Children in Lincolnshire face long wait in care before they can be adopted
Children in Lincolnshire’s care system are waiting 18 months on average to move in with adoptive families, almost two months longer than a target set by the county council, which has not been matched in the last two years.
In a report presented to the Corporate Parenting Panel at Lincolnshire County Council on Thursday (July 25), the performance of the children in care team was scrutinised against countywide targets.
An alarming piece of data revealed the average time between children entering care and moving in with adoptive families stands at over a year and a half, some 55 days shy of the target range of 500 days.
The 500-day average has not been met in any of the four quarters of the 23/24 financial year, and in the first three months of 2024, the figure was at 555 days — the highest it has been in 23/24.
The only time it has dropped below the 500-day target was in Q2 of 2022/23, where the average wait time was 497 days.
The report states that this is down to a number of factors, be it children having complex needs, the need to separate siblings, or parents appealing placement orders.
A “small number of children” find themselves in these proceedings for longer than 26 weeks, and the longest wait on record at the moment for a child in Lincolnshire is 12 months.
It is argued in the report that “these children have experienced a longer period of stability that does not really show within the figures,” due to children being adopted by foster carers or placed on early permanence.
Responding to these missed targets, Children’s Services says it will “continue to explore and support the potential of the family and their networks where it is in the young person’s best interests.”
Another statistic lagging behind targets is the number of care leavers aged 19-21 who are either in education, employment or training. Targets aim for 60% in Lincolnshire, but that has not been met in any quarter over the last two years.
49.7% of care leavers are in a form of education, employment or training, as of Q4 2023/24, but to address this a new Employment and Aspirations Coordinator role has been invested in to work across the county council in the realm of leaving care — offering support to young people who do not see education as their “next steps.”
Despite these concerns, a range of targets have been met in recent times, including:
Average time between the local authority receiving court authority to place a child and the local authority deciding on a match to an adoptive family — target of 160 days, results of 142 days
Children in care cases which were reviewed within required timescales — target of 97%, results of 99.6%
Percentage of children in care with a Personal Education Plan — targets of 98%, results of 100%
Read the full report to see how the county matched up with its targets here.
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