Government advisor visits Harrow to see adoption success

"Children in Harrow are getting a better deal than others across the country." Martin Narey, adoption advisor to the Government.

The adoption advisor to the Government visited Harrow yesterday to see first hand the borough's successful adoption partnership.

Martin Narey, met with Harrow Council's children's services and adoption partners, Coram as part of his nationwide review of the system and investigation into best practice.

Speaking after his visit to Harrow , Martin Narey said:

 "I wanted to come to Harrow to see why it had worked, to see why it was so different here. I quickly got the answer to my question; it is the shared urgency to help children in the borough. One of the most pleasing things is that Harrow and Coram share a common view, I had to remind myself who worked for which organisation. The consequence of this is that children in Harrow are getting a better deal than others across the country."

The successful partnership between Harrow Council and the children's charity Coram was formed four years ago and the results have been life changing. Bucking the trend nationally, 44% of the adoption and special guardianship orders overseen by Harrow Council in the last four years involved children over the age of four.  Every single child with an adoption recommendation was placed within the six months required by regulations. In fact, the average time is currently only 124 days (4 months).

Portfolio Holder for Children's Services, Cllr Mitzi Green said:

"Our adoption model is really making a big difference to the lives of children in our borough so I am pleased that Martin Narey came to see first hand what has made it so successful.

Our partnership work with children's charity Coram is a model that could be followed by other local authorities. I hope his visit to the borough will help with this research into best practice and positive examples of children centred adoption processes.

Supporting and protecting vulnerable people in Harrow is one of our key priorities so I am very proud of the fact that no child in Harrow is currently in care waiting to be adopted."

Jeanne Kaniuk, Head of Adoption at children's charity Coram, said: "We are delighted that the ultimate result of our collaborative approach with Harrow , is being able to transform the lives of children who need loving, adoptive families. We very much hope to achieve similar results by working with other forward -thinking local authorities."

Supporting and protecting vulnerable people in Harrow is one of the council's key priorities.  Harrow Council has seen a marked increase in the number of looked after children who have gone on to be adopted or placed under a special guardianship order - from 3% in 2006/07 to 22% in 2010/11.

Source: Harrow Council

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