CAN BE
ALTERNATIVE
INVESTMENT

Opening date 1 Apr 2022, 12:00AM
Closing date 31 Mar 2025, 12:00AM
The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) provides funds to local authorities and regional adoption agencies (RAAs) to pay for essential therapeutic services for eligible adoptive and special guardianship order (SGO) families.
The ASGSF will continue to offer support to adoptive and eligible special guardianship families up to March 2025.
The ASGSF model is based on the existing statutory framework for the assessment of adoption support or SGO support needs and the provision of support services.
This guide is for local authorities and RAAs so they can apply for ASGSF funding.
For more information on support available to families, visit:
First4Adoption and Adoption UK for adoptive families
Family Rights Group for SGO families
To be eligible for funding, local authorities and RAAs must apply to the ASGSF within 3 months of assessing a family’s support needs.
The ASGSF is available for children and young people up to and including the age of 21, or 25 with an education, health and care plan, who:
are living (placed) with a family in England while waiting for adoption
were adopted from local authority care in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and live in England
were adopted from abroad and live in England with a recognised adoption status
were in care immediately before a SGO was made
left care under a special guardianship order which subsequently was changed to an adoption order, or vice versa
are under a residency order or child arrangement order (CAO) and were previously looked after
were previously looked after but where the adoption, special guardianship, residency or CAO placement has broken down, irrespective of any reconciliation plans
You should make a funding application before therapy starts. We will only consider retrospective applications in exceptional circumstances. This includes:
the need for an urgent intervention due to the family situation
an unexpected absence of approving local authority staff when the funding is commissioned
We will not consider administrative and clerical errors, or delays caused by organisational restructuring as exceptional.
Further guidance for local authorities about the different care orders is available.
Until the end of March 2025 the ASGSF will have 2 fair access limits:
£2,500 per child per year for specialist assessment
£5,000 per child per year for therapy
The majority of applications to the fund fall within these limits. In exceptional cases, where there is an urgent need for higher cost support, local authorities or RAAs are asked to match-fund applications.
Criteria for match-funding:
a high risk of adoption breakdown without high cost support
local authorities and RAAs dealing with an unusually high number of complex cases that they cannot afford to fund without additional support from the ASGSF
additional funding would help to progress hard to place adoptions
a lack of available, affordable therapeutic support means higher cost provision is required
The ASGSF can fund up to 50% of the amount above the fair access limits, up to a maximum of £30,000 per child including the fair access limits.
The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) provides funds to local authorities and regional adoption agencies (RAAs) to pay for essential therapeutic services for eligible adoptive and special guardianship order (SGO) families.
Funding closes on 31/03/2025
The local authority or RAA that places a child with a family is responsible for assessing that family’s support needs for 3 years after the order is made. After 3 years, the responsibility lies with the local authority or RAA where the family lives, if they have moved.
Families apply to the relevant local authority or RAA, which will assess their needs.
Local authorities and RAAs will:
assess the family and consider if therapeutic support is needed
decide on the type required and if it is eligible for payments from the ASGSF
apply directly to the ASGSF
purchase the support from their own list of approved suppliers when the ASGSF approves funding
Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund Team
Email asf@mottmac.com
Telephone: 01223 463 517
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