The Consortium of Adoption Support Agencies (CASA) is a UK-wide forum representing Ofsted-registered Adoption Support Agencies (ASAs), including both organisations and individual providers. Our members deliver highly specialist, trauma-informed therapeutic services to children and families affected by adoption and special guardianship, including kinship care. All providers are registered and scrutinised with their Regional Adoption Agencies to ensure a high standard of professional practice as well as their professional bodies to include BACP, UKCP, HCPC as a basic minimum standard and work in the field of psychotherapy, counselling and psychology. Many are registered with Ofsted as Adoption Support providers and in addition providers have to demonstrate experience and skill in the field of Adoption Support. 

We are deeply concerned by the recent 60 percent cut to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) including the removal of a separate Fair Access Limit for assessment, and the end of match-funding for high-risk cases. All of these changes have significantly destabilised these essential services causing added stress and anxiety to those in direct line of this field of work.   While we acknowledge Adoption England and the Department for Education’s aim to develop a more sustainable model of funding, as outlined in the ASGSF Options Appraisal, we ask that further reform must not proceed without meaningful consultation, adequate resourcing, and clinical safeguards. We support the Children’s Social Care Education Committee’s call for the ASGSF to be made permanent and properly funded, recognising the vital role of early, specialist intervention in promoting long-term family stability.

Executive Summary

The delay in confirming ASGSF funding for 2025–26, combined with the scale of recent cuts and lack of clarity about the Fund’s long-term future, has led to a position of unsafe uncertainty. Many families who have adopted vulnerable children now  live with chronic unpredictability. Families rely on and benefit from the safety, regulation and support that our therapeutic services help facilitate.

Providers, too, are operating in an increasingly unstable environment - facing ethical dilemmas, workforce attrition, and mounting operational pressures due to the uncertainty of the future of the fund.   We believe that without urgent reversal of cuts and a commitment to long-term stability, the adoption and special guardianship support landscape will become increasingly unable to meet clinical need.

Key Recommendations

• We would ask you to reverse the 2025 ASGSF funding cuts and reinstate full support for both assessments and therapy
• Place a two-year moratorium on further structural or delivery changes
• Establish the ASGSF as a permanent, sustainable mechanism of therapeutic funding
• Conduct transparent and meaningful consultation with providers and families
• Respect and incorporate both evidence-based practice and practice-informed evidence

Promote language that reflects the complexity and resilience needs of the families rather than allude to narratives of dependency or entitlement.

Developing a Purposeful Narrative to Support Adoptive Families. 

Language influences perception. Terms like ‘dependency’ or ‘entitlement’ misrepresent the resilience of families and the complexity of their needs. For some, therapeutic support is essential to safety and stability. CASA members aim to support families toward self-efficacy, but this requires time, trust, and clinical expertise. Public language must reflect these realities with respect and accuracy.

Evidence, Experience and Professional Standards

Since the Fund’s inception in 2015, both organisational and independent providers  have developed robust, trauma-informed services underpinned by decades of experience, research, clinical governance, and ongoing training Our therapeutic teams and individual providers include professionals with advanced qualifications, model-specific accreditation, and regular clinical supervision and reflective practice. All models of work are neurosequential and systemic in approach, and tailored to the needs of children with histories of early trauma and disrupted attachment.

These interventions have proven clinically effective for children and families affected by adoption and special guardianship. However, the recent cuts are already reducing access to these services and threatening the sustainability of the evidence base. We are concerned at the removal of the FAL for assessment that has proven to be a reassuring option to adoptive families.  

We also express concern at the lack of transparency regarding the evidence informing the Department’s current decisions and proposals for future changes to the ASGSF. As the Education Committee report highlights, policy changes must be rooted in demonstrable outcomes, not anecdote or assumption.

Transparency, Consultation and Planning

Trust is essential for therapeutic and systemic safety. However, the process by which recent changes have been introduced has lacked transparency, engagement and adequate preparation. This has undermined confidence across the sector.

Providers received no meaningful consultation in advance of the funding reductions, and the communication that followed offered little clarity. Families have been left confused, unsupported, and uncertain about their access to future care.

We urge the Department and Adoption England to implement the Education Committee’s recommendation: that all future reform to adoption and kinship support must be developed in close consultation with those delivering and receiving the service.

Valuing Specialist Therapeutic Work

CASA members provide trauma-informed therapeutic support that cannot be replicated by generalist services. These interventions rely on time, consistency, and the development of trust - particularly for children who have experienced relational trauma, loss, and disrupted care.

A safe therapeutic environment - governed by safeguarding processes, reflective practice, and mutual support - is vital. We urge the Department to safeguard against the erosion of these standards in the name of cost-efficiency.

System Stability and Sector Sustainability

The impact of funding reductions is already evident. Several providers have reduced or withdrawn from adoption support due to sudden strain on their resources, not out of preference, but necessity. Without immediate intervention, this trend will accelerate - resulting in the loss of specialist workforce, disruption to families, and irreparable damage to the wider therapeutic landscape.

The long-term costs of family breakdown, unmanaged trauma, and unaddressed risk are well documented in studies on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).   Children affected by early adversity are significantly overrepresented in mental health services, education systems, and the criminal justice system. The earlier and more effectively we intervene, the better the outcomes for both families and society.

Independent providers whether organisational or independent in presentation offer strong value for money when all associated costs - governance, safeguarding, training, and professional  development - are properly considered. There is increasing pressure to deliver pre-cuts levels of service at reduced rates, but there can be no discounts without dis-counting the value of the provision.

A Collective Appeal from Providers

CASA, as providers deeply embedded in the adoption and special guardianship landscape, are united in our concern about the direction and delivery of current reforms. While we support the ambition for improved outcomes, that ambition must be grounded in clinical realism, sector collaboration, and long-term resourcing.

We therefore call for and underline again the need for:

1. An immediate reversal of the current ASGSF funding cuts in order to repair the current scenario.
2. A two-year moratorium on further structural or delivery changes
3. Full and transparent consultation with families and providers
4. A permanent commitment to the ASGSF as a core component of adoption and special guardianship support

We remain committed to constructive engagement with the Department for Education, Adoption England, and all relevant sector bodies. We believe a revised model is possible - one that protects quality, improves outcomes, and ensures the ongoing availability of the specialist provision that all CASA providers have to offer. 

Let us act now to restore stability, uphold professional standards, and safeguard access to therapeutic support for those who need it most.

CASA
25 July 2025