Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Debate between Janet Daby and Rachael Maskell

Thursday 4th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Janet Daby)]

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Ms Lewell. This morning, I laid before Parliament a written ministerial statement confirming that the adoption and special guardianship support fund will continue next year. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) for securing this important debate, and I thank all other hon. Members who helped to secure it. I acknowledge the contributions from the chair of the Education Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), and from the chair of the kinship care APPG, my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn). I acknowledge her lobbying to extend the fund.

Kicking and screaming is not something I do, however, and the personal attacks of the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson), lower this debate and what we wish to achieve. I also say to the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul), that her party had many opportunities to secure the adoption and special guardianship support fund when it was in Government, and it chose not to—in fact, it reduced the funding. I felt it was appropriate to put those things in order.

I welcome the opportunity to speak about this Government, the adoption and special guardianship support fund and our record of supporting the wellbeing of children. I have heard the many contributions and the heartwarming descriptions of situations that really do affect the lives of children who have been adopted or taken into kinship care. The adoption and special guardianship support fund enables valuable therapeutic support to be provided to adopted and special guardianship children who were previously in care. As I said, I recognise the particular needs of this cohort of children and young people. I know many of them will have had a challenging early life experiences.

[Rachael Maskell]

Will the Minister give way?

[Janet Daby]

I will make as much progress as I can, because I have been asked many questions in this debate and in many other scenarios and areas. It is very important that I am at least heard for the majority of my speech.

That is why the Government are committed to ensuring that these children and their families have support available that meets their needs. Therefore, I am pleased to confirm that applications to the adoption and special guardianship support fund that run into the next financial year, 2026-27, can now be made. That is part of a wider continuation of the scheme in the next financial year, and full details will be set out later in the autumn. I am absolutely behind making sure that we can present that information in a timely way. That is clearly acknowledged.

I am pleased to say that we will also begin public engagement in the new year to consider the future of the adoption and special guardianship support fund into 2028 and beyond. I am keen to work across Government with children, families and sector representatives to understand more about what support can and should be provided at a sustainable level.

The adoption and special guardianship support fund has now been running for 10 years, and in that time, it has helped to provide support for more than 54,000 children. Independent evaluations have found that the fund has been successful in improving the lives of recipient children and their families. The last independent evaluation of the fund in 2022 found that 83% of parents and guardians had found support funded by the adoption and special guardianship support fund “helpful” or “very helpful”. We also know from parents and carers about the difference the adoption and special guardianship support fund has made to their lives.

However, the fund is not the only source of support available to adopted and special guardianship children and their families, although it is a significant one. Adoption England is a key partner of the Department in improving adoption support. We have provided it with £8.8 million this year for specific projects to improve adoption support. That includes funding for developing national standards, developing centres of excellence as multidisciplinary teams with education and health, and establishing services designed to respond to adoptive families in crisis quicker and more effectively.

We are working to improve the support available to children in kinship care. Last year, the Government announced a £40 million package to test the payment of an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting children to move into kinship care. We have also published updated statutory guidance on kinship care for local authorities, and we appointed the first kinship care ambassador to advocate for kinship families across Government. Across England, more than 140 kinship peer-to-peer support groups are already up and running, providing kinship carers with vital spaces to connect, share their experiences and support one another. Alongside that, a comprehensive package of training and support is being actively delivered, ensuring that every kinship carer has access to the resources they need to thrive. We have also expanded the role of the virtual school heads to champion the education, attainment and attendance of children in kinship care who were previously in care.

This Government’s approach to informing children’s social care will transform services and transition towards earlier intervention. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will shift the focus of the children’s social care system and put children’s needs first. Our landmark investments in family help and Best Start family hubs will help families to access earlier support before they reach crisis point. Those measures and investments are alongside the adoption and special guardianship support fund so that specialist support is available should families need it.

On health, Ministers and officials engage regularly with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on how we can improve support for children, and we will continue to do that. The most recent NHS plan sets out how we intend to improve mental health services.

In order to ensure that the fund was financially stable in 2025-26, I announced a number of changes to the management of the budget. In the interests of transparency, I committed to making the equalities impact assessment, which helped to inform decision making, available for review. On 17 July, I placed the assessment in the Libraries of both Houses. It provides a breakdown of the available data and explains the rationale behind our decision to make changes.

In particular, it highlights the fact that, had we not made changes, many children could have been prevented from accessing therapy. The number of children accessing the fund has increased by 2,000 year on year. The equalities impact assessment is kept under review, and my officials update it regularly to better understand the impact of any changes on vulnerable children. The Department also publishes annual data on the adoption and special guardianship support fund.

[Rachael Maskell]

Does the hon. Member share my concern that if we are going to make the investment for the long term, we have to look at the number of children in care? In 2010, there were 64,000, and in 2024, 83,630. That places significant demand on the adoption and special guardianship support fund. Will she look at the work that York council is doing on halving the number of children in care? Surely that will reduce demand on the fund.

Adoption and Kinship Placements

Debate between Janet Daby and Rachael Maskell

Tuesday 20th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Janet Daby]

We have invested a further £8.8 million in Adoption England, £5 million of which will go towards centres of excellence. On local authorities, Members will be aware of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They will also be aware that we are investing in early prevention and intervention work in local authorities. In doing so, we are trying to support families through kinship arrangements. Members will also be aware that we have committed £40 million to a pilot for kinship care.

[Rachael Maskell]

The bottom line is that there is insufficient money for specific therapeutic interventions for those young people. Will the Minister commit to go back to the Treasury and make the case for ensuring the full funding of therapeutic interventions so that no child misses out?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Janet Daby and Rachael Maskell

Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

15. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of higher education funding.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Janet Daby)]

The Tories were more interested in picking ideological fights than ensuring that universities were financially sustainable. They left students and taxpayers to bear the brunt. Labour has taken tough decisions to shore up higher education as we pave the way for reform. We will fix the foundations of higher education to deliver change for students.

[Rachael Maskell]

Over half of UK universities, including the University of York, are again consulting on academic and staff redundancies. In line with the University and College Union’s “Stop the Cuts” week of action, does the Minister agree that we need an urgent review into higher education funding and visa arrangements for international students and their dependants, and that we need to protect students from poverty, to safeguard our world-class universities and, ultimately, drive research, innovation and their economic output?

[Janet Daby]

We are committed to securing the future of our higher education sector and we absolutely recognise its excellent economic value, which is crucial to our future economic growth. We welcome international students, who enrich our campuses, forge networks with domestic students and become global ambassadors. We will set out our plan for reform in the summer.

Adoption Breakdown

Debate between Janet Daby and Rachael Maskell

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

Yes, I know Home for Good; I have met the people involved and they do excellent work on fostering and adoption. There is so much more that could be done, so I absolutely take on board what the hon. Member has mentioned.

[Rachael Maskell]

I am grateful to the Minister for her commitment and for all that she is doing in this area. When young people are placed in adoption, can we look at ensuring that there is more open adoption? We certainly need to look at the data on that. We know that a teenager finding their birth parents can often lead to an adoption breakdown. That teenager might never be able to restore a relationship either with their birth parents or with their adoptive parents.

[Janet Daby]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. Adoption can be quite complex, especially when children reach their teenage years, as they are able to make contact through different social mediums. Contact and how it is managed is under constant review. We need to ensure that, where it is appropriate, where it is right and where it is safe, contact continues for adopted children. Again, I stress that is where it is appropriate, where it is right, and where it is with the agreement of the adoptive parents. Much of that takes place during the assessment process and the adoption order itself.

The majority of adopted children will have experienced neglect or abuse, which leads to ongoing and enduring problems. Providing support for families at an earlier stage before needs escalate to crisis point is critical. We are funding Adoption England to develop consistent and high-quality adoption support provision across all regional adoption agencies. This includes implementing a new framework for an early support core offer, which covers the first 12 to 18 months after placement. Adoption England will also be rolling out a new adoption support plan book for all new adoptive families.

This year we will fund Adoption England with £3 million to develop more multidisciplinary teams in regional adoption agencies. These are joint teams with local health partners that will enable families to receive holistic, high-quality support.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Debate between Janet Daby and Rachael Maskell

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

I thank the hon. Member for her points. I very much appreciate the concern caused by the delay in this announcement, and I recognise the potential impact on children and families, as well as local authorities, regional adoption agencies and providers of therapy. Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002, there is a statutory duty for local authorities to have support services in place for adopted children. The Government very much support that. To her questions about kinship carers, the plan is for the support fund to open to kinship carers as well, and that £50 million is for the year. Further information will be provided shortly about those arrangements.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I clearly welcome today’s announcement, but it is a tragedy that many services have closed and people’s therapy has been stopped as a result of this funding hiatus. Will the Minister ensure that those impacted by the gap in funding will have additional support for the trauma that it could have caused to those young people? Will she ensure that the Treasury signs off funding ahead of deadlines when the funding ends?

[Janet Daby]

The Government remain committed to adopted children and children who are in kinship placements or have special guardianships. The Government will continue to work together to make sure that sufficient funding is in place and is more timely.