How the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) Saved Our SGO Placement
When everything nearly fell apart in our SGO journey
There was a moment in our Special Guardianship Order journey where everything we had worked so hard for came very close to falling apart. I do not say that lightly. I say it as someone who has lived through the kind of daily instability that leaves you constantly bracing for the next crisis.
If it were not for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, known as ASGSF, I genuinely do not believe our SGO placement would have survived. That is not an exaggeration or dramatic language. It is simply the reality of our lived experience as a kinship family caring for a traumatised child.
We had already been in survival mode for a long time. The support we eventually received did not just improve things. It held our family together when we were on the edge of collapse.
When they first came to us and everything felt chaotic
When they first came to live with us, life was chaotic in a way I was not prepared for, even though I thought I was.
Their behaviours were intense, unpredictable and at times frightening. There were moments of aggression that seemed to appear without warning. There were emotional storms that could not be soothed, no matter how much reassurance or calm we tried to offer. There were days where nothing worked and nights where nobody slept properly.
We were exhausted in a way that goes beyond tiredness. It was a deep emotional and physical depletion. We questioned ourselves constantly. Were we doing something wrong. Were we failing them. Were we enough.
We loved them fiercely, but love on its own was not enough to reach the parts of them that were hurting.
This is something I think many people outside kinship care and SGO families do not fully understand. Love is essential, but it is not a treatment for trauma.
The early narrative we were given and why it mattered
At the time, we were given a very clear message from professionals. We were told that because they were a baby when everything happened, they would not be affected. We were told that once they were in a secure and loving family environment, they would thrive.
Those words were delivered with confidence. They sounded reassuring at the time. Looking back now, I understand how harmful that assumption was.
Trauma does not follow neat timelines. It does not wait until a child can remember it. It does not stay neatly in the past. It lives in the nervous system and in the body. It can begin even before birth.
What we were told did not match what we were living. And that gap between expectation and reality left us feeling like we were constantly failing, when in fact we were responding to a level of need that had never been properly recognised.
If you are interested in reading more about how kinship carers navigate early misunderstandings and support gaps, I have written more here about kinship care support and lived experience: Kinship
Finding the ASGSF programme and everything beginning to shift
Our lifeline came through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.
ASGSF changed everything for us.
Through this programme, they were able to access occupational therapy both in school and outside of school. For the first time, support looked at the whole child rather than just focusing on behaviour. That distinction matters more than I can fully explain in words.
Instead of asking what is wrong with this child, professionals began to ask what has happened to this child and what do they need to feel safe.
That shift changed the entire direction of our journey.
The therapy gave them tools that they had never had access to before. It helped with emotional regulation, sensory processing, and understanding their own internal responses. It also helped us as carers understand what was happening beneath the behaviour we were seeing every day.
Alongside this, they finally received a diagnosis that made sense of so many of the struggles we had been witnessing. That moment was significant. It gave language to something that had previously felt unexplainable.
We were no longer dealing with a so called difficult child. We were caring for a child with trauma related needs and neurodevelopmental differences that required understanding and specialist support.
That change in language changed how we parented. It changed how school responded. It changed how we saw them.
It also changed how we saw ourselves.
What actually changed in our daily life
The impact of ASGSF on our family was not small. It was substantial and life altering.
The aggression began to reduce over time. The meltdowns, while still present, became less intense and more manageable. School became a safer place for them. Home became less chaotic and more predictable.
There were still difficult days. That has never disappeared completely. But there was finally space to breathe again.
We stopped living in constant crisis mode. That alone felt life changing.
Most importantly, they began to feel safer in their own body. That is something I will never take for granted.
This is why early intervention through programmes like ASGSF is so important for kinship care and Special Guardianship Order families. It is not optional support. It is foundational support.
The moment funding was cut and what it felt like
When we heard that ASGSF had been cut, it felt like the ground disappeared beneath us.
It felt like watching something that had been holding vulnerable children and families together suddenly being pulled away.
There was fear in the kinship and SGO community that was immediate and very real. Campaigning followed. Conversations happened everywhere. People spoke up because so many of us knew exactly what was at stake.
Eventually the programme was reinstated, but with significantly reduced funding available per child.
That reduction matters more than it might appear on paper.
Because these are children who often arrive having experienced multiple losses. Some have moved from birth family to foster care, then into kinship or SGO placements. Each move carries emotional weight. Each separation adds another layer to already complex trauma.
Reducing support does not reduce need. It only reduces access to healing.
What people often misunderstand about SGO and trauma
There is a common misunderstanding that once a child is placed in a loving and stable home, everything naturally resolves itself.
This is what we were lead to believe. I wish that were true. It would make life easier for everyone involved.
But trauma does not disappear because a child is safe now. Safety is only the beginning of recovery, not the end of it.
In our experience, the trauma our child carried was layered. It was shaped by early experiences, by separation, by instability, and by nervous system responses that had developed long before they arrived in our care.
Even when children are very young, stress in pregnancy and early life can shape brain development and emotional regulation. This is not about blame. It is about understanding.
Without that understanding, we risk misinterpreting trauma responses as behaviour problems.
If you are exploring more about this side of kinship care, I have written a reflective piece here on living with neurodiverse children and complex needs in family life: Life as a Kinship Carer: What No One Prepares You For
Why ASGSF matters for SGO and kinship families
The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund is not an optional extra.
It is a stabilising force for families who are often already stretched emotionally, physically and financially.
It provides access to trauma informed therapy, occupational support, and specialist interventions that many families would otherwise not be able to access.
Without it, many placements would be at risk of breakdown. Not because families are unwilling or unloving, but because the level of need is often greater than what informal support can hold.
In our case, ASGSF quite literally saved our placement.
It gave us tools, understanding, and professional support at the exact moment we were close to breaking.
Why I continue to speak about this
I do not share this story for sympathy. I share it because it reflects a wider truth about kinship care, Special Guardianship Orders, and the realities of raising children who have experienced early trauma.
These children deserve support that matches their needs, not assumptions about what they should be able to cope with.
Families like ours do not need perfection. We need access to appropriate, consistent, trauma informed support that recognises what these children have been through.
ASGSF gave us that. Reducing it risks taking that away from others who are still in the middle of their hardest days.
About me
I am a married mother of four children. One of those children we are legal guardians and kinship carers under a Special Guardianship Order.
I run a small business and I write about family life, kinship care, neurodiverse children, chronic illness and disability including ME CFS, spinal stenosis, chronic pain and fibromyalgia.
I am also living all of this in my mid forties, which still feels slightly surreal some days, but it is our real life and I share it here honestly as we go.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) is a government-funded scheme designed to help eligible adoptive families and Special Guardianship Order (SGO) families access therapeutic support for children who have experienced trauma, neglect or abuse.
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Applications are usually made by your local authority or regional adoption agency on your behalf. Families cannot apply directly, but you can ask your social worker or support team to begin the process if your child has assessed therapeutic needs.
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Not automatically. Eligibility depends on individual circumstances and whether an assessment identifies therapeutic support that meets the funding criteria.
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Funding may be available for specialist trauma-informed therapies, therapeutic parenting support, family therapy, play therapy and other evidence-based interventions recommended following an assessment.
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In our case, the support funded through the ASGSF provided specialist therapeutic intervention that helped us better understand trauma-related behaviours, strengthened our placement and gave us practical strategies to support our child. Without it, maintaining stability would have been significantly more challenging.
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While every family’s experience is different, access to the right therapeutic support can make a huge difference. Early intervention can improve relationships, reduce crises and help families stay together during difficult periods.
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Unfortunately not. Funding arrangements and eligibility can change, which has created uncertainty for many families. It is important to speak with your local authority as early as possible if your child needs support.
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Start by speaking to your child’s social worker, virtual school, or post-order support team. Ask for an assessment of your child’s therapeutic needs and discuss whether an application to the ASGSF may be appropriate.
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Your local authority, regional adoption agency or post-order support team should be able to explain the current funding arrangements, eligibility requirements and application process.
Disclaimer: I am not a qualified expert. This FAQ is based on my own experiences as a parent and what I have learned while raising my child. It reflects personal insight, not professional advice.