Cornwall Council’s adoption service, which also covers the Isles of Scilly, is to join the Regional Adoption Agency, Adopt South West, from April 2024. Cornwall, including the Isles of Scilly, will be joining the region already covered by Adopt South West, which includes the local authority areas of, Devon, Plymouth, Torbay and Somerset.  Adopt South West was established in 2018, bringing together adoption teams from neighbouring authorities, combining their resources and expertise to improve the experiences of adopted children and adopters.

Regional Adoption Agencies were established to improve the recruitment of adopters, to help children move into their permanent families as promptly as possible and to improve the support available to adoptive families across the region.

Cornwall’s adoption services and Adopt South West are already working together closely to learn from each other and improve practice.

Amanda White, Interim Head of Adopt South West, said: "I am absolutely delighted to welcome our new colleagues to Adopt South West, and look forward to supporting children and families across Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly.” Since becoming a regional agency, Adopt South West has prepared over 450 adoptive families to parent our children, with over 500 children achieving permanence through adoption. It has supported over 2,000 adoptive families over the last five years. "Cornwall joining Adopt South West will see experienced and knowledgeable Cornwall adoption staff join us who will support us to provide the already established high standard of adoption services across our regions,” says Amanda. 

“We will take the opportunity of increasing our number of prospective adopters which will help us in finding achieving permanence through adoption for our children across the regions. We will also continue to support our regional adopters through the process, and provide ongoing advice and support once parents have adopted.”

Councillor Barbara Ellenbroek, Portfolio Holder for Children and Families at Cornwall Council, said: “Cornwall already has an outstanding track record for adoption so we are delighted to join Adopt South West because we are confident this will lead to improved experiences and outcomes for Cornish children requiring adoption, and for prospective adopters in Cornwall.

“By pooling the expertise and resource of five local authorities through Adopt South West, adoption procedures can be carried out more quickly and better matches made between children and adoptive families, all at better value for Cornish residents.”