Working with adopted children and adolescents

The ‘Adoption Support Fund’ has been specifically set up by the government to increase the access to specialist services for adoptive families who are struggling and need help.

An application to the Adoption Support Fund needs to take place in partnership with your Local Authority as all of our adoption work must be referred by either this body or an Adoption Support Agency in order that they assume the responsibility for quality assurance as OFSTED registered organisations.

We offer an assessment process before any ongoing therapeutic work is offered, this includes consultation with the professional network, parents/carers and a detailed reading of case histories in reference to the referred client. This is to ensure that the best form of therapeutic intervention is offered.

Assessment methods we use

Children/ young people:

• Dramatherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
• Questionnaires and standardised psycho-diagnostic measures

Parents/carers/teachers with regard to the child:

• Questionnaires and standardised psycho-diagnostic measures about child’s life story, traumas, attachment patterns, behaviour difficulties, self-regulation, executive functioning, strengths, identity, sibling relationships and education.

Parents/carers with regard to themselves:

• Attachment Style Interview
• Questionnaires and standardised psycho-diagnostic measures with regard to parenting, parents’ own histories, attachments/traumas, self-regulation, support network
• Projective methods with creative arts

Adults

Due to a change of law in 2024 we are now able to offer direct therapeutic services to adults who are adopted, birth parents and adoptive parents.

We are delighted to be able to do this.

Therapeutic services we offer

• Dramatherapy Hcpc
• Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy UKCP
• Family Consultations
• Parent/carer support in understanding behaviour in the light of attachment and trauma experiences
• Therapeutic parent work to enable parents to become ‘therapeutic parents’
• Individual sessions for parents who wish/need to process aspects of their own loss, attachment, trauma history

Our fees are confirmed on a case by case basis to ensure that the best packages are designed to meet the specific needs of the referred child, young person and their family.