2025 – a big year for CoramBAAF’s forms
We have been updating and revising a number of our core forms as well as developing a new one with partners. This has been a significant piece of work for us, and we are reaching the exciting point of being ready to share these updates and revisions with our members and forms licence holders throughout 2025.
About CoramBAAF forms
CoramBAAF publishes legally compliant health and social work report forms for adoption, fostering, kinship care and other care plans. These are widely used throughout the UK and are available to use under a licence agreement.
We know how important our forms are for practice and therefore updating them is a rigorous process. We recognise the potential impact these assessments and documents can have on those being assessed, those who come back to read their own records at a later date and decisions that are made. We want our forms to be as good as they can be, and we want them to be versatile enough to be used across different local authorities and agencies. To do this we take into account feedback, research, lived experience, learning from safeguarding reviews and practice knowledge, and ensure they are all legally compliant. We also pilot many of our forms to test them in practice before launching new updates.
So, what is coming?
Kinship Care Assessment (Form K) England
(formerly Form C Connected persons – families and friends)
Form K can be used for both the approval of kinship foster carers, and recommendations for special guardianship orders; it is compliant with relevant law, regulations and statutory guidance. It includes an integral support plan and detailed guidance. The name change reflects the national policy agenda, and we believe this language is more accessible for professionals, families and children.
The new assessment amplifies the voice of the child, and the relationship between the child and the prospective kinship carer. It draws out strengths and highlights support needs. It enables a relationship-based and reflective assessment process that gathers and analyses the information required to inform decisions about a child’s future care.
This form will be published this week – book your place at our briefing sessions on 12 February and 13 February to find out more.
Adoption Support Plan (ASP)
The Adoption Support Plan and accompanying guides for adopters, practitioners and IROs have been developed by CoramBAAF, building on work started by Adoption England. We gained feedback through a pilot of the form and consultations with Adoption UK and relevant CoramBAAF practice forums.
We know that a high proportion of adopters report either not being aware of their support plan, or that the support plan does not meet the needs of children and their families. We have addressed this by making it a standalone, more in depth document. The assessment brings together what is known about the child’s needs. Then, when they are being matched and moving to their adoptive family, the Adoption Support Plan also sets out the support that has been identified for the child and their adopters in the short term, and what may be needed in the longer term. This will enable the adopters to feel confident in knowing what support will be available to them.
This form will be published on 10 February. Book your place at our briefing sessions on the morning of 18 February (specifically designed for IROs), midday on 18 February, or the morning of 19 February.
Child Permanence Report (CPR) England
This document has multiple purposes. It is used by the Agency Decision Maker to reach their decision if the child ‘should be placed for adoption’. It also meets the requirements of Practice direction 14C Annex B report for court, where there is an application for a Placement Order. The CPR provides information for prospective adopters throughout the matching process and panel. It is a source of information for the child and will be shared with an adopted person returning to gain access to their records.
This new version has been updated to enhance the voice of the child and includes a number of important changes, including: use of language in relation to the child’s identity and birth parent(s), how staying in touch plans are set out, and a greater focus on the identity needs of the child overall. There is a section asking the author to describe specific examples of spending time with the child to bring the child’s voice and experiences to life.
The recently published AFDiT framework (by Dr. Tam Cane) is embedded in the document which supports decision-making in transitioning children from minoritised racial and ethnic groups into transracial adoptive families and helping practitioners to consider aspects of a child’s culture, race and identity. This revision will be published in late March, alongside briefing sessions that provide an overview of the form’s structure, objectives and suggestions for completing a Child Permanence Report. Sign up to our Training and Events newsletter to be the first to know when you can book your place!
Prospective Foster Carer Report (Form F) England
The Prospective Foster Carer Report captures the work that has been done with prospective carers to prepare them for the task of fostering. It is also used to convey the key aspects in relation to the applicants and their family to the fostering panel.
The form has undergone a substantial revision. We have taken into account feedback from practitioners and foster carers. The updates include a change in language and tone to make this more accessible to carers and assessors. There is a new section about children’s needs and how the prospective carers will be able to meet these which is an exciting development.
This revision will be published in late Spring, and we will also be hosting briefing sessions for this form.
Child Health Suite of Forms
The Child Health Suite of Forms includes the Initial Health Assessment (IHA), Review Health Assessment (RHA), and all forms that sit alongside these (including forms on parental health and the carer questionnaire).
The IHA and RHA has been divided into age groups for children 0-5, 6-10 and 11+.There is a separate form for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), and children with additional needs or special educational needs. The changes introduce simpler and more child friendly language (an appointment rather than an assessment), and consent sections are included as part of the referral form. The health plan has been enhanced, and we are introducing a separate health history section as suggested by NICE guidelines.
We intend to publish these in early Summer although this is dependent on the completion of work external to CoramBAAF which impact the forms. We will ensure that members and licence holders are updated about the new forms via email and our website.
Next steps
Our updated forms will be published with new accompanying guidance about how to complete them. Upon the release of each new form, we are running free briefings for you to find out more about what has changed and what has stayed the same.
We are also in the process of updating our courses. These will be available to book via the open programme on our website, or as a course commissioned specifically for your organisation. Where appropriate, we will also be developing versions of our updated forms in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This work will be undertaken in partnership with agencies and organisations in those nations.
We know that this work is important for our members and licence holders, as well as to us at CoramBAAF, and we are looking forward to sharing our forms with you over the coming year.
James Bury, Head of Policy, Research and Development and Interim Managing Director, CoramBAAF.