Posted on Friday 25th November 2022
Staffordshire County Councillor Mark Sutton
An innovative partnership involving four local authorities continues to make a difference to the lives of children in care.
The Together4Children adoption agency brings together Shropshire Council, Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.
The partnership, which launched in September 2020, is now helping to find more permanent families for children within the region.
A new website and successful marketing campaign, focusing on finding adopters for children in sibling groups and other priority children resulted in over 720 Enquiries from potential adopters last year.
By creating a larger pool of potential adopters, closer working, and pooled resources the agency has found permanent homes for over 200 children since going live.
Mark Sutton, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Children and Young People, said:
“We know that adoption really does transform the lives of those it touches and we’re incredibly pleased with the success of our partnership.
“By working jointly, we’re able to more easily share information on children and the prospective parents available. In doing this and by Increasing the number and diversity of potential families across the region widens the choice of potential adopters. This helps us to keep siblings together, find loving homes for older children and for children who have other specific needs.
“We’ve also seen improvements in the length of time to adopt a child and the length of time to be ready to be an adopter which is great news for the children and the family alike.
“For anyone looking to start or complete a family I would definitely encourage them to think about adoption. You’ll find all you need to do at one of our information evenings or on the Together4Children website.”
The four authorities continue to maintain current levels of investment in the service that fall within the partnership arrangements and each council retains responsibility for children from its own area. The initial partnership has now been extended until September 2025. The Partnership’s aim is to progress to supporting services for special guardians and children in long-term fostering.
The progress report was presented to the Staffordshire Safeguarding Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 24 November 2022.
Further details about the partnership are available at Together4Children.