Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole, it has been announced this National Adoption Week.

The local authority adoption agencies of Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole along with Families for Children, a voluntary adoption agency, are delighted to announce that they have been successful in securing funding from the Department for Education to move towards setting up a combined Regional Adoption Agency.

This is in line with Government policy of moving to larger regional agencies to speed up matching and markedly improve the life chances of neglected and damaged children, improve adopter recruitment and adoption support, and reduce costs. Funding and practical support from the Department for Education is being provided initially until the end of March 2016, with the possibility of further funding in the future - dependent on the outcome of the cross-Government Spending Review. Families for Children will lead on the initial phase of the project, which is focussed on scoping and defining the new arrangements.

Those affected by the proposed changes including adopters, staff in the four agencies, and other professionals, will be consulted during this period to inform the future shape of adoption services in the region.

Graham Pellew, deputy chief executive of Families for Children, says: “This initiative provides a great opportunity to develop co-ordinated adoption services across the region, which will benefit children and adoptive parents. There are many ways in which we can build on the high quality services already in existence to ensure that children are placed for adoption without delay, and the adoptive families are fully supported.”

In the meantime, all four adoption agencies are keen to recruit more families to adopt. They are particularly keen to speak to those looking to adopt children over the age of four, or in sibling groups, which has been the theme of this year’s National Adoption Week campaign, ‘Too old at four’. There are currently 34 children of that age looking for adoptive families across the region.