How the Birmingham RAA will operate

The RAA will meet all the Department for Education’s core principles for RAAs by:

• Acting as a single entity delivering all core adoption functions - recruitment, family finding, matching and support, and having a single line of accountability to an RAA Board
• Having an RAA Head able to make independent decisions about adoption, and responsible both for a budget that is ringfenced from other Trust budgets, and for all adoption staff
• Having a wide regional reach both through new practices, and through participating in regional collaboration approaches across the Midlands
• Fully involving a VAA in the design, implementation and delivery of services
• The RAA will have an RAA Board which will meet quarterly and be responsible for strategic direction and oversight of performance. Membership will include leaders from both the Trust and the VAA partner with the voice of adopters and adoptees represented
• The RAA Board Chair will be a Trust Director, connecting the RAA with Birmingham Children’s Trust Board, and ensuring the work of the RAA is integrated with the overall remit of the Trust in relation to the children of Birmingham
• The RAA will also have an RAA Operations Group will meet monthly, chaired by the RAA Head and with membership from both the Trust and the VAA partner
• This Group will identify and address operational issues and means through which the VAA partner will deliver improvement services