A small voluntary adoption agency last night revealed the results of a two-year project in which it has been sharing its expertise with local authorities.

The Catholic Children's Society, Nottingham, used its annual meeting to highlight and sell the idea of a new consultancy service Adoption - A Quality Option, (AQUO) the result of a Government-funded pilot scheme which has been run by the society.

The project draws to a close at the end of the month but the society is hoping to take the project forward by offering the successful consultancy model to other agencies across the UK as a means of helping them improve their adoption services in line with Government targets.

Margaret Dight, Director of the CCS (Nottingham), who receieved the MBE award in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, said: "The Society is very pleased to share the message of this innovative and exciting programme of collaboration with the Statutory Sector at this time of radical reform of adoption legislation."

The society drew on its 50 years of adoption experience to look at how council could do things differently and better in their adoption departments.

Many of the ideas that were shared have coincided exactly with Government targets for adoption reform.

Among the issues the society covered in its consultancy work were contact between adopted children and their birth family, developing post adoption services, listening to children, concurrent planning, management training, recruitment and preparation of adoptive parents, panel training and how to track children in the care system in order to prevent them 'drifting'.

Sue Richards, a child protection manager for Derby City Council, one of the authorities involved in the project, told the meeting how AQUO had benefited the council at a time when it was a newly-created small unitary authority and, as she admitted, "not doing terribly well".

As a result of the project, the council is now placing more children for adoption including more older children, more children in sibling groups and children needing to maintain contact, she said.

Other authorities involved in AQUO were the London Borough of Richmond and to a lesser extent, the London Borough of Barnet.

Among the guests at the meeting was Michael Brennan, until recently head of the adoption section at the Department of Health and who was also honoured with an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours this week.

He gave his full support to AQUO saying that adoption should be just that - a quality option "not an option of convenience nor should it be a last resort".

The society is always looking for families to adopt children. If you are interested contact Graham Pellew on 0115 9558811 or visit the society's website

See also

Adoption- a quality option