Fears of adoptions breaking down over therapy cuts

Adoptive families have warned government cuts to specialist therapy for their children could ultimately lead to more adoptions breaking down.

In April the government announced a 40% cut to the amount of money each child is entitled to claim for therapy through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF).

One mother from Tyneside said a reduction in therapy would have a "devastating impact" on her family.

The Department for Education (DfE) said reducing the limit per child would allow more children to have access to the fund.

The mother who, we are calling Caroline to protect her child's identity, said as her son grew older he became more angry.

"He would throw things around in the house. He would get quite aggressive, throwing stuff at the walls, breaking stuff, and physical violence as well."

She said regular therapy through the ASGSF had been a "massive lifeline".

"Now sometimes he will cry, which sounds awful, but it means he's more in tune with his emotions and that it's OK to be sad and he doesn't have to be angry."

Caroline said she also cried when she heard the ASGSF was being cut.

"The thought of not having that lifeline was just horrendous," she said.

She is worried that without specialist therapy her family will not have the skills to support her son.

"I don't ever want him to not be in this family, because he is this family, but neither can we live with him smashing the house up all the time or attacking us.

"There's a limit and I don't want to reach that limit."

Once a parent adopts a child, they are not entitled to additional financial support to other families, but they are able to access the ASGSF to help cover the cost of specialist therapy for their child.

Therapy is available in a variety of forms and can help adopted or kinship children cope with things like trauma and aggressive behaviour.

Applications to the fund have been rising in recent years - 13,000 children accessed the fund in 2019 and last year that rose to 20,000.

Last year the ASGSF amounted to £50m.

Each eligible child could access £2,500 for a specialist assessment to decide what therapy was required and then a further £5,000 to cover the costs of that therapy.

But earlier this year the government announced funding for the specialist assessment had been cut altogether and the therapy limit had been reduced by 40% to £3,000 per year.

Support groups for adoptive families say the cuts are "short-sighted"

The Potato Group is chaired by Euan Preston, from Northumberland, who warned the needs of adopted children would "spill out into other services - education, youth justice, mental health".

"I regularly speak with parents who worry that they cannot continue and the young person will have to leave the family home because of safety."

He said there was a perception that adoptive families should be paying for therapy, but the specialist nature of the support meant it would be unaffordable for most families.

Therapists who provide specialist services said the cuts have had an immediate impact on their incomes.

"It's equivalent to asking a GP to either take a 40 per cent pay cut or see twice as many patients," Sarah Clarke, a therapist from North Tyneside, said.

She added the specialist therapy provided by psychotherapists and practitioners was "vital" for many adopted children

"What they need is a therapeutic relationship that is built over a number of years.

"That's not something you can provide in an eight-session placement. You don't even touch the sides."

The Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough Tom Gordon said: "Morally, it's absolutely abhorrent, but also financially.

"If adoptions do break down it will cost local authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not more."

A DfE spokesperson said: "We are investing £50m for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to continue for another year.

"The decisions we have taken will ensure the fund is financially sustainable to allow more vulnerable children to access targeted support."

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