Adoption support

A child needs your support and you will always have ours

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund: Applications on Hold Pending Government Decision Update

We are still unable to confirm that the funding for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will be available for the forthcoming financial year. 

In the absence of confirmation from the Department for Education (DfE), families awaiting funding from the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) need to be aware that any new applications for therapeutic support starting from Tuesday 1 April 2025, are currently on hold. The ASGSF is currently under a Government Spending Review, and we are unable to take make new applications to the ASGSF for services starting from that date.

For our families, this means Adopt East agencies cannot submit any new funding requests for therapeutic interventions scheduled to begin in 2025-26. We, like our families and the rest of the adoption sector are understandably concerned and have made representations to the Department for Education.

We appreciate your patience and we will share further information as soon as it becomes available.


Our children have had difficult early lives which can often prove challenging for both themselves and their adoptive parents. They may well have experienced trauma and loss which will impact upon their later emotional development and behaviour. It’s why we encourage adoptive parents to seek Adoption Support as a normal part of the adoption journey.

Parenting is a life-long challenge, and we offer support at every stage including adopter training, adopter lead support groups, parenting programmes, therapeutic parenting groups and face to face stay & play groups.

More comprehensive packages of support are available following an adoption support assessment and can involve individual or family work, specialist assessments, signposting, and access to the adoption support fund.

Support groups

There is a combination of virtual and face-to-face support on offer to adoptive families across Adopt East.

This includes support groups for LGBTQ+ families, single adopters, families with children with special/additional needs, black adopters support group, a variety of peer-led support groups and youth groups for adoptive teens.

There is also ongoing training on offer as well as therapeutic support programmes that can be accessed.

Contact your local adoption agency for adoption support