The children’s minister has said she is doing everything possible to “push forward” a decision on the future of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF), which expires at the end of this month.
Janet Daby told MPs that she understood the “uncertainty and insecurity” created by the government’s delay in confirming the future of the ASGSF, which largely funds therapeutic support for adopted children and those who left care under a special guardianship order (SGO), along with their families.
The delay has meant that councils and regional adoption agencies (RAAs) cannot make applications for therapeutic support for newly assessed children and families, nor to continue therapy for those currently in receipt of it. ASGSF awards last up to 12 months or up to the point when a £5,000 limit has been reached, meaning RAAs and councils must reapply to the fund to ensure continuity of support.
‘Thousands of children at risk of losing therapy’
As a result, therapy providers say thousands of children face a break in their therapy, even if the Department for Education eventually does confirm the renewal of the ASGSF, which is currently worth just under £50m a year.
Providers and adoption bodies have warned that this will be very damaging for children for whom the therapy is designed to support recovery from trauma.
Daby was quizzed on the issue by Liberal Democrat MP Manuela Pereteghella, in an appearance this week before the education select committee as part of its inquiry into children’s social care reform.
Perteghalla said the uncertainty around the future of the ASGSF was causing “a lot of distress” to families and asked the minister if she could provide reassurance to them that the fund would continue.
Minister ‘doing everything to push forward’ decision
In response, Daby, a former fostering social worker and manager, said: “I am aware of the uncertainty and the insecurity that that is causing because, obviously, the announcement has not been made. The announcement will be made very soon about the adoption and special guardianship funding, and as soon as that information is available, then it will be made known.
“But I absolutely understand, and I hear and I do get it. I am hearing from organisations as well around this, and I am doing everything I can to push this forward.”
The charity Kinship, which supports and campaigns on behalf of kinship families, voiced its concerns about the ongoing uncertainty around the fund and “the detrimental impact this is having on kinship families who desperately need therapeutic support”.
Risk of ‘catastrophe of more children going into care’
Chief executive Lucy Peake said the fund was a “vital lifeline for many kinship families, often helping children in kinship care to navigate complex challenges with their mental health, identity and family relationships”.
She added that, in its 2024 annual survey, 13% of carers said they were worried about whether they could continue caring for their children, with nearly three-quarters of this group saying this was due to difficulties managing the children’s social, emotional and mental health needs.
“If we are to avoid the catastrophe of children being placed back into an already overstretched care system, it is essential that additional funding for the ASGSF is confirmed as soon as possible,” Peake added.
Kinship has long campaigned for the fund to be extended to kinship families other than those where a child had left care under an SGO.
Earlier in her evidence session before the select committee, Daby hinted that not only would the fund continue, but that the DfE was exploring extending its scope to children in other kinship care arrangements.
Potential extension of fund to kinship families
In response to a question from Labour MP Amanda Martin about support to kinship carers, Daby said: “We are looking at other ways and other areas in which we can support kinship carers. And we are looking at the adoption and special guardianship funding to enable kinship children to benefit from that.”
Martin had earlier asked Daby about when further detail would be announced on the government’s plan to test the payment of allowances to kinship carers in 10 local authorities, announced in last year’s Budget.
Daby said the DfE would be seeking expressions of interest from councils to take part, adding: “We will be looking to roll this out towards the autumn, and as soon as we have more information and more detail, we will make that known.”
In response, Peake said Kinship was pushing the government to use its forthcoming spending review, which will set public expenditure plans for 2026-29, to “accelerate its plans to trial a kinship allowance and invest in delivering a national offer of financial allowances for kinship carers”.
“At minimum, the Department for Education must work at pace to confirm plans for the trial so that kinship carers across England can understand how it might impact them and how it will build the case for a wider rollout in the future,” she added.
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The uncertainty is so damaging. I have a daughter in therapy this will send her spiralling downwards. Not a nice thing to have on your conscience.
It just needs to be made fairer so all kinship, SGO and adopted children benefit. It’s a huge lottery with some children receiving £5k of therapy every year and others getting nothing at all, despite having similar needs.
Some indication of plans – even if not 100% finalised will help provide some stability to these children, young people and their families.
Therapy providers care for these children and must consider the impact of ceasing therapy on each individual life. Therapy providers are in an impossible position, we can not clinically, ethically or morally end therapy if we anticipate it will undo progress made, cause deterioration and break downs in relationships, but what to do?? This is going to cost genuine therapy providers significantly as we try to find ways to bridge the gap….. question is for how long??
Some indication of time frames would allow everyone to create a fair and sustainable plan, prepare children and families and avoid disruption to the therapy of vulnerable children.
Speaking as someone who supports those children and their families i just want to add this is already taking its toll on them and causing so much anxiety and distress
Leaving this decision to so late in the day is ridiculous with not even an ounce of I formation to how long it will take before we are told.
As someone who has to make the applications they are not giving us suffucient time to do so which means it is already too late to have therapies in place so there is no gap or delay as the 1st April is when the new financial years starts.
If this decision is not made soon we will have a high volume of children and young people who already suffered trauma and neglect in their early lives going through even more adversity without any opportunity to repair and recover
Just read the article. This does not look great for the fund does it??
We went to a drop in at our Therapy service on Friday and the main topic of discussion with parents was worry and concern about the fund. I think all I spoke to were in shock that the Labour government should approach such and important area with such uncaring and a slightly cruel way, my worry is that votes are already lost for them.
So Janet Daby has also been a fostering social worker, so have I and also a foster carer for very vulnerable children. What I find so scary is that someone with Janet’s knowledge is unable to offer anything that reassures parents and carers.
My son is already missing out as staff are already being made redundant and his emotional levels are poor. I worry that this government has attacked those with mental health needs in a truly terrible way. No thought is given now to the effect of 14 yrs of cuts from the Tories which has totally f**ked the care offered to the most vulnerable and who need the counties biggest support.
If the government does manage to continue the funding, and let’s hope they will, let’s learn from this experience. The turmoil, worry, anxiety, this dragging out of making a decision has caused is truly cruel. DONT DO IT AGAIN. Please.
Totally agree. Trouble is that it’s not really a Labour government other than by name. It doesn’t look good. I hope you and your family can get some support.
I’m a social worker based in an Adoption Support Team and we have over 400 children waiting to hear if their therapy is going to continue. What is happening to some of our most vulnerable children is immoral and unethical. The therapy is vital for the children to help repair the developmental trauma they have experienced. Some of our families are at significant risk of breakdown and without therapy, this could become reality. We need a decision now!