For adoptive parents, special guardians, kinship carers, adoptees, kinship children and young people, adults affected by early-life trauma, and anyone concerned about the future of specialist therapeutic support.

We began as Action Against ASGSF Changes because our campaign formed in direct response to the April 2025 cuts to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund. Since then, the threat has changed. The ASGSF is currently confirmed only until March 2028, and proposed reforms raise serious concerns about the future of specialist therapeutic support for adopted and kinship children.

We changed our name to atSTAKE: Specialist Therapy, Adoption and Kinship Emergency because the campaign now needs to look beyond the 2025 cuts and focus on what families urgently need protected for the future: access to specialist therapy that understands early-life trauma, neurodevelopmental difference and the complex realities of adoptive and kinship family life.

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, known as the ASGSF, is a government fund in England that helps eligible adoptive and special guardianship families access therapeutic support.

The fund has enabled many families to access specialist therapy, assessments and other therapeutic interventions that would otherwise be unavailable or unaffordable.

In April 2025, the government made major changes to the fund. The annual Fair Access Limit was reduced, separate specialist assessment funding was removed, and match funding for children with the highest level of need was ended.

In February 2026, the government confirmed that the ASGSF would continue until March 2028 while it consults on wider reforms to adoption and kinship support.

at STAKE believes that whatever model replaces or reforms the ASGSF, children and families must retain access to specialist therapeutic support that is properly funded, nationally consistent and capable of meeting complex need.

Developmental trauma refers to the impact of adverse experiences in infancy and childhood, especially when those experiences occur within a child’s closest relationships or caregiving environment.

This can include neglect, abuse, exposure to violence, repeated separation, instability, loss, frightening care, or the absence of safe and consistent adult protection.

For adopted and kinship children, trauma is often compounded by separation from birth family, moves through care, uncertainty, loss of identity, and gaps in early history.

Developmental trauma can affect how a child’s brain, body and nervous system develop. It can shape how they experience safety, relationships, trust, learning, emotions and everyday demands. It can also overlap with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, ADHD and FASD.

Children affected by early trauma may need support that understands both their history and their developmental needs. Generic parenting advice, universal services, short-term interventions or crisis-only services are often not enough.

You can help by following and sharing atSTAKE on social media, and by raising awareness with any services, professionals or organisations you come into contact with. If you would like to offer practical support, please use the contact form at the bottom of this page.

Everyone involved in the campaign is a volunteer. From time to time, we may raise funds to cover essential campaign costs, such as website hosting and travel to events. We are not currently fundraising, but when we are, we will share details through our social media channels.

No. We believe reform is needed. Families have experienced delay, inconsistency, bureaucracy and postcode variation. But reform must protect access to specialist support, build on what works, and avoid replacing specialist provision with lower-level support that cannot meet complex need.

No. atSTAKE is independent of statutory services and therapy providers. We welcome professional expertise, but we are led by parents and carers with lived experience.

Many adopted and kinship children have needs that sit across trauma, attachment, neurodevelopment, identity, loss and family relationships. Generic support is often not enough. Specialist therapeutic work can help children feel safer, support family stability, reduce crisis and improve long-term wellbeing.

No. Early-life trauma does not stop mattering when a young person turns 18. Many adopted and kinship young adults and adults continue to need specialist support, and many families continue to be affected long after childhood.

Professionals and organisations can support atSTAKE by sharing our campaign, listening to families, challenging poor policy, contributing evidence and helping protect access to specialist therapeutic support.