PAC’s Child & Family Service has extensive experience in all aspects of supporting families with adopted children or otherwise permanently placed children.
We have particular expertise in providing advice, assessments and therapeutic support to families whose children experienced abuse, neglect, multiple separations and other traumas prior to their adoption/permanent placement. Working with black and minority ethnic children, and transracially adopted/permanently placed children is another aspect of our expertise.
Referrals can be made by parents, social workers or other professionals. To explore the presenting difficulties, an initial parent consultation will be offered. We will then make recommendations with regard to parenting strategies and other actions parents can take, as well as further assessments and/or therapeutic interventions. Where appropriate a letter requesting funding will be written to the relevant local authority or other potential funding body. Private funding is welcome too.
The range of assessment and therapeutic intervention services we offer is set out below. Almost all of the services offered actively involve the parents. Unlike traditional family therapy most of our therapeutic interventions involve the parent/s and one child at any one time. Please feel welcome to contact us for further explanations, and with any concern you may have whether or not it is listed on this site.
the children can present as
- impulsive
- uncooperative, defiant
- unable to learn from mistakes
- emotionally flat, ‘unfeeling’ or highly reactive
- struggling to make and keep friends
- too familiar with strangers
- confused about their identity
- troubled by their past, their adoption / other placements
- wondering about contact with their birth relatives
prior to joining their current family, they may have experienced
- multiple placements before joining their permanent family
- painful separations from birth parent/s and other carers
- abuse and neglect in their first year/s
- other traumas
their parents / carers may
- have tried many different ways to help their child
- have run out of understanding and energy
- feel isolated, frustrated, disheartened
- just need some ideas or advice about particular issues
Advice line: 020 7284 5879
Our telephone advice line is open:
Monday - Friday 10.00am - 1.00pm
Wednesday & Thursday 5.30pm - 7.30pm
Initial consultation sessions
- parent or couple consultation
- family consultation
Assessments
- comprehensive family assessment
- parent-child interaction assessment
- parent assessment
- assessment of contact needs and arrangements with birth family members
- viability assessment
our assessment methods include:
- wide range of psycho-diagnostic tests
- projective methods (such as Story Stems)
- child-parent interaction assessment (Theraplay MIM)
- adult attachment patterns (ASI)
Therapeutic work
- intensive therapeutic family work for children with early life traumas
- intensive therapeutic parent work to enable parents to become ‘therapeutic parents’
- early intervention and home parenting programme
- life story work for children with less complex histories
- individual sessions for adolescents or parents in the context of therapeutic family or parent work
- contact work between adoptive/permanent placement family and birth family
- disruption support work
our therapeutic work includes:
- Theraplay
- life story processing with art and drama
- inner child work, attachment
- communication, EMDR, somatic experiencing, therapeutic
- parenting strategies
Professional consultation and court reports
- professional consultation for any professionals involved in work with adoption and other permanent placements
- court reports with regard to assessment of placement needs and future support
- advice and training for schools
Bespoke services
We welcome requests for bespoke assessment, intervention and training tailored to the specific needs of local authorities, schools, and other professional agencies.
Our face-to-face services are usually offered at PAC's main office in Kentish Town, London. Certain services can be offered in a family's home if funding allows for travel time and costs.
Parent Consultations are also offered by PAC's outreach counsellors in a number of monthly outreach surgeries in and around London. Please contact us for details.
Please contact us for information on fees.
- help parents and carers understand their child and support them with their feelings and thoughts about their child
- equip parents and carers with effective parenting strategies
- help the child understand their adoption / permanent placement
- support the child in working through their early traumas and the after effects of these
- address issues of ethnicity and identity in the family
- enhance closeness in the family
- prevent family breakdown
- qualified
- experienced
- multi-disciplinary
- multi-cultural and multi-racial
- experienced in working with diversity
Click here to view individual staff profiles of our team.
PAC Child & Family service user feedback
(We found most helpful) the fact that we felt supported for the first time ever since placement by qualified and experienced people. We both recognise that our child made significant progress at PAC. Adoptive parents
We thought the experience was really effective.It was a safe space to work through some of the issues that impact on us as individuals and as a family group. Adoptive family
Early sessions with parents were helpful preparation. The counsellors communicated very effectively with us. Sessions carefully planned taking previous work into account and appropriate needs of our child. Friendly and supportive approach. Adoptive family
Very good. Very professional and competent. I feel we are in good hands and trust the advice given. Adoptive family
Click here to download the Child and Family Brochure
Click here to download the Therapeutic Support for Adoptive Families & Families with Permanently Placed Children & Adolescents Leaflet
Click here to download the PAC Schools Flyer
Click here to download the PAC General Leaflet
