Supporting adopted children and young people: are you qualified?
BACP Children, Young People and Families, September 2020

I had just started working as a school counsellor when I was allocated my first client. I was given some background information, including the fact that the young person was adopted. Having discovered, post qualification, that I am not able to work with those who are adopted or have adopted, I panicked slightly at the thought of having to refuse my first referral. It is interesting to note that I was not given this information during my training to become a counsellor, but it came up during a development day by chance. I find this concerning, considering that the Adoption and Children Act 2002¹ sets out the legislation that determines our competence to work with adopted clients and adopters.

Back to my panic. I learnt from my supervisor that as long as the work didn’t focus on my client being adopted, I could start working with them and we would review this if adoption came up. It never did. My next interaction with someone who had experienced adoption was a mother who was struggling with her adopted children. This was not a counselling session; the mother just needed an outlet. However, at the back of my mind, I was also thinking, ‘I am not qualified for this’. I also was unsure how to point her in the right direction for the specialist help she required.

Working with the young person in school and meeting the parent with adopted children prompted me to want to find out how I could train to work with adopters and adoptees. It turns out, it is not easy. In order for counsellors to work with adopted clients, there is a legal requirement to either register with Ofsted as an Adoption Support Agency (ASA) or work for a recognised ASA. It is not acceptable to work with clients who are adopted or adopters as an independent practitioner. In order to comply with the only two options available, specific training must be undertaken. Unfortunately, this training is not readily available. So, where does that leave the adopted and the adopters who are in need of therapeutic support?

The legislation relating to adoption includes statements such as, ‘Adoption Support Agencies should aim to provide the best possible care for children,’¹ and, ‘Observe standards, responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of each individual child and service user.’¹ As counsellors and therapists who work with children and young people, don’t we already endeavour to do that in accordance with BACP’s Ethical Framework?²

The Department for Education (DfE) has set out national minimum standards relating to adoption³ which is underpinned by the Adoption and Children Act 2002¹ and Adoption Agencies Regulations 20054. The standards in this document set out requirements for adopted children and adopters, such as, ‘…children have access to independent advice and support.’⁴ I wonder if this support includes counselling? Another standard states, ‘…adoption agencies and adoption support agencies work effectively with agencies concerned with child protection, eg the responsible authority, schools, hospitals, general practitioners etc, and do not work in isolation from them’.⁴ It is unclear whether counselling is included, given that one of our primary concerns is child protection. Another standard looks at ensuring prospective adopters engage and work with any education setting relevant to the child, to support the child’s education, to overcome any problems they may be experiencing in that setting.⁴ Again, it is unclear whether this includes school counsellors or whether other school staff need specific training to support adopted children who attend their school.

The legislation states the need for adopted children, adopters and birth parents to have access to support to help them work through any problems they are experiencing, and counselling is mentioned as part of that support.⁴ Also stated are the necessary requirements for working with adopted people, adopters and birth parents, and these include understanding the adoption process and its effects on all parties. This, I completely understand. Of course, it is necessary to understand the process before being able to work with those directly affected by adoption, but isn’t it possible to learn the process through training, like counsellors and therapists do for other specialisms?

Dr Patricia Lantis of Emery University School of Medicine, Atlanta, wrote a paper about her journey as an adoptive parent, called, We don’t know what we don’t know: post adoption support of families caring for traumatized children.⁵ She says, ‘One of the biggest challenges faced by adoptive parents is the access to mental health professionals who are experienced in childhood trauma and neglect.’⁵ Children who have suffered trauma will usually have developmental difficulties and, according to a Hadley Centre study of non-baby adoption placements carried out in 2006, over 60% of adopted children were found to have four risk factors in their background: neglect, physical and sexual abuse, multiple placements and carers and birth parents with a history of substance misuse and/or mental health problems.⁶

Counsellors and therapists are committed to continuous professional development and are qualified and experienced enough to work with the issues associated with adoption. What seems to be lacking, is the specific training in adoption legislation and process. I contacted my local authority to ask about the training required to work with adopted children, and I was advised to contact my professional body. I have looked at BACP’s website, read the resources available and contacted BACP directly, but I was directed to resources I had already read. BACP’s GPiA 003 Legal Resource: Adoption law in England within the counselling professions,⁷ states what I had already discovered: that an individual practitioner cannot work with an adopted client if that is the focus of their work.⁷ In order to register as an adoption support agency or work with a client who wants to focus on adoption, specific training is required. The only training provider I found is Barnardo’s, who are not currently running the training.

There is an exemption to being able to work with adopted clients, stated in GPiA 003, which says, ‘If an adopted-related issue only emerges after counselling is established and is not the primary concern or focus of counselling, the law does not require you to register.’⁷ The main point I found relating to this is stated under the learning, development and qualifications section of the national minimum standards. It states, ‘All social workers and other specialists are professionally qualified and, where applicable, registered by the appropriate professional body. They are appropriately trained to work with children, their families and adoptive families, and have a good understanding of adoption.’³ 

I understand the importance of specific training in such a complex situation. Children who have been adopted are vulnerable, and their families need specific support. So why is it so difficult to find the necessary training and to have to go to such lengths in order to help such a vulnerable and in-need group of people? Counsellors and therapists who have had trauma training are surely qualified enough to work with this group of people. If they also have training on the adoption process and legislation, why is it necessary to register as an ASA in order to be able to work with them? I wonder if the process could be simplified without taking away the level of skill required. Could the training be made more available so that more counsellors and therapists could be qualified to help, rather than turn away clients who need our support? I am more than willing to ensure I am competent to work with the complex issues that clients bring. I am just not sure why the process has to be so complicated.