Hillingdon Council has been awarded The Early Permanence Quality Mark for its achievements in delivering adoption services to young children in partnership with Coram Ambitious for Adoption.
The award signifies high standards of service delivery, and Hillingdon is the sole London council to currently achieve the full award.
Early Permanence is a slightly different type of adoption process for babies and young children, usually under the age of two. Placements allow babies and young children for whom the plan is adoption, to be placed with a potential permanent family earlier than a conventional adoption.
The Early Permanence Quality Mark is endorsement that Hillingdon Council is a local authority that ensures they achieve long-term stability for young children as early and quickly through adoption, early identification of adopters, assessment, matching and placement.
Cllr Jane Palmer, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, said: “Achieving the Excellence in Early Permanence Quality Mark is a proud moment for Hillingdon as it proves that we are a local authority that ensures vulnerable children are given every chance of enjoying secure and stable families as early as possible in their lives.
“Currently, we are the only London local authority that has achieved the full Quality Mark. This comes at a time when there is a renewed interest in Early Permanence due to the positive outcomes for children who don’t have to experience multiple placements in their early childhood.”
