Section 1 and 2

Section 1

This asks what support works for adoptive and kinship children and young people and respondents to the questions are invited to type their answers into a free text box.  

What support do you think helps to maintain or improve children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing? 

Answers should focus on children and young people who are either adopted or in kinship care, based on their specific contexts. 

This is an opportunity to reflect on support that may currently exist, that you feel improves mental health and wellbeing. Examples might be: access to peer support or youth groups, therapeutic support (e.g. via ASGSF or CAMHS), educational support measures such as EHCPs, Pupil Premium Plus, and virtual schools; or a teacher that is trauma trained. These may be types of support that are directly related to adoption support services, or they may sit within broader public services. It is also an opportunity to highlight support you think helps but that may not be readily available, for example certain types of therapy, peer support for young people, or trauma trained teachers in schools. This also provides an opportunity for adult adoptees to set out the lack of support available to them, and what would help.

Why does this support help? 

This is an opportunity to share your personal experience of where this support has had a positive impact on your child or your family. There may also be broader evidence to draw on. For example, The Adoption Barometer or our Break the Barriers Report include lots of examples of the types of support that adoptees and families report has a positive impact. 

What could be improved about this support? 

This is an opportunity to highlight the issues you have had in accessing the support measures you have highlighted as helpful, including availability, resourcing, timeliness, consistency, and quality.