Proposal 6: Require clinical adoption support therapies to be compliant with NHS evidence standards. Ensure all interventions are well evidenced and assessed

Proposal 6: Require clinical adoption support therapies to be compliant with NHS evidence standards. Ensure all interventions are well evidenced and assessed

The aim here is to ensure the clinical/therapeutic interventions offered (including via the ASGSF) are meeting evidenced-based standards and having a sufficiently desired impact. Also, to ensure that non-clinical interventions meet certain standards, where possible.  

Potential benefits:  

• Families would be reassured that both clinical and non-clinical (e.g. social work, educational, community based) interventions are being offered based on evidence they have a positive impact. For clinical interventions, the evidence would be based on the results of randomised, controlled trials and recommendations by NICE. For non-clinical interventions, a new outcomes measurement system would need to be created.  

• The proposal recognises that, currently, availability and timeliness of interventions has an impact on what is offered to families. It is hoped this would also be factored into any analysis of impact. 

• The proposal acknowledges the need to ensure support that is currently benefiting young people is not disrupted during this process.  

Potential concerns:  

• As with proposal 5 above, while a strong evidence-base for therapeutic interventions is desirable, there is concern that many interventions families find useful may not be included. This is because NICE guidelines prioritise specific therapies that lend themselves to a specific type of testing (randomized control trials). However, this is not the only way of working out what works best. 

• Whilst the proposal is for the Department for Education to work with the Department for Health and Social Care and clinical experts to evidence standards, it is absolutely vital that those professionals with years of expertise working with these cohorts are consulted and feed in to early plans. In particular, practitioners delivering therapeutic support services to adoptive and kinship families via the ASGSF.  

• The proposal states that the Department for Education could also explore whether the range of non-clinical interventions offered meets the needs of this cohort. Again, it is absolutely vital that adopted people and those in kinship care, as well as the professionals working with them, are closely feeding into this process. 

• It is not clear that the timetable set out in the consultation gives adequate time for robust testing and longer term outcome measures to be evaluated.