0762 Specialist Adoption and SGO Support Services Re-Opening

Introduction Essex(ECC), Thurrock and Suffolk (SCC) County Council are seeking to secure a range of good quality providers to deliver support services to adoptive and SGO families. This is to meet statutory duties to provide adoption and SGO support services. The overarching aims of creating a framework are: • to promote sufficiency and capacity of quality services across Essex, Thurrock and Suffolk local • to improve the stability, resilience and wellbeing of adoptive and SGO families and meet their therapeutic needs • to have a compliant mechanism to purchase a variety of specialist therapeutic services • To use funding available for these services including the Adoption Support Fund as effectively and efficiently as possible Scope of Services • Adopted children and those subject to a Special Guardianship Order often have moderate to complex mental health and emotional well-being needs. Therapeutic interventions and assessments are required to assist both children and adults to deal with the long-term effects of what abuse and trauma provide. All services commissioned to provide adoption and SGO support and assessment will meet the following outcomes: • Reduction and/or prevention of adoption and Special Guardianship Order placement disruptions and children re-entering care. • Enable children and families affected by adoption or Special Guardianship Orders to achieve/maintain stability and reach their full potential as individuals and as family groups. • Adoptive and Special Guardianship Order families to enjoy strong and stable family relationships. • Adoptive and Special Guardianship Order families are resilient and have the skills and knowledge to support themselves and each other. Ensure that the most cost efficient and effective services can be supplied to families. • There is an Adoption Support and a Special Guardianship Order Support Teams within ECC Children and Families service. These teams provide universal to complex adoption and SGO support county-wide. Some of these services are provided directly by the adoption and SGO team and the rest via a framework contract of specialist support. When families first contact the adoption and SGO teams they undertake an assessment of their support needs to decide if further support is required and where required a support plan is developed with the family. • Thurrock’s Fostering and Adoption teams offer adoption and SGO support within Children’s Services in Thurrock Council. They too, in common with ECC provide universal to complex support to families and their carers while accessing additional support for more complex cases from the currently contracted provider. When families and carers access the teams for support, they are accessed to understand their needs which informs decisions regarding the level required. • Suffolk currently have a Permanence Support Team offering Adoption Support and a Special Guardianship Order Support Team within Children and Families . These teams are based in the 3 areas of Suffolk. The teams provide universal to complex adoption and special guardianship order support. Some of these services are provided directly from the Permanence Support team and the rest via spot purchase arrangements. When families first contact the Permanence Support team, they undertake an assessment of their support needs, to decide if further support is required and where required, develop a support plan with the family. Approximate Yearly Spend The approximate spend per year through the current framework is £550,000 for Essex, and separately our partners expenditure on these services is £126,000 for Thurrock and £480,000 for SCC with a combined spend of £1,156,000. If the Adoption Support Fund were to end/reduce, then the spend may be significantly reduced however the framework will still be the vehicle used to purchase additional support.