North Lincolnshire CouncilPeople, health and careSupport for adopters

Support for adopters

To follow any changes to this service, visit the Council Service Updates page.

Find out what adoption support you can get in North Lincolnshire.

Support services for adoptive families

We provide a range of support services to adoptive families, adopted children and birth relatives. These include:

a letterbox service and mediation for the exchange of information between adopted children and birth family members
mediating, facilitating and supervising direct contact arrangements
services to support adoptive family relationships
assessments for support services including financial support
a support group for adopters
workshops for adopted young people
training workshops for adopters
social events
close links with the local Children’s and Adolescent Mental Health Service

We can also provide individual social work support to adoptive families through an adoption social worker if this is required.

Please contact us for a copy of the support leaflet, which provides an overview of the services that are provided locally. We will also give you a copy of the training guide that details the training being offered over the next year.

We all need a little support sometimes, so please do not hesitate to contact us on 01724 297024. We will be happy to help.

Make an enquiry about adoption

Further information

Assessment of support needs

The local authority that places a child for adoption is responsible for the assessment of support needs. This includes provision of any support services for the first three years after a child has been adopted.

After this time, the local authority where the adoptive parents live will take over control and be responsible for assessing and providing their support needs.

Please contact us for further information.

The adoption support fund

You may be able to get funding from the Adoption Support Fund (ASF). It provides money for therapy for children and families to help improve relationships, confidence and behaviour. Your social worker can apply for you. You can learn more about the ASF by contacting us on 01724 297024. Please ask to speak to the adoption duty worker.

Useful information about the fund

The ASF is available to all children adopted from care and not just newly adopted children.

The ASF will pay for post-adoption-order support for children adopted from care in England, or living in England having moved from care in Wales up to age 18 (25 with a SEND statement).

It won’t (as with several other elements of adoption support) be applicable to intercountry adoptions or non-agency adoptions.

The fund will pay for therapeutic services that are not currently provided. These include therapeutic parenting courses and dyadic developmental psychotherapy among others. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01724 297024. We will be happy to answer any questions you have.

If a post adoption support assessment has been completed and you are unhappy with the outcome, then you can contact the adoption service manager on 01724 297024. We will also make sure you have the details of the adoption support services advisor (ASSA) who will also consider any issues you wish to raise. Alternatively, you can make a complaint by going through the complaints process.

Young people's guide to adoption support services

The Young People’s adoption guide [PDF, 7Mb] is for children and young people who have been adopted.

The guide begins to help answer some of the questions you may have about your adoption. It tries to help you ask these questions and also tells you more about adoption.

Adoption passport

The adoption passport is a support guide for adopters.

Children adopted from care have priority access to schools. This means that your child should be able to attend whichever school you think best meets their needs. They will also be entitled to free early education from the age of two.

If your child needs extra support you can ask your local authority to assess their needs for adoption support services.

If you think your child may have special educational needs you can ask your local authority to assess these needs too.

For more information please see the Adoption passport [PDF, 168Kb].

Please also contact us directly for a copy of the support leaflet, which provides an overview of the services that are provided locally. We will also give you a copy of the training guide that details the training being offered over the next year.

Contact

adoption@northlincs.gov.uk
01724 297024