In September 2023 the Government confirmed their plans to remove the requirement for therapists and some providers of adoption support services to be registered with Ofsted, expected to take effect by Winter*.

Home for Good welcomes this important change within the support landscape, having called for the Government to take these steps in a submission made in Spring 2023. Having consulted and listened to the experiences of adoptees, adoptive parents, and therapists, Home for Good made a case within this submission that Ofsted registration of therapists to support adopted adults was preventing many from accessing the support they need. We welcome the Government’s subsequent announcement that they would bring this change into force.

From our consultation, we heard that too often adoptees and adopters are waiting years before accessing the support they desperately need, by which point the original issue and its impact may have been compounded. We also heard how difficult it is for adult adoptees to access counselling and therapeutic services and the detrimental impact this has on the wellbeing of many adult adoptees and their families.

In addition, these changes also release adoption support services that operate through adoption agencies, from needing to be Ofsted registered. Quality checks of these services will still be undertaken through the agency to ensure accountability and that standards remain high.

Ofsted regulation is vital for maintaining high standards of care across many areas of Children’s Social Care. However, there was overwhelming consensus among those who responded to the Government’s consultation that removing these requirements would not lead to a drop in standards. Meanwhile the availability of services is expected to increase over time.

At Home for Good we are encouraged by the changes soon to be in effect, which we hope will have a positive long-term impact for adoptees and adoptive families. We recognise there is still a long way to go to ensure the right support, at the right time, is available to adoptees and their families, but this is a step towards removing barriers that currently restrict access to support.

We are grateful to those who helped contribute to our submission to the consultation. If you would like to speak to a member of our Family Care team, you can do so by calling 0300 001 0995

*Subject to parliamentary approval.