Organised by CCS AdoptionWe are raising funds for vital therapeutic support for adopted children. Due to delays in the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, families will only have limited access to therapy -we need to bridge the funding gap now. See16/04/25 Update
The vital therapy that our adopted children and their families receive is funded by Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF). The fund was established in 2015 and has been an essential lifeline for adoptive families across the UK, however, as it has been widely reported, the Government has delayed announcing the decision about the future of the fund. Finally, on the 1st April 2025, the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed that the fund would continue in 2025/2026, which is a great relief to the thousands of adopted families, adoptees, adoption agencies, and therapists.
The DfE has confirmed that there will be money available to pay for this therapy, but not yet. They are not yet allowing applications to be processed, and we don’t know when this will start. Therefore, families will still have no therapy for several months. We are expecting delays of potentially 2 months, we need to act now to ensure that adoptive families have continuity of therapy with at least one (ideally two) session of therapeutic input between now and June.
Updated 16/04/25
After the good news of last week, where we heard that the ASGSF would be continuing for at least another year, we were deeply shocked and saddened to hear on 14th April that significant cuts are coming in with immediate effect. We understand that the government is under serious financial pressures however, this fund is for the most vulnerable children in society, and it is an essential layer of support. CCS has supported hundreds of families since 2017 to access the specialist clinical assessments, therapeutic packages, and our bespoke Therapeutic Parenting course, Hearts and Minds, and we have heard again and again about the significant changes and improvements that this has had on families' lives. The changes include: reducing the overall Fair Access Limit (FAL) to £3,000 (previously £5,000); no longer having a separate FAL for specialist assessments; specialist assessments up to the level of £2,500 will be considered for funding, but only within the overall FAL of £3,000; no longer accepting match funding applications for therapy which costs more than the £3,000 FAL, or for specialist assessments which cost more than £2,500 and ending transitional funding arrangements across years.
The fund enables vital support services for adoptive families, including creative and physical therapies, family therapy, psychotherapy, parent training, and therapeutic life story work. Therapeutic support services are essential for maintaining placement stability. Research and experience tell us that placement disruption is likely if adoptive families do not have access to adequate support, especially during the teenage years. Therapeutic support provides adoptees and adoptive families with new skills, builds their confidence and self-esteem, develops resilience, and maintains relationships. Without essential therapeutic support, there could be placement breakdowns, resulting in children being placed back into the care system. This is a heartbreaking situation.
This funding will enable us to ensure our adoptive families get more of the support they need right now and for the rest of the year.
Please help us urgently raise funds.
Thank you
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