Changes to responsibilities towards children-in-care have provoked concern among some experts in the field. Temporary changes to 10 regulations relating to the safeguarding, care and protection of vulnerable children and young people have been introduced by the government as part of its response to Covid-19.

The changes – currently planned to be in force until September 2020 – ease some legal protections and remove others.

Among the changes – reported by Community Care – are:

• Visits to children-in-care: The requirement for social workers to visit children in care a week after they start a placement – and then at six-week intervals – has been removed. In its place is an instruction that, if these visits can’t take place in line with these timescales, they should take place ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’. These ‘visits’ can take place by telephone, video or electronically.
• Children’s care reviews: Reviews of looked-after children’s care – following the first two reviews – can now take place when ‘reasonably practicable’. These subsequent reviews were previously required to take place at least every six months.
• Emergency foster care placements: The maximum length of these is now 24 weeks – extended from 16. The requirement for temporary foster carers to have a connection with the child has been removed.
• Fostering panel assessment: The requirement for fostering panels to assess prospective carers is now optional. Instead, fostering providers are empowered to take decisions based on their own assessment.
• Adoption panel assessment: Also removed is the requirement that adoption agencies establish panels that assess applications and issue advice around the suitability of prospective parents. Other checks on prospective parents have also been relaxed.

Of these changes it’s the last two that may be the most relevant to LGBT+ potential parents. Our community carries with it a historical expectation of discrimination – YouGov polling in 2013 found that 8 in 10 lesbian, gay and bisexual people expect to encounter barriers to become foster carers because of their sexual orientation. If the need for a broader voice to inform recommendations of adoption or fostering assessment approval is removed, how can agencies reassure LGBT+ applicants that they won’t be discriminated against?

In 2019 a number of adoption agencies consulted New Family Social, concerned that key decision-makers on their adoption panels were falling short in their legal duties to fairly assess LGBT+ prospective parents. By removing the requirement to establish and hold panels, there’s a clear risk this prejudice will go unchecked, ultimately meaning that children-in-care will be denied parents from the widest possible pool. New Family Social strongly urges agencies to seek out technological solutions that allow the retention of panel assessments involving voices from across the community the agency serves.

Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ members go through.

The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio. 

In the latest ep of the podcast Mark shares his experiences of meeting his adopted son's birth mother.

Welcome aboard to LGBT+ adopters who adopted through Herefordshire County Council - the adoption services there have moved into Adoption Central England, so now provide free memberships to New Family Social.

It's also a huge welcome to the LGBT+ adopters in the north of London as Adopt London [North] has also joined New Family Social as a member agency.

If you identify as LGBT+ and adopted with Herfordshire Council, or with any of the agencies that form Adopt London [North]  (which are Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington councils) please complete this online form to start the ball rolling to securing a free Gold membership with us, 

Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ members go through.

The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio. 

In the latest ep of the podcast Andrew and Brian share their experiences of adopting a second sibling.

Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ member go through.

The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio. 

In the latest ep of the podcast Ruby - a lesbian  - shares her experiences of sitting on adoption and fostering panels as a member.

Our LGBT+ Bronze, Silver & Gold members can also access the full range of back episodes. You can register as a Bronze member for free now, just to do that. 

• As the lockdown starts to be eased, from 1 June some young people in England will return to school for the first time in weeks. For all concerned this is an untested time – lockdown meant that children and their parents had little choice but to adapt to home schooling. Now further adaptation is required – as children and teachers adjust to social distancing measures in the classroom and the playground.

  However, for some adopted and foster children just setting off for the return to school will take immense energy. Our members report that one unforeseen side-effect of lockdown and homeschooling is that for those families with an autistic child have found the past weeks less stressful than usual – with the usual daily environmental triggers removed, some of our children are finding home schooling very productive.

  Given the unusual circumstances, it’s worth considering how it’s best for your child to return to school. We’d strongly advise talking it through with your child’s teacher and/or the school’s special educational needs coordinator (SENCO). If both are fully aware of your child’s needs they should be happy to tailor the first days and weeks of return to make it as smooth as it can be for your child. Among the measures you might like to consider are:

  • Is there safety in numbers? Some children find the journey into school challenging, so may benefit from arriving earlier or later over the first few days. Others will prefer to journey in with their friends and be part of the school run.

  
  

  • Phasing in a return to the classroom – starting in the classroom on the first day back may be hard for some children. Could they spend the first days in a library or quiet learning area instead?

  
  

  • Accept an entire class may be overwhelming – Readjusting to the rhythms and requirements of a lesson may be difficult if your child’s grown accustomed to homeschooling. Instead of focusing on the length of time your child can sit through a lesson, praise them for what they achieve while they’re in it.

  
  

  • Care needs to be taken not to overwhelm a child if they fell behind while learning from home. Not all work can be caught up on in the limited time before the summer break and working with your child’s school can help both your family and the school construct a realistic workload to achieve the most possible.

  
  

  • Develop a practical way for your child to apply social distancing when they are by themselves. Some of our children struggle with understanding others’ personal space – so using a simple phrase to apply to social distancing will help them to remember to apply it.
  • • 
      

Susan and Jane  - a same-sex couple - discuss adopting while serving in the military and their fertility treatment journey, in the third episode of Adoption, Fostering & Tea.

The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio. 

New Family Social's LGBT+ Bronze, Silver and Gold members can also access the full episode list. 

The second episode of Adoption, Fostering & Tea - the New Family Social podcast - is now available for your listening pleasure.

It focuses on how one same-sex couple has dealt with the delays in the adoption process caused by coronavirus and legal wranglings.

The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio. 

Adoption, Fostering & Tea - a new podcast by and for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - is now available on streaming services and via New Family Social's website.

You can listen to the first episode of the podcast - focusing on Jay and Thom's experiences of the early stages of the adoption process - in the player below.

The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio. 

Seeking out comforting words or just learning that someone else is going through the same things that you are can offer a release. It is a huge benefit of people being able to post their thoughts and experiences online.

And whilst it is important, we always struggle to get people to share their little moments of happiness.  It might be getting through another virtual online meeting whilst your kids are fighting with each other in the next room.  It might be suddenly hearing a song that you used to love when you were 14 but have not heard for years.

So we would like to throw open the metaphorical doors to you all to tell us about things that made you smile or make you go "yesssssss!"

It's a tough time for lots of people all over the world. Parents with kids may feel particularly challenged and for parents with adopted or foster kids it can feel even more isolating.

Take a breath, know that you are doing your best, and post something on our website to let the steam out.....

For me, the following link almost exactly matches the thoughts in my head...

Teachers ... We're sorry

I'm happy to be judged....