To manage the Adoption Support Fund (ASF)

The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) was introduced in May 2015 to enable adoptive families to have access to specialist therapeutic support services when they need them so as to improve outcomes for young people and families. In April 2016, the scope of the Fund was extended to children who were previously in care immediately prior to being cared for under a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) and children living in England who were adopted from countries other than England.

Adoption support services play a vital role in supporting families to meet the needs of their adoptive children. Over 70% of children adopted enter care due to abuse or neglect. Many adopted children have specific needs or disabilities, which require additional support. While recent research has shown that only around 3% of adoptions disrupt, a quarter of parents report major challenges, and a further third describe life as generally good with some challenge.

The Adoption and Children Act (2002) places a duty on local authorities to maintain an appropriate service for adoption support. The Adoption Support Services Regulations (2005) require authorities to assess adoption support needs when requested by an adoptive child, their parents, natural parents and former guardians. The provision of support to meet these needs is at the discretion of the local authority, taking into account the individual case and local resources.

Despite the increase in funding to local authorities through the ASF, we are aware that there still remain challenges around adoption support services e.g. parental awareness of entitlement to an assessment of their adoption support needs; the timeliness and quality of adoption support assessments; an underdeveloped evidence base on the effectiveness of specialist therapeutic interventions and availability and quality of services across the country.

To access the ASF, the responsible local authority must have conducted an assessment of the adoptive/eligible special guardian family's support needs. If the assessment identifies that therapeutic services would be beneficial to the family, the local authority, in discussion with the family, can apply to the ASF on the family's behalf.