Adopting Together KTP shortlisted for awards

Adopting Together – a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between St David’s Children’s Society and Cardiff University School of Psychology and Business School – is one of three UK projects shortlisted in the category of ‘Innovation’ by the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW) for a national award.

The nomination entry has evidenced how the project has implemented a more structured approach to collaboration and has become ground breaking in demonstrably delivering tangible results as a part of the collaboration between third and statutory sectors.

The winner of this award will be announced at a ceremony at the House of Lords on the 13th December.

The project is also in the running for a GO Award Wales in the category of Social and Community Benefits in Procurement Award.

Adopting Together is one of six shortlisted projects from Wales which have been able to highlight how social and community benefits have been embedded at the heart of the procurement process for the better outcomes of citizens and eventually substantial cost savings through the life of each child.

Dr Katherine Shelton, School of Psychology said: “We are pleased to mark National Adoption Week 2018 by reporting on our progress with Adopting Together. The collaborative project, led by St David’s Children Society, aims to meet a distinct need identified by the National Adoption Service in finding and therapeutically supporting permanent homes for children who wait the longest for a family. This includes children over four years old, brothers and sisters, and those with complex needs or developmental uncertainty. We are developing highly innovative and sector-leading adoption services, grounded in nationally identified needs.

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership began in September 2017 and through direct guidance from Dr Jane Lynch at Cardiff Business School the project has created a structure behind its delivery which represents transformational change in the procurement of social care that aligns with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

Minister for Children, Huw Irranca-Davies, said: “The Welsh Government, through its Knowledge Transfer Partnership Scheme is helping St David’s Children’s Society (a partner in the National Adoption Service) to deliver an innovative package of support – known as ‘Adopting Together’ - which is being launched today. The first scheme of its kind, it offers tailored support to adopters through assessment, enhanced training and therapeutic interventions, pre and post placement with a new family.”

Working together to establish a clearly defined and therapeutically-led service the VAA’s have developed and agreed a Joint Relationship Management Plan and, using this agreement, worked with the statutory sector to implement Service Level Agreements.

In Adopting Together, the emphasis is on needs-based procurement which represents a transformative step away from the current spot purchasing to collaborative arrangements. The strength of the VAAs collaboration and the collaborative working practices across the voluntary and statutory sectors provides direct impact in the provision of a service, designed to meet the needs of the most complex and vulnerable children and their adoptive parents.