Cash boost for adopters

The council wants to offer support before and after adoption

Thousands of pounds of extra funding has been granted to adoption services in Bath and north east Somerset it has been announced.

Social services chiefs in the region are celebrating a cash injection from the government which will mean they can extend the help they offer to adopters.

This year £25,000 will be paid out and the figure will increase over the next two years.

As a result a new allowances scheme has been set up which will see more parents getting financial help.

The money has also enabled Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) to create a specialist social worker post and offer parents more sessions from paediatric and psychology services.

We are trying to improve the support services for adoptive families by giving them the help and support they need to make the placement work Sarah Acheson, B&NES

Sarah Acheson, senior practitioner in the council's family placement team, said: "The funding has meant we can broaden our allowance scheme and hopefully include more families who would previously have been excluded.

"It has also allowed us more flexibility to pay in ways we didn't before, for example to parents who adopted 10 years ago."

She said the funding would help them to improve support services with the aim of removing the idea that asking for help is an admission of failure.

"We are trying to improve the support services for adoptive families by giving them the help and support they need to make the placement work," she said.

"Those working in the field have known for a long time that increased responsibility and the finance to do it was needed. It has really been recognised now."