Charity secures funding for adoption support services in SW

Families for Children, local adoption agency and charitable trust, are delighted to announce they have secured a Practice and Improvement Grant from the DfE for Adoption Support.

The grant, of just under half a million pounds, will enable the charity to provide vital new support services to meet the growing and diverse needs of adoptive families and children across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset , Dorset and the Isles of Scilly.

At a crucial time for Adoption in the UK, Families for Children will use the grant to develop a program of new support services to compliment and enhance their current portfolio, and in the process create 10 key new jobs across the region, including Clinical Psychologists, Social Workers, Education Specialists and Family Support Workers.

The Government funding, which is only available until March 2018, will be used to set up and facilitate the new services. However,  the charity stresses that they need to continue to raise vital funds to the amount of £500,000 per year in order to meet this growth and continue its delivery beyond the funding period.

Janet Smith, Adoption Support Manager says, “These are exciting times for the Agency. As a specialist adoption agency we have always prided ourselves in being able to offer our families the very best in support for as long as they might need it.

"The grant will allow us to extend these services and build on those we already provide to promote what we hope will be a Centre of Excellence in the South West for adoption support.

"Primarily we will be looking to develop a four stage service to include the development of Multi-Disciplinary Therapeutic Support, a comprehensive training programme for adopters, to establish an education service to help support adopted children in schools and the all-important immediate response service for adopters."

The Agency stresses how important it is for adopters to know they have a workable support plan in place and that there is some where they can go for help however small or large that need may be. 

Many of the children placed have come from a traumatic start in life and sometimes that history can manifest itself in behavioural and emotional behaviour as they get older.

Whilst in some children these effects are evident immediately and support is offered from the start, for other families it may not be needed until the child reaches puberty or adolescence.

The new service aims to target some of the support needed regularly as well as looking at educating those involved in the process including adopters, schools and wider networks.

The key areas being developed are:

• A Multi-disciplinary team involving clinicians from health, education and social care as well as access to a wide variety of therapists from an approved users list to offer adopted children and their families specialist assessments. These assessments will accurately identify, plan, and deliver a recovery package that best meets the complex needs of the children and the support needs of the adopters. 
• Comprehensive training programme for adopters to help them with ‘therapeutic parenting’ and  issues such as child on parent violence, or the complex parenting needs of children suffering the effects of abuse including Foetal Alcohol Syndrome or sexual abuse.
• Wraparound service supporting all non-therapeutic needs of adoptive families, such as, telephone support, information, signposting, support groups, activities for adults and children, and short respite opportunities.
• Learning support service for adoptive parents and schools to aid understanding of the difficulties and needs of adoptive children in school, in particular at times of transition.

The charity are currently supporting over 120 families with adoption services.  This is only set to grow with the increasing number of children been placed for adoption who will need additional support because of the effects of trauma during their early years.

Caroline Davis Charity CEO says “This is a fantastic opportunity to be able to support so many adoptive families in the region. Without this crucial support so many families would be left to cope alone.” 

A couple who attended Families for Children Support Course said:  “We have been adoptive parents since January 2014 and this course came just at the right time for us. We were starting to run out of energy and in our worst moments worrying if we had taken on too much.

"Meeting and sharing our experience with people who really understood our journey, helped us understand how far we had actually come. The content of the course built on and reminded us of our pre-adoption training.

"It deepened our knowledge and helped us to interpret our little girl’s behaviour in new ways. We had so many moments during the 4 days where a light went on in both our heads, “so that’s why she does that!

"We have subsequently amended our instinctive parenting response and with P.A.C.E we are starting to see positive change already. It’s really starting to make things more fun! We know we have so much to learn but it’s given us back a spring in our step for the next part of our family’s journey. Thank you so much for helping us just when we need it.”

For further details please call on 01364 645480 or visit www.familiesforchildren.org.uk