recruitment & marketing strategy 2013 - 2016 - trafford recruitment needs ... we must plan ahead...

Recruitment & Marketing Strategy

2013 - 2016

Contents Introduction Trafford Recruitment Strategy - Aims & Objectives Priorities for 2013 – 2016 Adoption recruitment needs Trafford Children Enquiries and Approvals Marketing Strategy – Aims and Objectives Who are our Target Audiences? Mystery shopping exercise Four4Adoption Evaluation Conclusion

Introduction: Just as every young person is different, there is no universal, one-size fits all recruitment strategy for adoption. We need to look at new opportunities, adapt to the needs of our local communities and think innovatively to attract a diverse range of adoptive parents who can help to transform the lives of children in our care.

To ensure that we make the most of all of the marketing and recruitment opportunities available and deliver a consistent, high quality and above all effective campaign - we must plan ahead and devise a well-thought out Recruitment Strategy that will be reviewed annually to make sure it’s still fit for purpose.

Through experience we’ve learnt as a service that filling gaps in provision requires a long-term approach. We can’t raise awareness, change perceptions and attract the numbers of adoptive parents we’re looking for in one 12-month period. However, we can keep on learning and monitor what works the best. So, this strategy incorporates a review of our recruitment strategy for last year and an annual progress report. And we’ll continually update this strategy with yearly reviews and progress reports.

In this report we outline the approach we’re taking as a service along with details of our on-going Marketing Plan and the proposed activities we believe will help deliver our Recruitment Strategy. We also cover our important involvement with wider regional collaborations such as Four4Adoptioon that aims to recruit prospective adopters for children in care who require permanency through adoption.

Recruitment Strategy - Aims and Objectives

At Trafford Borough Council, we’re passionate about being inclusive and totally transparent in the way we work with service users. We believe this will nurture a relationship of trust between our teams and local community.

Our Adoption Service aims to recruit, prepare, assess and approve prospective adopters who can be matched with children to help meet their needs and provide a loving family. To achieve this we provide high quality support at every stage of the process.

Key aims & objectives for 2013-2016

Identify key recruitment needs for Children in Care in Trafford and agree target areas to inform a longer term marketing strategy

Recruit sufficient adoptive families, so children in our care can be placed locally within 30 miles of Trafford

Recruit adoptive parents who can meet the individual needs of a child and provide placements that reflect or respect the child’s ethnicity, culture, religion and language

Support adopters in their role by making sure they are fully prepared, trained and supported through the process by an allocated qualified supervising social worker

Provide information to adults who were adopted and wish to obtain their birth records

Provide a baseline for adoption recruitment to measure our progress

The service will continue to develop its approach to Fostering to Adopt and Concurrency using partnership arrangements to ensure earlier placements of children.

Ultimately improve the key outcomes for children in care including placement stability, performance and health and education.

Priorities for 2013 – 2016: To recruit the number of prospective adopters needed to place children who are currently in our care, we’ll develop a recruitment and marketing strategy based upon the following:

The number and profile of children in our care who need to be adopted

Insight gained from previous marketing activities

Current local and national trends

Research into the key messages we must communicate. The target number of prospective adopters we’re looking to adopt for the different children in our care will be agreed annually. However, as adoption plans are made at the early stages of a child’s journey in care, the projected numbers of adopted parents we need to attract will keep on changing. So, our effective communication and monitoring systems will keep us up-to-date with the potential number of prospective adopters required and the needs of the children to be placed for adoption. It’s important to note that the figures are important, but our strategy cannot be based on purely hitting numbers. Above all, we need to attract adoptive parents with the right qualities to meet the current and future needs of children in care in Trafford.

Adoption recruitment needs: To attract the right number of adoptive parents in the right areas, we’ve agreed these targets for 2013 and compared them with our targets for 2014.

Area Number Area of Need

Adoption

*30 Adoptive households

*The figure will be reviewed on an annual basis by the Service.

0 – 10 yrs

Sibling groups

Disability

BME Children with a dual

heritage/minority ethnic

background

Data also highlights that the Service continues to be reliant on finding a number of its adoptive placements from other providers and that for some children specialist family finding is required due to the extent of their needs. In addition to adopters recruited by Trafford, the recruitment strategy will continue to include the following:

Family finding meetings within Four4Adoption to ensure early identification of possible links

Commissioning of Child Specific Recruitment in partnership with Families That Last (2014).

Commissioning of concurrent placements in partnership with Adoption Matters/Caritas

Proactive use of families available through Adoption 22 and the National Adoption register and Adopt NW register for finding potential links.

Use of national and local advertising in publications such as Be My Parent.

Proactive participation in Adoption Activity days and exchange days.

Trafford Children

Children waiting to be placed at 31.03.13

Children waiting to be placed at

31.03.14

(14 children)

(7 children)

Gender Number of

children

Gender Number

of children

Boys 9

Boys 2 Girls 5

Girls 4

2 lots of siblings (4 children in total)

0 siblings

1 child was disabled

1 child was disabled

Age Number of

children

Age Number

of children

0 - 11 months 4

0 - 11 months 2

12 - 24 months 1

12 - 24 months 1

2 - 5 years 7

2 - 5 years 3 5 years or

over 2

5 years or over 1

2012-2013 and 2013-2014 enquiries and approvals Here’s our progress to date this year compared to 2013. Not only has the number of enquiries increased, but the number of approved adopters has more than doubled. Number of Info packs sent out:

- During Apr’12 – Mar’13 – 63 info packs were sent out - During Apr’13 – Mar’14 – 96 info packs were sent out

Increase in families approved

- 2012/13 – 15 approved families - 2013/14 – 36 approved families - Increase was 140% from 2012/13 to 2013/14

Trafford enquiries

2012-2013 2013-2014

Total

Direct Total

Enquiries

F4a (via online web

enquiry) Adopt NW

April 5 6

May 8 0

June 1 4

July 3 9

Aug 11 9 1

Sept 5 17 2

Oct 6 9 4

Nov 9 14 5

Dec 9 7

Jan 11 10 4

Feb 6 8

March 8 19 1 11

Total 82 112 17 11

Trafford approved adopters

2012-2013 2013-2014

Total Total

April 2 7

May 4

June 2

July 1 1

Aug 2 3

Sept 2 3

Oct 3 3

Nov 1 4

Dec 3

Jan 3

Feb 2 3

March 2

Total 15 36

Marketing Strategy – Aims & Objectives Covering the period 2013 to March 2016, our marketing plan will involve connecting with our target audience through a variety of media channels. We’ll also work with internal colleagues and external partners to increase staff awareness of adoption and the campaign. Our main objective is to develop an effective marketing strategy that will attract more adoptive parents through our website and a range of engaging marketing materials. We also aim to improve our recruitment processes and work closely with our partners and key stakeholders to make the most of all opportunities. A long-term approach To make sure we keep on learning from our marketing activities, meet current needs and maximise the return on our investment, we’ll review and update this strategy on an annual basis. As the most effective awareness raising initiatives are on-going, we’ll also take a long-term approach to marketing to create a constant stream of enquiries in line with service capacity. A varied approach There are now more marketing and communications channels than ever. As well as using proven methods to successfully attract adoptive parents, we’ll also explore new opportunities – such as a robust social media plan to build instant, two-way communications. A collaborative approach To stand out from other services and adoption agencies, we’ll work alongside our partners in the Four4Adoption collaboration to promote the strengths of our adoption services. These include thorough assessments, successful matching, quality support, enthusiastic staff, a smooth process and quick placements. Together we’ll also identify key messages, monitor progress and provide feedback on campaign success. We’ll also be looking at doing some joint partnership, working alongside our Fostering Service at Local Events. Carmel McLoughlin in partnership with Trafford’s Adoption Service will lead the delivery of this plan, and monitor all communications and evaluate their effectiveness. She will be supported by our Corporate Communications Team with regards to producing Press Releases and on matters that involve Corporate Communication.

Who are our Target Audiences? By understanding the unique needs of children and young people who require adoptive parents, we’re able to develop targeted recruitment strategies and messages to attract adoptive parents who can meet these unique needs.

We achieve this through demographic data, which identifies specific characteristics of potential adoptive parents and children and young people in our care.

Internal audience:

Council Leader and Cabinet members

Chief Executive and Chief Officers

All Elected Members

All Directors and Heads of Service

All employees

Trade Unions External audience:

Residents

Voluntary and community sector

Partner organisations o Greater Manchester Police o Greater Manchester Fire o Greater Manchester Ambulance o Hospitals and PCTs o Trafford Housing Association o Trafford Neighbourhood Partnership o Universities, colleges and schools o Media City

o Local businesses o Local employers o ASDA o Lancashire Cricket Club o Manchester United Football o Toyota o Kellogg’s o Hotel chains o Social workers o Children’s centre workers o Youth workers o Head teachers, schools, independent schools o Nurseries and parents

o Doctors and GP surgeries, health visitors, midwives and hospitals o Connexions Workers o Youth Offending Teams o YMCA o Local churches, faith groups and places of worship o Education Welfare Officers o Youth activity schemes o CAFCASS o Language schools o Refugee groups and organisations working with unaccompanied

asylum seeking children.

Mystery shopping exercise on Trafford Adoption Service On behalf of Four4Adoption, Carmel McLoughlin asked First4Adoption if they could carry out a mystery shopping exercise for each of the different adoption services. Each member of the consortium received specific feedback. And the website and initial phone service were reviewed on behalf of Trafford. Initial phone service Findings On the first and second calls there was a recorded message both times saying the line was busy and to call back. It then went on to say you can find out more information on either the Trafford website or by going to the local library. Conclusion Carmel investigated this and contacted First4Adoption. She found that they had incorrect telephone details for Trafford on their website, so the first two calls went through to an old number. This has now been rectified and the details on Trafford’s entry in the ‘find an agency’ section on their website has now been corrected. They have also changed the website link address so that it lands on the adoption page rather than the main corporate home page of Trafford Council’s website. Further actions We’re looking at making further changes on the First4Adoption website. For example there currently isn’t a ‘description’ for the Trafford service and we want to add event information. Over the next few months we’ll be reviewing the details of other agencies before deciding what details to add. Overall Unfortunately two out of three mystery shopping calls didn’t get through to the adoption service. They reached a voicemail instead, which didn’t take messages. Finally the third call did receive a response. However it was felt that although the individual came across very knowledgeable, it did seem scripted, rather than an individual response to the enquiry. This gave an overall negative impression of the adoption service, which is not a true reflection. On further investigation the Recruitment Officer was off on holiday and the call had been handled by another colleague. Feedback has been given to the individual to help improve the way they answer calls in the future.

Trafford website www.trafford.gov.uk/adoption The service pages are featured within the main council website. The general feedback was that information about adoption is clear, but the pages are very text heavy and don’t always have the right tone. Specific feedback ● Downloadable Documents

Apart from the Adoption Guide for Children, it was felt that the document titles featured on the home page were not easily understandable for prospective adopters and adopters looking for more practical support. Advice was listened to and now all downloadable documents have been converted to PDFs to maintain consistent presentation and accessibility across all devices.

● Language On the assessment process page under the pre-stage 1 heading it stated - ‘We will also carry out a screening telephone call where if we all feel it's the right decision...’. It was felt that telling prospective adopters that they were being assessed at such an early stage would deter them from getting in touch.

● More images and colour The feedback here was that adoption is an emotive subject about people and the pages needed to reflect this. The addition of images and of people’s faces (real people such as staff members are even better) would help separate it from the more functional subjects within a local authority site and make the reader feel that Trafford have an approachable team who will help them in their adoption journey.

● Be more welcoming - invite them to make direct contact It was also recommended that the contact details should be prevalent (including a name where appropriate) to give the impression that the team was keen to hear from people, take their call and discuss their queries.

http://www.trafford.gov.uk/adoption

http://www.trafford.gov.uk/residents/children-and-families/adoption/the-assessment-process.aspx

Over the next few months we’ll make the following changes:

Implement some of the website recommendations. Although we’re

restricted by corporate policies, we’ll work with the IT team to improve

the look and feel of our site (reflecting a similar style to that already

agreed for Fostering).

Improve the responsiveness of our telephone service to ensure that

calls are answered. Alternatively we may offer a call back service or

more informative answerphone message – including signposting to

First4Adoption.

Make sure call takers are sensitive to the particular needs of callers,

providing customer service training where necessary to ensure a

consistent, high quality response that balances listening with providing

information.

Ensure all advisers are familiar with customer care standards.

Further actions

Although this exercise didn’t provide the positive user experience Trafford

hoped for, we couldn’t have made some fundamental and vitally important

improvements without it.

As part of our future strategy, we’ll repeat this exercise in a year’s time.

Aims and Objectives Four4Adoption is a collaboration between the local authorities in Trafford, Tameside, Stockport and Cheshire. Our partnership brings together the skills, knowledge, expertise and thought leadership of different local authorities who work towards these common goals:

Find families for children waiting to be adopted

Recruit, prepare and assess adopters

Provide on-going support to adopters, adopted children and their families.

We aim to attract and support 30 new adopters in each authority through the entire process to approval stage and beyond. We’ve a particular focus on recruiting people to adopt:

Local children

Older children, particularly boys

Sibling groups of 2,3 and very rarely 4 children aged between 3 and 7

Children with disabilities and/or development needs

Children with a dual heritage/minority ethnic background To achieve our specific recruitment goals, we target a wide range of audiences with messages they can relate to. We work together with the different authorities to identify needs and deliver an integrated marketing campaign to meet these needs and create the right response within budget. Key objectives:

Build solid cross-council working relationships in order to drive the brand forward and achieve consistency of message

Ensure that our target audiences are made aware of the Four4Adoption brand through timely messaging and maintaining a high public profile

Identify and meet the specific needs of different children throughout the campaign period – such as sibling groups and children with disabilities

Increase the overall number of enquiries and approvals across all four authorities

To achieve these objectives the Marketing Plan should focus on projecting a strong, united brand image and message, whilst providing the flexibility to meet each council’s individual recruitment needs. Ultimately, we aim to generate as many enquiries as possible by reaching potential adopters via traditional and innovative marketing routes.

Four4adoption strategy 2014 - 2016 Four4adoption is a pioneering collaboration of four local authorities (Cheshire East, Tameside, Trafford and Stockport) who have come together to raise the profile of adoption and increase the number of potential adopters in their local communities. Key to our strategy is a new way of partnership working. We’ve created a ‘one stop shop’ service for our diverse audience across our four authorities. This has involved the development of a simple, straightforward way for potential adopters to access all the initial information they need and move through the application and approval process without delay. At the outset, it was important for us to work as a true partnership with ‘one voice’. So we identified and incorporated the strengths of each authority into a joint ‘one identity’ brand that used illustrated characters to enable us to deliver a consistent, clear and compelling message to potential adopters across all communication channels. For this campaign we needed to attract a very broad audience, as every adult aged over 21 in each of the four areas is a potential adopter. So, the main focus of this campaign was a TV advert with high profile spots that would signpost people to the website where they could discover more. The advert was also uploaded onto our YouTube channel and promoted through a number of channels including Facebook, Twitter, Metrolink posters, radio, branded bus, advan and an outdoor campaign.

Campaign overview

The delivery From the outset it was vitally important that all of the authorities worked closely together to achieve quality and consistency. So, we began by driving combined service improvements, trialling innovative new ways of recruiting new adopters and taking a critically evaluative approach to all of our activities. After all, we wanted to use the campaign insight to use what was most effective – not just stick to tried-and-trusted methods. We believe that our way of working together, coupled with our openness to new ideas and swift response to changes in the reform agenda has helped to change the way people think about adoption in the North West. We also believe that our service has set new standards, becoming a benchmark other Local Authorities aspire to. Our process

Secured buy-in from Chief Executives, Members, Senior Managers, Social Workers and Marketing teams to achieve engagement and support across all four councils

Produced a Recruitment Adoption film that was endorsed by Edward Timpson MP Under Secretary of State

Developed the www.four4adoption.co.uk website and a joint information pack

Created branded Adopter and Child Profiles

Unveiled joint branding at adoption events

Devised the key marketing messages - ‘4 Minutes to Change a Life’ and ‘View Life Differently – Adopt a Child’ that were used on a range of branded merchandise, including flyers, pull-up banners, welcome banners, railing banners, branded clothing, a branded dome, giveaways such as cotton shoppers (bags), banner pens and more

Launch event at the Cheshire County Show and TV advert aired

Created a Fostering to Adopt booklet for those wanting more information and a ‘Guide for Professionals’ on this subject.

Measurement It was never going to be as straightforward as measuring cost per hire, as choosing to adopt is a big decision and we wanted our message to stick in the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of people. And even though we might impel them to immediately find out more, it could take a few months for them to decide to start the application process. However, the success of this campaign was to be measured by the visits to the website, the number of calls received, the amount of people attending information events and ultimately the quality and quantity of people starting the adoption process.

http://www.four4adoption.co.uk/

The results As adopting a child isn’t a snap decision, this was more than a ‘numbers’ exercise. We aimed to raise the profile of adoption in the long-term across each of the four Local Authority areas through a collaborative campaign. Through our joint marketing strategy, we also aimed to widen the demographic range of adopters across all of the areas to meet the needs of different children in our care from a variety of different backgrounds and ages. TV campaign - 37 spot ads meant that 48.8% of adults (2,607,000 people) in the Granada TV region saw the Four4adoption advert at least once. 19.5% (1,042,000 people) saw it over four times. Four4adoption website – since campaign launch on 07/06/13 there have been 7,016 website visits with 5,396 of them unique visitors. 23% were return visitors and 77% were brand new visitors. Launch event – this was at the Cheshire County Show, which was attended by 85,000 people over the weekend. Social media – the TV advert on YouTube has attracted over 530 views. For all activities, please see the appendix. Campaign effectiveness The impact is still on-going, but compared to the previous twelve months the number of enquiries, approved adopters and enquiries from same sex couples have all grown because of the campaign. Campaign highlights include:

Running between 7th – 28th June 2013, the TV campaign generated 156 enquiries via the website

Since the TV advert aired we’ve received a further 21 enquiries in Trafford (out of a total of 120) since June 2013.

Overall the number of approved adopters has risen by 57% (90-141) while enquiries have increased by 44% (469 – 677).

A 158% rise in approved families in Trafford up from 15 to 38

Our campaign and partnership approach led to us being awarded ‘BAAF Winner of Local Authority Adoption Service of the Year 2013’.

Extra publicity When a TV documentary programme about children in care -‘15000 Kids and Counting’ was shown on TV, this generated a number of enquiries for the team. It helped that our Four4Adoption bag shown on the programme.

Campaign showcase:

A selection of the work undertaken in 2013

Showcase of some of the work undertaken during 2014

Future Four4adoption strategy Overall objective To build on the brand presence and achievements of the 2013 campaign, we’ll be developing new advertising and promotional materials to target adopters for brothers and sisters, older children, children with learning disabilities and those who are difficult to place. Our approach We’ll make the best use of all of our resources by targeting our recruitment efforts at families who are most likely to be able to meet the needs of the children in our care. We’ll embrace an overall joined up marketing approach with members of our team attending appropriate events. Again we’ll promote strong consistent messages and use eye-catching designs.

Channels The campaign will use a range of different media channels, including PR, local press and even promotions in hospitals to target potential adopters. Our aim is to further raise the awareness of the need for adoptive families and highlight how rewarding it is to give children stability in their lives and help them fulfil their potential. Our team will use customer intelligence to target our audience in our local communities in the way they prefer to receive communications from the council. We’ll also focus on existing assets such as our website, other online channels and various printed materials. Digital marketing is a growing area, so we’ll make the most of social media within strict guidelines to avoid any confidentiality issues. We’ll also decide how our campaign can make the most of the activities and profile raising events during National Adoption Week.

Adoption: Recruitment It’s essential that all adoption enquiries are responded to speedily and people are provided with all the information they need to choose whether to proceed. All enquiries are logged to enable future analysis and outcomes are monitored. Our Adoption Services work within the required timescales prescribed in National Statutory Guidance and Regulations to recruit, assess and approve prospective adopters. The input and involvement of approved adopters is recognised and valued with their involvement and views sought throughout the process from developing enquiry packs and developing training content to delivering adoption support.

Evaluation Our campaign is evaluated through:

Improve timescales as measured on the Adoption Scorecard

The number of new approved adopters

Monitoring the number of people registering an interest

Decrease of children in long-term care

Amount of application packs sent out to potential adopters

Number of adopters attending the Adoption Information meetings

Evaluation of completed actions against objectives

Evaluation of social media

Number of enquiries and approvals during 2012-2013 and 2013-2014

Evaluation of our Data Information Evenings since 01.07.13

Info

Evening Date

Authority Attendees

from Trafford

Attendees from

Stockport

Attendees from Tameside

Attendees from Cheshire East

03.07.13 Stockport Families 0 6 0

People 0 12 0

11.07.13 Cheshire East Families 0 0 0

People 0 0 0

24.07.13 Tameside Families 1 1 2

People 2 2 4

07.08.13 Trafford Families 1 2 2 0

People 2 4 5 0


People 1 14 4


People 4 2 2


People 0 0 0


People 7 5 6 0


People 4 6 2


People 2 2 1


People 1 0 2


People 8 2 7 2


People 0 6 0


People 2 2 5


People 12 7 5 2


People 4 17 2


People 3 0 12


People 0 2 2


People 7 2 2 0

Preparation Groups since 01.01.13

Prep group

Authority Attendees

from Trafford

Attendees from

Stockport

Attendees from Tameside

Attendees from Cheshire East

Jan-13 Tameside Families 1 4

People 2 8

Feb-13 Trafford Families 5 3

People 10 6

Mar-13 Stockport Families 1 4 4 0

People 2 8 8 0

Apr-13 Tameside Families 3 2

People 6 4

May-13 Trafford Families 4 2

People 7 3

Jun-13 Cheshire East Families 1 2

People 1 4

Jun-13 Trafford Families 7 0

People 13 0

Jul-13 Stockport Families 1 7 1 2

People 2 13 2 4

Aug-13 Tameside Families 0 2

People 0 3

Sep-13 Cheshire East Families 1 0

People 2 0

Sep-13 Stockport Families 0 7 0 0

People 0 14 0 0

Oct-13 Tameside Families 1 1

People 2 2

Nov-13 Trafford Families 5 1 1 2

People 8 2 2 4

Dec-13 Stockport Families 4 5 3 2

People 7 10 4 4

Jan-14 Cheshire East Families 3 1

People 4 2

Feb-14 Trafford Families 5 1 3 2

People 10 2 6 4

Mar-14 Tameside Families 2 1 1 0

People 4 2 2 0

Number of enquiries and approvals during 2012-2013 and 2013-2014

Highlights: TV campaign 7-28th June 2013 = generated a total of 156 enquiries via website Further 120 enquiries since 29th June 2013 split as follows: Cheshire East: 54 Stockport: 10 Tameside: 35 Trafford: 21

Enquiries

Cheshire East: 126% increase (+167 enquiries from previous year) Stockport: 25% increase (+37 enquiries from previous year) Tameside: 94% increase (+68 enquiries from previous year) Trafford: 71% increase (+58 enquiries from previous year)

Approved adopters

Cheshire East: 72% (+13 adopters approved) Stockport: 25% (+ 8 adopters approved) Tameside: 31% (+7 adopters approved) Trafford: 140% (+21 adopters approved)

The table below provides a summary of the approved adopters numbers and % increase during 2012-2013 compared to 2013-2014:

Approved Adopters

2012-2013

2013-2014

% increase compared to 2012-2013

Stockport 34 42 25%

Cheshire East 18 31 72%

Tameside 23 30 31%

Trafford 15 36 140%

CHESHIRE EAST ENQUIRIES

CHESHIRE EAST APPROVALS

2012-2013 13-14 F4A ANW 2012-2013 2013-2014

April 6 0 0

May 16 0 0 2

June 66 65 0 3

July 30 6 4

August 21 5 1

Sept 19 5 1

Oct 15 8 1

Nov 34 29 3

Dec 13 9 4

Jan 24 13 4

Feb 16 10 1

March 40 15 20 7

TOTAL 133 300 (115 Direct)

165 20 18 31

STOCKPORT ENQUIRIES

STOCKPORT APPROVALS

2012-2013 2013-2014 F4A ANW 2012-2013 2013-2014

April 14 7 2 4

May 19 8 6 1

June 14 14 10 5 2

July 13 16 1 1 2

August 9 16 0 1 6

Sept 9 17 1 4 5

Oct 13 12 1 3 3

Nov 12 18 0 2 4

Dec 7 6 0 1 4

Jan 18 25 1 1 6

Feb 14 15 1 4 4

March 7 32 2 15 4 1

TOTAL 149 186 (154 direct)

17 15 34 42

TAMESIDE ENQUIRIES

TAMESIDE APPROVALS

2012-2013 2013-2014 F4A ANW 2012-2013 2013-2014

April 6 3 2 3

May 11 1 1 3

June 6 39 35 2 3

July 5 11 1 4 2

August 6 5 3 2

Sept 8 9 1 3

Oct 7 8 2 5

Nov 8 11 2 2

Dec 4 8 3 2 1

Jan 6 14 6 2 2

Feb 3 7 0 2

March 2 24 2 9 2 2

TOTAL 72 140 (84 Direct)

47 9 23 30

TRAFFORD ENQUIRIES

TRAFFORD APPROVALS

2012-2013 2013-2014 F4A ANW 2012-2013 2013-2014

April 5 6 2 7

May 8 0 4

June 1 4 2

July 3 9 1 1

August 11 10 1 2 3

Sept 5 19 2 2 3

Oct 6 13 4 3 3

Nov 9 19 5 1 4

Dec 9 7 0 3

Jan 11 14 4 3

Feb 6 8 0 2 3

March 8 31 1 11 2

TOTAL 82 140 (112 direct)

17 11 15 36

Summary of Matches 2012-2013 Matches placed with consortium Stockport: 12 out of 25 children matched Trafford: 4 out of 5 children matched Tameside: 22 out of 31 children matched Cheshire East: 19 out of 28 children matched Total 57 out of 89 = 64% children matched within the consortium 2013-2014 Matches placed with consortium Stockport: 21 out of 31 children matched Trafford: 7 out of 15 children matched Tameside: 21 out of 25 children matched Cheshire East: 20 out of 23 children matched

Total 69 out of 94 = 74% children matched within the consortium

Number of children matched with agencies during 2012-2013 and 2013-2014

Four4adoption

2012-2013 Stockport CE Tameside Trafford Voluntaries Inside A22

Outside A22

Total Children

Stockport 6 0 3 3 6 5 2 25

Cheshire East

0 18 0 1 5 3 1 28

Trafford 1 3 1 5

Tameside 4 1 13 4 4 3 2 31

Four4adoption

2013-2014 Stockport CE Tameside Trafford Voluntaries Inside A22

Outside A22

Total

Stockport 14 6 1 6 3 1 31

Cheshire East

1 18 1 0 2 0 1 23

Trafford 0 1 0 6 6 2 0 15

Tameside 2 0 17 2 4 0 0 25

Google Ad Campaigns: Below are the analytics from 7th June 2013 until 7th May 2013. The chart highlights the peaks around National Adoption Week and the two adoption programmes in April/May this year.

(* n.b. Note the lower bounce rate).

We have run two Google Adwords campaigns: Campaign 1: Period: 15th November 2013 - 3rd December 2013 Number of clicks: 561 Number of impressions: 143,474 Click through rate (CTR) 0.39% Avg CPC £0.83 Campaign 2: Period: 24th January 2014 – 9th December 2014 Number of clicks: 144 Number of impressions: 27,212 CTR: 0.53% Avg CPC £0.82 We plan to run a further google ad campaign to co-inside with Adoption Week for a period of 3 months.

On-going Four4adoption activities Budget 13/14 £116,000 spent to date Budget 14/15 c£50k TBC Building on activity from last year, in addition to general; advertising and promotion will target adopters for brothers & sisters, older children and children with learning disabilities and those who are difficult to place. PR/Media Release(s) schedule to be co-ordinated. Local Newspaper titles: Stockport Express, Stockport Times, Stockport Independent, Crewe Chronicle, Macclesfield Express, Sale & Altrincham Messenger, Tameside Advertiser and local Radio Schedule of Planned Activity: March 2014

- Inserts for information pack (FFA, letter, reading list)

6th - LGBT Week event via New Family Social promoted on Twitter/Facebook and event attended

- Mini Exchange Day (Heatons, Stockport)

10th – Adopt North West TV, Radio, Social Media launch - Local advertising support to be discussed

- New film (3 mins) on adoptnorthwest.co.uk taken from four4adoption

footage

- PR activity/Media Releases (has each LA issued one?)

19th – Bolton NAR Exchange Day - Profiles (solution needs to be found)

April - Google adwords (one month only – did not want to coincide with Adopt

NW)

- Wall To Wall ITV/First for Adoption documentary for 4 weeks (CW&C

2nd episode)

- 24th – 4 week cinema/poster advertising targeting brothers & sisters at

Sale, Altrincham, Parrs Wood, Trafford Centre, Crewe, Ashton under

Lyne

- Local press paid for adverts – quarter page

- Targeted billboards – brothers and sisters (Stockport A6)

May - Education for Everybody full page advertorial (case study)

- Web banner advertising in local online publications including MEN

June

- 17th /18th – Cheshire County Show. Joined with CEC Fostering.

Carnival theme/ Full page programme advert

- Phase 2 Adopt North West co-ordinated activity to run alongside –

TV/digital w/c 26th June

July

- 23rd/27th RHS Tatton Flower Show full page programme advert

- BME publication ½ page £150

- New family social full page advert £500

August

- BME publication (Wythenshawe –1/2 page)

- St Matthews Church Hall Ghanaian community leaflet

-

September - Older children/boys campaign

- DVD post adoption support (sub group decision Elisabeth/Mark) – brief

needed from sub group

October

- Google adwords (3 month campaign) – George Co

- Family finding event – Derbyshire model - to be confirmed

- Post adoption event run by Cheshire East 6th October

- First4adoption marketing materials 13th October and events

(Staffordshire profiles) + Selfie?

- Foster to Adopt promotion/roll out

November

- 3rd to 9th National Adoption Week supported by regional and local

activity

- Billboard advertising (CE/Stockport)

- Local press paid for quarter page (older children)

- Website content updating to reflect disability/additional needs, adoption

support, Fostering for Adoption, and also look at the possibility of

having a blog on the four4 website.

- Banner adverts on website – general message

- Adoption support film – 10 minute talking heads

December

- Little Book of Christmas

January 2015

- Google adwords

March 2015

- Revisit branding with Forever Creative

April/May 2015

- Four4adoption host an event – to be explored ie Lancashire Cricket

Club

July 2015 - RHS Flower Show

Conclusion We’ve developed a wide-ranging strategy, individually and collaboratively that aims to recruit adoptive parents with the right qualities and in the right numbers to meet the needs of children in our care. The Four4Adoption collaboration will continue to review and monitor the implementation of their services to determine their effectiveness and identify new opportunities.