In a statement to Parliament made in response to an urgent question by Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham, children and families minister Janet Daby said that £50 million would be available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) in 2025/26. This is the same amount as in 2024/25.
In an email sent to adoption campaigners after Daby's announcement, the Department for Education said: "The ASGSF plays an important role in helping families to navigate the challenges of adoption and special guardianship, providing access to services such as therapeutic support, and specialist assessments.
"The government remains committed to supporting these families, who play an essential role in providing stable and loving homes for children in need."
The DfE stated in the email that "exact plans" for how the fund will be distributed are yet to be confirmed but that it will "focus on ensuring that the funding reaches as many children and families as possible".
Until these details are decided, applications to the fund will remain on hold, the DfE said.
"We regret any delays this causes," the email added.
The delay in announcing what was happening to the fund had caused significant concern among adopted families and had prompted adoption campaigners to create a petition calling for the renewal of the fund and which attracted more than 3,000 signatures.
The DfE email added: "We appreciate that this has been a challenging period, and are grateful for your patience. We recognise the urgency of opening applications for 2025-26 and are working hard to share further details with you in the coming days."
The ASGSF is widely considered to provide essential and cost-effective form of early help protecting permanency in adoption and guardianships, helping to prevent children from returning to the care system.
Among those entitled to support were children whose permanence placements had broken down, and those in kinship care arrangements.
Reacting to the announcement, Cathy Ashley, chief executive of Family Rights Group, said: “Today the government has listened and extended a vital lifeline for families to access therapeutic support for adopted children and some in kinship care arrangements. £50mn for critical therapeutic support will be very welcome news for families.
“The minister also indicated more children in kinship care could become eligible. This sounds promising but we await the details.
“Family Rights Group has long urged the government to remove the requirement for kinship children to have been in the care system to be eligible, and to include those in informal arrangements. Longer term funding security and improving the application process would be a boost to families too.”
Adoption UK chief executive Emily Frith said: “The Fund has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of children and it’s a huge relief to have this commitment for a further year of specialist support. Unfortunately, the delay has caused great distress for families and has risked further harm to children. There will now be a backlog of applications, and further waits for people in desperate need of support. What has happened has been really unforgivable. The government must open applications immediately, and then announce a permanent Fund so they avoid ever causing such distress again.”
Kinship's director of policy, Rhiannon Clapperton said: "This news will come as welcome relief to all of those kinship families who were deeply concerned about their children losing access to vital therapeutic support.
"However, we remain deeply frustrated that this clarity has only come after the Fund had expired and after a lengthy period of unnecessary uncertainty. The absence of any information about the future of the Fund has led to immense worry and stress amongst the kinship families we support and campaign alongside. And even with today’s welcome news, there will be significant ongoing repercussions for kinship families, local authorities and therapeutic providers."
The charity highlighted findings from its 2024 annual survey, in which 13% of kinship carers told us they were worried whether they could continue caring for their children; with nearly three quarters (72%) saying this was due to difficulties in managing their kinship children’s social, emotional and/or mental health needs.
