Birmingham Children's Trust - Regional Adoption Agency (RAA)

VIRTUAL MARKET ENGAGEMENT / PROVIDER EVENT - 5th October 2020 Birmingham Children's Trust has received approval from the Department for Education to develop a new Regional Adoption Agency in partnership with a Voluntary Adoption Agency (VAA) and are planning to begin a procurement exercise in the coming weeks. Following an initial market sounding exercise in August 2020, BCT is holding a virtual market engagement / provider event for established VAAs.

The purpose of the event is for providers to • Hear further details about our proposals for an RAA, as informed by the initial market sounding • Learn about the proposed procurement process and timelines • Have the opportunity to ask questions and clarifications about the proposed model or the procurement process Providers will not be prejudiced by any response or failure to attend the event. Any procurement of the supply and services by BCT will be carried out strictly in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

The Virtual Provider event will take place on 5th October 2020, 10.00 - 12.00pm and providers are asked to book a place using Eventbrite. The paramount focus of the development of RAAs is that children are given the earliest opportunity of finding a family with timely matching and placement of all children including priority children for whom it is harder to find adopters.

There is also a focus on adoption support and a need to move away from piecemeal services and potential gaps in provision, towards consistent, effective and easy to access adoption support services across the region. Regional adoption agencies are expected to deliver all adoption recruitment, matching and support functions.