Adopt Thames Valley (ATV) is the Regional Adoption Agency, established in December 2017, for seven local authorities: Oxfordshire County Council, Swindon Council, Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire, Wokingham, Reading, and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. ATV’s Anchor Team will be working with adoptive families across the region, except for those living within Oxfordshire, who access therapeutic support via the ATTACH team. We also work with Special Guardianship families in Wokingham and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Our Model

With a foundation in a shared understanding of the impact of early attachment relationships and developmental trauma on all aspects of an individual’s functioning, our multidisciplinary team will work with families to provide a wide range of support across multiple areas of need: educational, psychological and sensory integrations.

Referral Criteria

We aim to place as few barriers to care as possible. Thus, the team accepts referrals for consideration based on concerns regarding family/placement stability in its broadest sense. The team aims to meet the need of families whose difficulties are underpinned by their child’s early experiences of developmental trauma and/or the adoption process.

The team will offer consultation to professionals regarding adoption and Special Guardianship families who may not meet the threshold for assessment.

Educational Psychology (EP)

The primary goal of educational psychology is to enable children and young people to thrive in school environment.

Occupational Therapy (OT)

The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable children and young people ot participate in the activities of everyday life. The impact of developmental trauma in the typical development of a child’s sensory motor system can make it more difficult for children to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to.

Consultations

Both our Educational Psychologist and Occupational Therapist offer consultations.

EP Consultations offer the opportunity to meet with an EP to think about school-based concerns.  OT consultations offer the opportunity to meet with our OT to think about the sensory needs of the children and young people you work with.

They can be booked, by

• Social workers and other practitioners working for ATV
• Virtual Schools staff in Berkshire and Swindon
• School staff in Berkshire or Swindon working with children and young people who have been adopted. (Fee payable).

Training

The Anchor Team offers a variety of training.

EP currently offers:

• Trauma and the Brain: What do we know
• PACE In Education Workshop
• Best practice for schools working with adoptive and SGO children
• Making sense of behaviour that challenges
• Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) and Developmental Trauma
• Adoption, Adolescence and Identity

For more information on EP training, see our leaflet.

OT offers:

• Training, Interoception: the hidden sense
• Sensory Ladders for self-regulation
• Sensorimotor development and trauma
• Sensory smart classrooms

For more information on OT training, see leaflet.

How to refer and further information

ATV Staff: Please refer via LCS forms.

Other Professionals: Please download the referral form and return to Anchor by email.

For further information about consultations and training, please email:

ATV.AnchorTeam@oxfordshire.gov.uk