The Corporate Parenting Board met to discuss several reports and updates related to children and young people in care. The board received the Adoption Service Annual Report, endorsed the Independent Reviewing Officer Service Annual Report 2024-2025, and received the Performance Monitoring Information report. Members also discussed outstanding matters and Councillor visits to establishments.

Adoption Service Annual Report

The board received the Adoption Service Annual Report for Adoption@Heart, a regional adoption agency representing Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall councils. The report highlighted that 2024/25 had been another high impact year for Adoption@Heart, with the highest number of adopter approvals to date, reduced assessment times, and a stable financial outturn.

The report noted several key achievements:

• Greater choice for children: An increase in approved adopters has expanded the pool of available families.
• Stronger matching: More families and improved assessment processes mean matches are tailored to meet children's specific needs.
• Increased permanency: More children have been able to exit care and achieve permanency through adoption.
• Reduced waiting: Reduced waiting times mean children experience less uncertainty and can settle into permanent homes more quickly.

The report also included data on adopter demographics:

• 76 adopter approvals were recorded during 2024/25 relating to 145 individuals; 71 (49%) males and 74 (51%) females.
• The proportion of LGBTQ+ adopter approvals during 2024/25 were 12 (8.3%).
• 11 (16.7%) of adopter approvals in 2024/25 were to single applicants.
• 8 (6%) Approved adopters highlighted that they have a disability.
• 59 (42 %) Approved adopters identify as not having any religion, 58 (41%) identified as Christian, 6 (4%) identified as Muslim, 2 (1.4%) identified as Atheists, 1 (0.7%) identified as Jewish, 9 (6%) listed 'other' and 7 (5%) had no information available.
• 7 (5%) Of approved adopters in 2024/25 were aged between 21-30, 58 (41%) were aged between 31-40, 61 (43%) were aged between 41-50, 13 (9%) were aged between 51-60 and 3 (2%) were aged between 61-65.
• In 2024/25 118 (81.3%) adopter approvals were white applicants, 5 were of Black descent (3.4%), 15 (10.3%) were of Asian descent 6 (4.1%) were of mixed heritage and 1 (0.6)%was Iranian.

The report also addressed adoption timeliness, noting a mixed picture across the four local authorities, with timescales in some areas exceeding national averages. However, it was noted that these delays often reflected a commitment to achieving the right match for children with complex needs, rather than simply the fastest match.

The report detailed the work of the Adoption Support team, which provides pre- and post-adoption support to families. In the twelve-month period, the team worked with 393 children and completed 420 applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund¹ (ASGSF).

The report also included data on adoption panels, disruptions, and complaints.

Independent Reviewing Officer Service Annual Report

The board endorsed the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Annual Report 2024-2025. The IRO service has a statutory responsibility for overseeing and ratifying the care plans for Children and Young People in Care (CYPiC). The report outlined the service's activities, impact, and recommendations for service improvement.

Key points from the report included:

• As of 31 March 2025, there were 502 children and young people in care, 41% female and 44% aged 14 and over.
• 100% of children and young people in care had an up-to-date review.
• Review timelines for 2024-2025 remained stable at 98%.
• 100% of all children and young people had participated in their review.
• 91% of care plans were rated as Green, 9% were Amber, and none were Red.
• 87 children and young people shared their feedback about their IRO directly.

The report also highlighted the service's priorities for 2025-2026, which include:

• Making reviews clearer and more accessible for children and young people.
• Boosting birth parent engagement in care reviews.
• Reducing delays in finding permanent homes for children in care.
• Embedding trauma-informed supervision across the service.
• Promoting independence skills and preparing for adulthood.
• Maintaining excellence in reviews and encouraging children to achieve their aspirations.
• Promoting children's identity and responding to intersectionality in all relationships and care plans.
• Collaborating with Wolverhampton Virtual School to enhance Personal Education Plans (PEPs) for children in Wolverhampton.
• Supporting the Children in Care Council (CICC) in achieving their priority of promoting positive language.

Performance Monitoring Information

The board received the Performance Monitoring Information report, which provided analytics on service performance in several areas relating to children and young people in care.

The report included data on:

• Review Health Assessments: The overall percentage of Children & Young People in Care with a review health assessment in timescale was 81.8% with 72 fails at the end of July.
• Supervisions: The overall percentage of CaYPIC with a supervision in timescale was 91.4% with 42 fails at the end of July.
• CaYPIC Missing Incidents: The number of missing incidents has reduced in July, reducing from 41 in June to 33 incidents.

Councillor Jacqui Coogan, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, queried the primary cause for delays in health assessments and what action was being undertaken to mitigate this. It was noted that reasons often varied, such as reduced capacity due to sickness or general staffing, administration gaps or ICT issues.

Concerns were raised around performance for health assessments although Board members were assured that monitoring was in place and discussed during regular operational meetings prioritised both internally and with health colleagues. Board members were assured that assessments were still taking place, there were just delays in reporting and that compliance in initial health assessments was high.

Schedule of outstanding matters

Casey Gavin, Corporate Parenting Officer, presented the schedule of outstanding matters. The board received the schedule.

The schedule included updates on:

• Feedback from Wolverhampton Fostering and Children's Home Forums being shared with the Corporate Parenting Board.
• Anonymised Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) case studies being shared with Board members.
• Dates for visits and forums being shared with Corporate Parenting Board members.

Any other business

Casey Gavin, Corporate Parenting Officer, reported key messages from the subboard, Corporate Parenting Partnership Board, noting that these meetings had enjoyed increased engagement. An update in housing legislation was noted that would see the removal of the local connection requirements needed to apply for social housing for care leavers. Service leaders were currently considering implications for the service whilst remaining compliant.

Councillor Visits to Establishments

Casey Gavin, Corporate Parenting Officer, reported that a new service manager was in place and dates were being scoped for the opening of two new establishments. Once this was confirmed, dates would be shared for visiting opportunities.

Dates for forums were confirmed as:

• Care Leavers' Forum: 18 September 2025 or 16 October 2025 at the Oasis Hub.
• Children in Care Council: 10 September 2025 or 24 September 2025.

Board members were asked to advise in advance if they wished to attend.