We are pleased that the government has announced the continuation of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund for 2025-26. The fund is a lifeline for care experienced children who need urgent support for complex needs and are recovering from trauma.

However, this extremely delayed confirmation of the fund’s continuation means that funding for therapy has already stopped for the majority of the children we support at Family Futures. Adoptive and kinship families across England have now been left in limbo with no therapeutic support and this is having a devastating impact on children who rely on consistent, reliable support from their therapist. We are still waiting to hear from the government when applications for therapy this year will open. This means further delay, anxiety and distress for children while the system deals with the backlog in applications.

One parent whose children are supported by Family Futures described the effect of this funding chaos on her family:

“With lengthy gaps, delays and unknowns, therapy becomes another thing in their lives that is unpredictable, that lets them down, that disappears from their lives and is out of their control. You can draw your own parallels with the life of a care experienced child here. These delays are re-traumatising for our children.”

Jay Vaughan MBE, CEO of Family Futures, said:

“Our experience demonstrates that delays in therapy have a direct and detrimental impact on the safety and stability of Adoptive and Special Guardianship placements, placing the children we support at significant risk.”

Family Futures urges the government to fast-track the ASGSF application process for our most vulnerable children and provide children recovering from trauma the certainty that this fund will continue long-term without the devastating disruption caused by gaps and delays. We hope to see applications open and fast tracked as soon as possible, with more thought given to the long-term future of this fund.

Read more about the effect on children and families of ASGSF delays and our CEO, Jay Vaughan’s comments in this Community Care article (28 March 2025) here.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to continue with £50m for 2025-26 – Community Care