Mother says adopted son will lose vital therapy after government cuts to support fund

A mother in Worthing has said she is "angry" and "upset" after the government cut the amount of funding available to adopted children for therapy, a change she says will leave her son with only months of treatment and risked undoing progress he has made.

Ministers renewed the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund for 2025/26 in April but reduced the maximum support available per child from £7,500 to £3,000, a cut that campaigners and some families say will mean shorter courses of specialist therapy for children who experienced early trauma. The Department for Education said the change made the fund "financially sustainable" and confirmed its extension for another year on Thursday.

Rachel Slaughter, whose son was adopted after what she described as "a really difficult start in life," said the reduced cap means he will "receive less than six months worth of therapy" this year. She told the BBC she feared he would "regress" and that without continued specialist treatment "he cannot cope in this world without therapy," adding that he would struggle to remain in school and to feel safe.

The fund is intended to help adoptive and special guardianship families access therapeutic support, assessments and services that local authorities do not routinely provide. The government said adjusting the per-child limit was necessary to ensure the fund could continue to operate and support families across the country within available budgets.

Critics of the reduction say that for children who have experienced neglect, abuse or early adversity, therapeutic interventions often require sustained, specialist input to be effective, and short courses risk interrupting progress. Proponents of the change say the lower cap allows the fund to reach more families overall, spreading limited resources more widely.

Local authorities and adoption support organisations will now need to consider how to allocate the smaller per-child award so families with the most acute needs can access necessary services. Some agencies have raised concerns that demand for specialist therapy already outstrips supply, and that shrinking per-child funds could increase pressure on already overstretched local services.

The Department for Education did not give an estimate of how many fewer therapy sessions the new cap would buy for an average child, but said it remains committed to supporting adoptive families and would continue to offer the fund for 2025/26. Campaigners have called on ministers to review the decision and consider alternative approaches, including increased local provision and better access to long-term therapeutic programmes through the health and social care system.

Adoptive parents and support groups have previously highlighted the complexity of children’s needs following early trauma, noting that effective treatment can involve specialist psychologists, long-term counselling, play therapy and tailored educational support. Families say interruptions to care can lead to setbacks in behaviour, learning and emotional regulation that are costly to address in the long term.

The renewal of the fund with a reduced cap comes amid wider debates about public spending priorities and how to target limited resources to meet growing demand for children's mental health and therapeutic services. The Department for Education said it will keep the fund under review and encouraged families seeking help to speak to their local authority or adoption support providers about available options.

Ms Slaughter said she and her family would continue to seek the best possible support for her son but voiced deep concern about his immediate prospects. "I was so scared of what his future was now going to look like because he won't make that progress," she said, urging ministers to consider the potential human cost of reducing the level of support available to vulnerable children.