Adoption Support Fund

Assessment

The TCPG provide specialist and complex clinical psychology assessments for the emotional needs of children who are looked after/adopted. Our comprehensive assessments include:

  • Review of existing/ relevant reports & files

  • Clinical psychology interview and standardised questionnaires with adoptive parent(s)/carers and other professionals when appropriate, for example, social worker and teacher

  • School observations of child (when appropriate) or observation in other important environments

  • Clinical psychology interview and standardised questionnaires with child

  • Behavioural observations of child

  • Behavioural observations of child and adoptive parent(s)/carers

  • Family observations

  • Play sessions with child

  • Sessions with siblings and/or siblings and child where appropriate

  • Additional assessments indicated by referral information and/ or throughout the assessment process

Formulation

When the assessment is completed the information is used to inform and develop a trauma-led, attachment focused formulation. This is a psychological understanding of the child’s needs, functioning and child/adoptive parent(s)/carers relationship. The formulation will highlight areas for intervention.

Assessment Feedback

The assessment, formulation and recommended interventions will be communicated to the family and professionals via verbal and written communication. Examples of this include:

  • Comprehensive written reports for professionals and families

  • Family friendly reports (if appropriate/ requested)

  • Liaison with relevant agencies (if appropriate/ requested)

  • Feedback sessions with family and other professional groups if needed (i.e. school)

All written reports are sent to a second clinical psychologist for review and supervision before being shared with the family.

The assessment process usually takes between 12-24 weeks in total.

Interventions

Informed by the Clinical Psychology Assessment and Formulation TCPG offers integrative formulation-driven interventions tailored to the context/needs of the child/ family/ system.

Our interventions are informed by several different psychological models and theories. The therapeutic support we provide includes, but are not limited to:

  • Therapeutic parenting

  • PACE informed therapeutic support

  • Video Interaction Guidance

  • Psychotherapy

  • Attachment therapy

  • Solution Focussed brief therapy

  • Narrative therapy

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for the child

  • Trauma Focussed therapy for the child

  • Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy

  • Cognitive Analytical informed Therapy

  • Extensive life story work with a therapeutic intervention

Initial sessions are likely to include psychoeducation with parent/s on important issues such as attachment, typical child development, effects of early trauma on attachment, behaviour and relationships, brain development, and communication.

We work with families primarily to prevent difficulties and support with emerging difficulties for both the child and the family. We are not a diagnostic service and we are not CAMHS. We do not complete assessments to ascertain whether children reach diagnostic criteria for ADHD or ASD and are not best-placed to work with families in crisis. We have a lot of experience working with families and we work with the family as a whole from a trauma and attachment informed perspective to help support the child. This means that our first step is usually to work with parents/carers.

During the intervention we provide liaison with other professionals for example schools and we also complete an end of intervention report which outlines the work completed, the goals achieved and future work that may be needed.