0762 Specialist Adoption and SGO Support Services Re-Opening

Tender description

Introduction Essex(ECC), Thurrock and Suffolk (SCC) County Council are seeking to secure a range of good quality providers to deliver support services to adoptive and SGO families. This is to meet statutory duties to provide adoption and SGO support services. The overarching aims of creating a framework are: • to promote sufficiency and capacity of quality services across Essex, Thurrock and Suffolk local • to improve the stability, resilience and wellbeing of adoptive and SGO families and meet their therapeutic needs • to have a compliant mechanism to purchase a variety of specialist therapeutic services • To use funding available for these services including the Adoption Support Fund as effectively and efficiently as possible Scope of Services • Adopted children and those subject to a Special Guardianship Order often have moderate to complex mental health and emotional well-being needs. Therapeutic interventions and assessments are required to assist both children and adults to deal with the long-term effects of what abuse and trauma provide. All services commissioned to provide adoption and SGO support and assessment will meet the following outcomes: • Reduction and/or prevention of adoption and Special Guardianship Order placement disruptions and children re-entering care. • Enable children and families affected by adoption or Special Guardianship Orders to achieve/maintain stability and reach their full potential as individuals and as family groups. • Adoptive and Special Guardianship Order families to enjoy strong and stable family relationships. • Adoptive and Special Guardianship Order families are resilient and have the skills and knowledge to support themselves and each other. Ensure that the most cost efficient and effective services can be supplied to families. • There is an Adoption Support and a Special Guardianship Order Support Teams within ECC Children and Families service. These teams provide universal to complex adoption and SGO support county-wide. Some of these services are provided directly by the adoption and SGO team and the rest via a framework contract of specialist support. When families first contact the adoption and SGO teams they undertake an assessment of their support needs to decide if further support is required and where required a support plan is developed with the family. • Thurrock’s Fostering and Adoption teams offer adoption and SGO support within Children’s Services in Thurrock Council. They too, in common with ECC provide universal to complex support to families and their carers while accessing additional support for more complex cases from the currently contracted provider. When families and carers access the teams for support, they are accessed to understand their needs which informs decisions regarding the level required. • Suffolk currently have a Permanence Support Team offering Adoption Support and a Special Guardianship Order Support Team within Children and Families . These teams are based in the 3 areas of Suffolk. The teams provide universal to complex adoption and special guardianship order support. Some of these services are provided directly from the Permanence Support team and the rest via spot purchase arrangements. When families first contact the Permanence Support team, they undertake an assessment of their support needs, to decide if further support is required and where required, develop a support plan with the family. Approximate Yearly Spend The approximate spend per year through the current framework is £550,000 for Essex, and separately our partners expenditure on these services is £126,000 for Thurrock and £480,000 for SCC with a combined spend of £1,156,000. If the Adoption Support Fund were to end/reduce, then the spend may be significantly reduced however the framework will still be the vehicle used to purchase additional support. Lot 1: Training Training is expected to cover a wide range of skills and approaches as identified within a family individual plan and the most common types of training required are listed below. All training offered should: be delivered by suitably qualified trainers with subject specialism; be clearly focused on meeting the needs and circumstances of adoptive and SGO families; be planned and delivered to timescales agreed with each adoption team; feedback from all course attendees should be sought for each course and given to each Local Authority (LA). This lot includes the following types of training but is not limited to: 1.1. Non Violent Resistance 1.2. Attachment 1.3. Matching 1.4. Transitions 1.5. Theraplay 1.6. Communicating and connecting 1.7. Life story 1.8. Contact 1.9. Friends and family 1.10. Playfulness Acceptance Curiosity Explore 1.11. Therapeutic parenting Lot 2: Therapeutic intervention Therapeutic intervention will be wide ranging in order to meet individual needs but should be evidence based and in line with therapies listed under the ASF. They must be tailored to meet the needs and circumstances of adoptive and SGO families, and planned and delivered to timescales agreed with each adoption team. This lot includes the following types of therapeutic intervention but is not limited to: 2.1 Art therapy 2.2 Dance movement therapy 2.3 Yoga 2.4 Music therapy 2.5 Play therapy 2.6 Group-based art or play therapy 2.7 Filial therapy 2.8 Lego Therapy 2.9 Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) 2.10 Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) 2.11 Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) 2.12 Internal Families System Therapy 2.13 Reducing anxiety management plan (RAMP) 2.14 Sensory Integration Processing Therapy or therapeutic listining Programme 2.15 Cognitive Therapy 2.16 Education Psychotherapy 2.17 Group Based Art or Play Therapy 2.18 Attachment Therapy 2.19 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) 2.20 Child to Parent Violence (CPV) Individual Based Programme 2.21 Multi-systemic family therapy 2.22 Systemic family therapy 2.23 Psychodynamic therapy 2.24 Theraplay 2.25 Koru Project 2.26 Therapeutic life story work for the child 2.27 Individual psychological therapy 2.28 Drama Therapy 2.29 Neuro-integration system therapy (NIS)Psychoanalytical therapy 2.30 Video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting and sensitive discipline (VIPP-SD) Lot 3: Specialist Assessments Following a social work assessment of support needs, there are occasions when a specialist assessment is indicated. Providers will deliver robust clinical assessment of children and young people’s developmental trauma and attachment. All assessments provided should be delivered by suitably qualified trainers and planned and delivered to timescales agreed with each adoption team. The assessments that this service will provide include, but are not limited to: 3.1. Comprehensive systemic family assessments 3.2. Psychological & psychiatric assessments 3.3. Assessments of therapeutic needs 3.4. Assessments of contact needs 3.5. Sensory integration/occupational therapy assessments 3.6. Multi-disciplinary assessments Lot 4: Short Breaks Short breaks commissioned will include therapeutic breaks for the whole family or child only, to provide structured and supported time with access to therapeutic services and an opportunity to develop peer relationships with other adoptive and SGO families. Providers of breaks will be expected to work with the Local Authority to provide a service that will meet the needs of the families referred.