Post adoption support team

Our post adoption support team offers longer term specialist support to children and their families. Families will have an allocated social worker who will work to get to know them as a family, and the needs of their child through building an established supportive relationship. Social workers will support children and their families via home visits, 1:1 work with the child and young person, and meeting with parents. The post adoption support team undertake in-depth assessments of adoption support needs to explore need and establish if a specialist therapeutic intervention is appropriate. Adopt North East work with a variety of therapeutic providers on our approved provider list using the adoption support and special guardianship fund to commission this.

Your allocated social worker will be present to walk alongside you, review and set up therapeutic intervention and offer support within education settings. Your allocated Social Worker is also able to facilitate conversations around curiosity relating to contact with birth family. Our practice is trauma informed and engagement in our service is voluntary. We are informed by Kim Goldings Pyramid of Need in that we can effectively support families who are in a place where they wish to engage in therapeutic support.

Specialist assessment

Adopt North East works alongside a variety of qualified clinicians who can lead and undertake a holistic and at times multi-disciplinary in-depth assessment of the child and family’s needs with a focus on trauma and attachment. The aim of this assessment is to better understand the holistic needs of the child and family and provide a therapeutic support plan for the child(ren) and family.

Standalone assessments are not in scope to be commissioned for the exploration and diagnosis of single conditions such as: ADHD, FASD, autism, sensory need. They can be considered within a wider specialist assessment but cannot be commissioned for the sole purpose of exploring a diagnosis of neurodiversity. This responsibility is within health; GP or CAMHS/CYPS.

Therapeutic intervention

Your allocated social worker will be present to walk alongside you and undertake an assessment of adoption support needs to better understand if/what therapeutic intervention is most appropriate to meet the needs of your child(ren) and family.

The assessment of need is an opportunity for an Adopt North East social worker to meet with you to explore the needs of your family and consider the most appropriate support to meet these needs. This assessment will identify the strengths within your family, your concerns, early life experiences of your child, their health and wellbeing needs, your family network, and any previous support you have accessed. It may be that the social worker wishes to speak to your child or the young person whom you are contacting us in respect of to gain their voice and view.

It may be that this assessment recommends that your family would benefit from specialist therapeutic support, and in this instance, we would look to identify the most appropriate intervention and access this using the adoption and special guardianship support fund. The adoption and special guardianship support fund allows for a number of attachment and trauma focused therapeutic interventions to be commissioned. If therapeutic intervention is assessed as most appropriate your allocated social worker will support you to access this.