Adoption and Fostering Medical Advisory Service
The Aims of the service are to provide specialist medical advice to support the safe, effective and lawful assessment of prospective foster carers, adopters and special guardians. The service aims to: - Evaluate medical information about prospective adopters, foster carers and special guardianship applicants and give a view to the adoption and fostering assessment services about applicants' health needs that will inform the decision about their suitability as adopters or foster carers. - Ensure that all medical assessments for prospective carers are reviewed with appropriate clinical expertise. - Provide clear, balanced and child‑centred advice that enables effective decision‑making by social workers, managers, and adoption/fostering panels, working closely with named and designated looked after children professionals, GPs, local authority children's services, One Adoption and NHS England. - Support the matching process by assessing the compatibility of prospective carers' health with the needs of individual children, including those with disabilities, trauma histories or complex chronic health conditions. - Develop and maintain high standards of medical reporting through GP training, professional feedback and quality assurance processes. - Provide early consultation where medical issues may impact suitability or require specialist medical interpretation. - Strengthen interagency working across health, education and social care sectors to improve outcomes for children looked after. - Support Hull's sufficiency strategy by ensuring medical assessments do not become a barrier to timely carer approval or matching.