Resources and funding

Adoption Support covers a breadth of services and signposting, including consideration of any financial support that might be required by a family. 

You may be eligible for an adoption allowance.  You can apply for an Adoption Allowance at any time and depending on your eligibility and means testing, Adopt South West would make the recommendation. Please contact us for more information.

Becoming Adoptive Parents

All adoptive parents are entitled to:

  • Many adopters are entitled to adoption pay and leave (when their child is placed with them). This entitlement is now more similar to maternity and paternity leave pay, and includes the right to take time off when you are meeting your child, before they move in with you.
  • Adopters may have priority for council housing. If you are living in council housing and claiming Housing Benefit or Universal Credit while waiting for a child to move in you can also apply for funding (Discretionary Housing Payments) so that you are not penalised financially while you have an empty spare room.
  • You are also entitled to a summary of your child’s health from his/her local authority’s medical adviser before he/she is placed with you, and to a life story book to help your child understand his or her early life and a later life letter.
  • You should also be given a copy of their child’s permanence report.
  • A ‘life-story’ book to help your child understand their early life
  • Request an assessment of your child’s needs by contacting us

Other benefits

If you have adopted a child in England you may also be entitled to these benefits:

Adoption and special guardianship support fund

The Adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) provides funding to help adoptive parents pay for therapeutic services following adoption.

To access the ASGSF, you will need to have an assessment of your family’s adoption support needs. Contact us to request an assessment.

If the assessment identifies that therapeutic services would be beneficial to your family, your local authority will apply to the Fund on your behalf, who will then release funding to the local authority.

We have a list of therapeutic support providers to support families, they include some excellent local individual providers services.

More information about eligibility and the type of support you can receive through the fund is available on the First 4 Adoption website.

Other useful services

Your local authority children’s services and Early Help teams support children who have low school attendance, emotional and wellbeing needs, or are at risk of being looked after. Contact your local authority for more information:

Useful support services include:

  • Adoption UK is a charity providing support, community and advocacy for all those parenting or supporting children who cannot live with their birth parents. Adoption UK runs a range of courses and events to support adoptive families. Email admin@adoptionuk.org.uk 01295 752240.
  • Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families – provide adoptive parents, special guardian, kinship carer or foster carer resources and services to help.
  • Beacon House work with individuals of all ages who have experienced trauma and loss, offering safe and effective therapies in a way that enables people to re-build their lives following stress and adversity. Useful resources.
  • Emotion Coaching is based on the principle that nurturing and emotionally supportive relationships provide optimal contexts for the promotion of children’s outcomes and resilience.
  • Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA) is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists who apply psychological knowledge of children’s social and emotional development to particular areas of need and to specific casework.
  • FASD South West is a parent-led website on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). As the website develops it will include support and information relating to health, therapies and education.
  • Happy Maps: fostered and adopted children and Happy Maps Worried about your child’s behaviour or mental health? Reliable resources developed by GPs and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) professionals for parents and carers, and for young people and children.
  • Me and My FASD Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) advice for adults and young people.
  • New Family Social is the UK network for LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) adoptive and foster families – 0843 2899457.
  • NSPCC provides therapeutic services to help children move on from abuse and support parents and families in caring for their children – 0808 800 5000.
  • PACE model by Dan Hughes, is a way of thinking, feeling, communicating and behaving that aims to make the child feel safe. It is based upon how parents connect with their very young infants.
  • PACE (Parents Against Childhood Exploitation) helps parents across the UK understand what is happening to their child and how parents are the prime agents in helping their child exit exploitative relationships
  • Stand up Speak Up for children and young people who have lived experience of care services in Devon.
  • The Thrive Approach is a way of working with children and young people that supports optimal social and emotional development.

Useful websites

Suggested reading

There are many useful adoption resources available. Here, we list books covering the different stages of your adoption journey. Many have been recommended by the professionals we work with, or through adopter-led support groups, or reviewed by our team members.

Adoption podcasts

Hear from real people, in their own words, who have been through the experience, who can dispel some of the myths that surround adoption, as well as share their initial misconceptions and personal accounts of the process. You Can Adopt podcasts.

New Family Social LGBTQ+ Adoption and Tea podcasts.

Adoption videos

Here are just a few hand-picked adoption videos found on YouTube that we find useful. As well as these helpful videos, we have our own Adopt South West YouTube Channel.

Talk to us

Call 0345 155 1076 or email adoptsouthwestsupport@devon.gov.uk