We understand that adopted and kinship children are significantly more likely to have been affected by early-life trauma.

We understand that neurodevelopmental difference is also disproportionately common among adopted and kinship children, and that too many children are underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or treated as though their distress is simply behaviour.

We understand that early-life trauma is neurodevelopmental in nature. Its effects can be pervasive, long-lasting and complex, yet this is still poorly understood by many of the statutory services that interact with our families.

We believe that access to specialist therapeutic intervention can help adopted and kinship children feel safer, strengthen family relationships, engage in education and move towards adulthood with greater stability.

We recognise that specialist therapy is repeatedly reported by adoptive families as one of the most effective forms of support available to them.

We believe that therapeutic provision must be safe, skilled, evidence-informed and accountable.

We believe more must be done to develop and strengthen the evidence base around therapeutic interventions for children and young people affected by early trauma.

We also believe that narrow hierarchies of clinical evidence cannot be the only standard used to judge this work. Many adopted and kinship children have complex, overlapping needs that do not fit neatly into single-diagnosis models or short-term outcome measures. Evidence matters, but it must be capable of recognising complexity, relational safety, family stability, school engagement, reduced crisis, improved trust and long-term wellbeing.

We believe reform is needed. Families have experienced delays, inconsistency, bureaucracy and unnecessary stress under the current system. But reform must protect what works, build what is missing, and avoid destabilising children whose lives have already been marked by instability.