8.10 Use of Link Maker when Family Finding

This chapter was added to the manual in February 2022.

Introduction – What is Link Maker?
Policy
Procedure for Referring an Isle of Man Child to Link Maker
Procedure for Family Finding for a Looked After Child, using Link Maker
Expressions of Interest for an Isle of Man Child
Linking and Matching of child, using Link Maker
Updating Link Maker
Registering Approved Adopters to Link Maker
Using Link Maker
Expression of Interest made by an Isle of Man Approved Adopter(s)
Linking and Matching of the Isle of Man Approved Adopters with child(ren) on Link Maker
Information Security

1. Introduction – What is Link Maker?

the UK to increase adoption placement choice for children, and to improve use of data and collaboration between local authorities and providers. Link Maker increases placement choice for children waiting for adoption, creating a pool of available adopters, and improving the use of data and collaboration between local authorities and independent adoption agencies. It is used by Scotland’s Adoption Register and by each regional adoption service in Wales, along with almost every local authority and independent agency in England.

Link Maker is a social enterprise founded and run by adoptive parents. Their vision is for all looked after children to find stable family relationships with those who can best meet their individual needs, and to receive the right support to help them recover from past experiences and flourish.

2. Policy

Manx Care, Family Placement Service has approved use of and purchased a licence for Link Maker to aid family finding for Isle of Man children requiring an adoptive placement who meet the criteria set out below and for registered adopters of the Family Placement Service who wish to utilise Link Maker to assist in finding a child. It is the policy of Manx Care that adopters utilising this service, complete a profile and connect their account to their Supervising Social Worker to ensure their family finding is supported and to improve communication when pursuing potential links.

3. Procedure for Referring an Isle of Man Child to Link Maker

The following criteria that must be met prior to a referral to Link Maker for an Isle of Man looked after child:

A plan of adoption has been agreed by the Legal and Permanence Panel; and
The child has a Best Interest Decision from the Isle of Man Adoption Panel, which has been ratified by the Agency Decision Maker and;
A referral has been made to the Family Placement Service for Family Finding.
All Care proceedings must have concluded, including any appear time which may be made following the Court decision and;
Leave of Jurisdiction must have been granted by the Isle of Man Court.
Procedures for Family Finding for a Looked After Child, using Link Maker

4. Procedure for Family Finding for a Looked After Child, using Link Maker

The Family Placement Service (FPS) will allocate a Supervising Social Worker to be the Family Finding Social Worker for the child.

The FPS Family Finding Social Worker will convene a linking meeting with the Child’s Social Worker, their Manager and the Adoption Practice Lead to clarify the parameters.

Within 5 working days of a child being criteria complete (see above) the Family Finding Social Worker and Child’s Social Worker will meet to draw up a child specific profile, this will be drawn from the information in the CPR and will include a photograph. The Adoption Practice Lead will approve the profile before it is added to Link Maker.

The FPS Family Finding Social Worker is responsible for creating the child’s profile on the Link Maker database within 5 working days of the profile being approved;

The Family Finding Social Worker will set the parameters on Link Maker, as agreed at the linking meeting, to ensure as many adopters as possible within the set parameters can see the child’s profile.

The Child’s Social Worker will inform the parents and carers who have parental responsibility that their child’s profile is being added to the Link Maker database as a means of Family Finding for the child.

5. Expressions of Interest for an Isle of Man Child

The Family Finding Social Worker will follow up any expressions of interest from adopters or Social Workers within 3 working days of them being received on Link Maker; liaising as necessary with the child’s Social Worker for any additional information required.

Family Finding Social Worker actively searches for prospective families by searching profiles of adopters on Link Maker.

Expressions of interest and/ or adopters identified by the Family Finding Social worker, who meet the parameters for consideration will be approached through their contact (usually their social worker) on Link Maker.

Upon confirmation that the identified adopters want to pursue further, arrangements to share Information i.e. the Prospective Adopters Report (PAR) and the Child Permanence Report (CPR) and adoption medical will be confirmed. All information will be shared confidentially in accordance with GDPR via the Link Maker site.

The Family Finding Social Worker will update the child’s social worker weekly about the potential matches that have been identified. Updates should be in writing; the Family Finding Social Worker will record all activity on the Child’s file as a Family Finding episode.

The Family Finding Social Worker will arrange monthly Family Finding meetings with the child’s social worker to review progress and plan actions that require follow up.

6. Linking and Matching of child, using Link Maker

The Family Finding Social Worker will identify potential adopters and agree with the Child’s Social Worker which require further exploration and/ or information before a visit is arranged to meet the prospective adopters in their home environment.

Those adopters who confirm they wish to be considered as a potential match will be reviewed by the child’s Social Worker and their Manager before an initial visit is arranged to discuss further the arrangements for the child.

After the initial visit the Child’s Social Worker and Manager will decide on the suitability of the prospective adopters. If the potential adopters confirm agreement the formal matching procedure will be followed.

7. Updating Link Maker

As soon as a match has been identified the Family Finding Social Worker must update Link Maker so that the child’s profile can be closed down to prevent access by other prospective adopters.

Once the match has been approved the child’s profile should be deleted using the Link Maker system option ‘match made’ to ensure all of the child’s information has been removed from the Link maker site.

If a family has not been identified for a child after a period of six months, a review meeting will be convened by the Family Finding Social Worker and include the Child’s Social Worker, their Manager and the Adoption Practice Lead. The purpose of this meeting will be to consider the next steps to achieve permanence for the child.

If after nine months there have been no successful expressions of interest the child should be returned by the child’s social worker to the legal and permanence panel for reconsideration of their plan.

8. Registering Approved Adopters to Link Maker

All Isle of Man approved adopters are given the opportunity to register on Link Maker.

All Isle of Man approved adopters who are registered will simultaneously be considered for children adopted from the Isle of Man.

Following approval by the Agency Decision Maker as approved adopters the Supervising Social Worker allocated to support family finding will provide information about the Link Maker site. Prospective adopters can register on Link Maker or they can be registered by their Supervising Social Worker depending on their preference. This should be discussed with the social worker who will explain the family finding role and a decision should be made depending on the prospective adopter’s preference.

All prospective adopters will need to have a profile. The Supervising Social Worker will develop a profile with the prospective adopters in accordance with the guidelines of Link Maker.

Approved adopters are advised to read the User Guide for Adopters on the site to familiarise themselves with how the system works and how they can register and manage their account.

9. Using Link Maker

Once adopters have registered for a Link Maker account the allocated Supervising Social Worker will verify with Link Maker the legitimacy of their adopters’ status within 5 working days.

The Supervising Social Worker will confirm with the adopters that registration has been successful.

If adopters have created their own account they must connect this to their allocated Supervising Social Worker as per the User Guide.

10. Expression of Interest made by an Isle of Man Approved Adopter(s)

Link Maker will alert the Supervising Social Worker when the adopters have shown an interest in a child or children.

The supervising social worker will consider the appropriateness of the expression. If the expression of interest is a strong match to the adopters the supervising social worker will meet with the prospective adopters within 5 days to discuss the child’s profile and decide if the child’s CPR should be requested. If the expression of interest is not a strong match the supervising social worker will inform the prospective adopters the reasons for this and discuss why the adopters are considering a child or children outside their parameters.

Adopters should review the profiles they identify as being of interest to follow up with their Supervising Social Worker and together they should decide if they wish to request more information. If the child is deemed to be a good match the Supervising Social Worker can request for additional information, such as the Child’s Permanence Report (CPR) to be shared.

11. Linking and Matching of the Isle of Man Approved Adopters with child(ren) on Link Maker

The supervising social worker will indicate agreement to progress with information sharing which will involve the exchange of CPR, PAR and other relevant information via the child’s contact person on Link Maker. This will usually be the child’s Family Finding Social Worker or the Child’s Social Worker.

On receipt of a child’s CPR the supervising social worker will arrange to meet with the prospective adopters within 5 days to review the information and discuss the child and their views about a potential match.

Where adopters are expressing a significant number of interests the supervising social worker will discuss with the adopters the reason for this and consider their effective use of Link Maker.

The Supervising Social Worker will meet with the adopters at least once a month to review their use of Link Maker and will monitor weekly via the Link Maker site.

Once the child’s social worker has selected the adopters as a potential match for their child the supervising social worker will facilitate a meeting for the child’s social worker to visit the adopters in their home.

If the adopters are considered as a match for the child then the matching procedure for the placing authority will be followed.

Once a link has progressed to matching, adopters should not continue to show interest in other child profiles and any expressions of interest should be deflected by informing the child’s social worker that the adopters are in the process of being matched. This can be done through the feedback facility when ‘do not show interest’ is chosen.

The supervising social worker will remind adopters to update their status on link maker to avoid unnecessary activity. Adopters should update their account once matching progresses to matching panel and mark as “Match Made” as soon as they have confirmation from the Agency Decision Maker that the match has been approved. ‘Match Made’ will delete the adopters profile from the Link Maker site.

At any point an adopter can delete their profile on the system – if an approved adopter decides this is how they wish to proceed they should advise their Supervising Social Worker who will discuss alternative family finding options going forward. In the event that Isle of Man approved adopters are deregistered for any reason the FPS will immediately inform Link Maker to cancel their registration and stop further access to this site.

12. Information Security

Link Maker has its own Terms of Service and Privacy Policy which all users are expected to follow. When advising adopters about Link Maker the supervising social worker will specifically draw attention to these and ensure adopters understand these and seek confirmation of this by the signing of a written agreement.

There is an expectation that adopters registered to use Link Maker will also adhere to the Department of Health & Social Care’s privacy policy.

All information, such as child profiles, are confidential and must not be shared with any person outside the Family Placement Service. The storage of any information about children must be kept in a secure place such as in a locked drawer or in a ‘lock box’.

All information shared about a child, which does not result in a match, will be collected by the supervising social worker and destroyed as appropriate and within the Manx Care policy.

End