Regional Adoption Agency (RAA)
What is a Regional Adoption Agency (RAA)?
A Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) brings together adoption professionals from councils across a specific region, they provide expertise and support at each stage of the adoption journey.
In 2015, the Government set out its commitment to markedly improve outcomes for children through the delivery of a regional adoption system via Regional Adoption Agencies.
The functional scope of each Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) varies. Liquidlogic recognises that RAAs may start off with some of the functionality and expand into others over time.
How does our RAA Software System Work?
There are a number of configuration options available to each RAA. Prior to implementation, Liquidlogic will establish with the local authority which elements they would like to have included in the initial setup.
RAA Adoption Elements
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Provision of Information and Advice
Simple workflow to capture where incoming contacts may require the provision of information or advice, this could be signposting advice under the Adoption Support Regulations, but it can also capture any other one-off or short-term information and advice activity.
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Adopter Recruitment
Adopter Recruitment encompasses all the steps from identifying people wishing to adopt, through to approving them to adopt via the Adoption Panel and Agency Decision Maker until they adopt, or the process is ended for other reasons.
The workflows for adopter recruitment have been used by existing Liquidlogic customers for many years and are fully compliant with current regulations. Liquidlogic will update these whenever they change for users. The same also applies to statutory reporting requirements set out by regulatory bodies (e.g. DfE/ALB/Ofsted).
In addition to the main statutory pathways and forms, it also allows for a great deal of additional information to be captured within a dedicated information hub.
Examples include:
- Pre and Post Approval Training
- Visits
- Checks and References (e.g. DBS, Health Assessments)
- Reviews
- Allegations and Complaints
- Finances
- Case Notes
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Family Finding
Because the statutory adoption pathway for the child will remain with the local authority of the child, Liquidlogic has created a dedicated space to enable family finding activity which the RAA agency will undertake on behalf of the children within its region to be recorded, and for the progress of these activities to be shared with them.
It enables the RAA to find potential families for children who have a plan for adoption or for whom there is a need to carry out such activities ahead of a formal plan for adoption. One example of this includes unborn children where previous siblings were also removed and/or adopted.
The types of activities this space can be used for are:
- Compiling a Profile of the Child for matching purposes.
- Screening incoming families for a child and recording any consultation with the child’s social worker and recording the reasons for selecting or not selecting a family as a potential match.
- Recording day-to-day family finding activity case notes.
- Ability to upload and attach documents.
- Ability to record meetings such as Family Finding Reviews.
These core activities are set within a very simple workflow process so that all referrals can be tracked, reviewed, and reported on. The workflow stages include a referral stage, a stage for creating the profile, a family finding strategy/planning stage, and a review stage.
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Post Adoption Support
The Post Adoption Workspace essentially provides a simple workflow process by which the RAA can assess, plan and review the provision of adoption support services for a child. It can capture basic information connected to that plan, such as contact arrangements and the provision of specific services that form part of the adoption support plan.
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Birth Records Counselling and Intermediary Services (BRC-IS)
Supporting adopted adults to access their adoption history and providing intermediary services to reconnect families once separated via adoption. This functionality allows the RAA at the case level to record, monitor, and report on this area of work.
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Special Guardianship Support
For RAAs who wish to provide SGO support services (post-order), there is a dedicated space provided that supports this area of activity in a similar way.
