Adoption and special guardianship support fund

Our expert clinicians integrate psychoanalytic, systemic, and cognitive approaches to address both conscious and unconscious experiences. We continue to develop creative, evidence-based models of care that respond to the evolving needs of adoptive and special guardianship families.

The Tavistock and Portman have updated our ASGSF offers to fully meet the updated criteria (within the £3,000 fair access limit).

What we offer

Option A – A year of systemic family therapy

Family therapy is recommended for families who would like to build resilience, and improve communication in their relationships.

It can help strengthen newly-created families, by better understanding how immediate, extended and complex family systems co-exist.

Option B – A year of therapeutic parenting

This supports parents and carers seeking guidance on managing challenging behaviours.

Parenting strategies and child-developmental understanding together increase emotional attunement, and confident parenting.

Option C – Under 5s & parent–child brief psychotherapy

This is specifically designed for young children and their carers, navigating early trauma while adapting to a new family and its new culture.

Through joint play-based therapy, attachments and emotional development are strengthened, reducing long-term intervention needs.

Option D – Trauma-focused CBT

Offers practical, directed support for children and young people experiencing PTSD or difficulties linked to developmental trauma.

Individual therapy addressing thoughts and emotions linked to trauma. Reduces distress and enhances coping and resilience.

Option E – Psychoanalytic children’s group

For children struggling with peer relationships, loneliness, and finding healthy ways to ‘fit in’.

The group promotes social integration by exploring the relationship between young people’s individual and group self-identities.

Option F – Watch Me Play!

For 4–8-year-olds with trauma and attachment difficulties (an infant model is also available).

This is a child-led, play-based approach, building trust, and strengthening non-verbal communication, and emotional regulation.

Option G – Therapeutic life story work

It uses guided exploration to make sense of children’s life stories in a safe, structured way.

This understanding reduces their feelings of being to blame, and in turn increases self-esteem and capacity for self-regulation.

Option H – Short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (STPP)

For children and adolescents facing emotional or relationship challenges.

Focused therapy exploring inner emotional worlds and past experiences. Improves emotional awareness, regulation, and long-term wellbeing.

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