Resources and funding

These resources do change. It is best to check directly with the source for up to date information, or contact us.

If you are willing to consider a child with complex needs or a sibling group then we can offer you an Adoption Support Package for your family.

For a sibling group, we can look at a Settling In Allowance from the local authority to help you buy additional items, such as two beds or even three!

For a child or children who have complex needs, we will support you with approaching the local authority for an Adoption Allowance if you need to give up work or not return to work for a period of time, to enable the child/children to settle.

Please contact us about any of these support allowances. 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.

All adoptive parents are entitled to:

  • adoption pay and leave (as long as you are employed and earn on average at least £120 a week, before tax and have been continuously employed by your employer for at least 26 weeks by the week you were matched with a child – updated 2020)
  • a copy of your 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
  • a summary of your child’s health from Adopt South West’s medical adviser.

Adoption benefits

The adoption passport is a support guide for adoptive parents and you can use it to find out exactly what support is available for you and your child.

Housing

The ‘Allocation of Accommodation: Guidance for local housing authorities in England’ details the need for authorities to support approved adopters who need to move to a larger home to accommodate a child who was previously looked after by a local authority.

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

And

Adoption Support Fund

The Adoption Support Fund provides funding to help adoptive parents pay for therapeutic services following adoption.

To access the Fund, 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.
  • ELSA Emotional Literacy Support Assistants 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