Permanency Planning in Care

We first meet nine-year-old Tony in Forces at Work however his story continues throughtout the Moorton Community novels as his father continues to block attempts to have him placed for adoption and he therefore remained in foster care, developing a strong relationship with Clynton Laurent. With every passing day the likelihood of a successful adoption diminishes and while his social worker strives to either get his father to claim him, or let him go so someone else can, the future looks bleak for an increasingly emotionally fragile child. Some in the social work team believe Tony's attachment to his birth family is too strong for an adoptive placement to be successful in any event and he is approaching an age where few would wish to adopt him anyway, especialy given his special needs and building committment to his foster carers. What would you do?