Half of councils contributing to adoption support 'match-funding'

Data provided by the Department for Education under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act shows that over a 15-month period up to 5 January 2018, a total of 74 councils had contributed £686,711 to the cost of post-adoption support through "match funding" arrangements under the Adoption Support Fund (ASF).

Match funding is used to pay for specialist therapeutic services that exceed government funding caps introduced in October 2015. Under fund rules, when an adoptive family - or those caring for a child under a special guardianship order - is assessed as needing support or assessment costing more than £5,000 or £2,500 respectively, the amount over the caps should be matched by their council.

The FOI figures show that between October 2016 and 31 March 2017, 74 match-funding applications were approved. In the first nine months of 2017/18, 135 applications had been approved, an increase of 82 per cent.

Out of the 74 authorities to have provided match funding, Norfolk had most applications approved (11), closely followed by Cumbria (10), Gloucestershire and Leeds (both nine).

The highest amount of match funding awarded by a single council was £53,944 by Cumbria, followed by Gloucestershire (£46,979), Leeds (£36,703), Norfolk (£34,038) and Medway (£28,282).

To view a list of how much match funding each council has allocated, click here

Adoption campaigners have welcomed the additional support authorities have provided through ASF match-funding arrangements, but raised concerns that the majority (51 per cent) of councils in England have not made grants since the measures were introduced in October 2016.

Sue Armstrong Brown, chief executive of Adoption UK, said: "It is reassuring to see that local authorities are increasingly stepping up to support adoptive families, but we still need to see more local authorities positively planning to work with the Department for Education to fund comprehensive support packages to ensure that traumatised children in adoptive homes receive support at the level they need."

In November last year, then children's minister Robert Goodwill wrote to local authorities urging them to provide match funding "where this is necessary to meet children's needs".

A DfE spokesperson said: "We know that a happy and stable home life is key to making sure our most vulnerable children grow up to achieve their full potential. Children who are adopted from care have often experienced traumatic events and we are determined to help ease this transition for them and their families.

"The Adoption Support Fund has supported thousands of children and families, and we know through an independent study that 84 per cent of parents say it has helped their family. To provide this support for adoptive families we encourage councils to match-fund above the fair access limits and this year we increased the budget to £29m."

Alison Michalska, president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, said: "The Adoption Support Fund allows adoptive families to access valuable help and support for children and young people to overcome any emerging challenges they have together.

"The government contributes £2,500 towards a specialist assessment and then £5,000 to the support package put in place, local authorities must then provide match funding above and beyond this sum. The level of spend will understandably vary from area to area based on the needs of individual children and the range of services on offer nearby."

Since its launch in May 2015, £67m has been spent through the ASF helping more than 22,000 children.

• For further analysis of the Adoption Support Fund match-funding figures see the March edition of CYP Now.