Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: Care(less) People

Happy Spring bank holiday

I started the bank holiday weekend at the Hop Tub in Hurstpierpoint. It’s one of a number of brilliant and innovative micro breweries in Mid Sussex. I was pleased to be able to give the Hop Tub, the Hop Sun and the Brickworks a shout-out during Treasury Oral Questions last Tuesday, where I challenged ministers to say what support they are providing to our pubs and microbreweries.

I hope that you will be able to get out today and perhaps enjoy a drink at one of our locals. 

Demanding a better deal for adoption and kinship families

In the Monday Mail that went out on 7th April, I declared a ‘win for adopted children’. I am sorry to say that I spoke too soon. 

At the time, I was pleased that following pressure from the Liberal Democrats, the ‘Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund’ (ASGSF) had been renewed. The ASGSF is a £50 million pot of money that pays for counselling and therapy for children who have been adopted, or are subject to a special guardianship order.

However, during the Easter break, the government issued a further update changing the rules about how this fund can be spent. This revealed that the maximum amount each child can receive has been cut by 40% from £5,000 to £3,000. Within this, the initial assessment costs must now also be found. In simple terms, whilst the overall fund has stayed at £50 million, it is going to be spread more thinly. I assume that the government’s hope is that more children can be supported, but in reality these limitations will woefully fail to meet the actual costs of providing the therapies that deeply traumatised children require. 

Last week I met parents of adopted children in Parliament who told me what these changes mean for their families. They told me that these therapies are a lifeline to families whose children have experienced profound trauma prior to finding a new family. The ASGSF fund not only helps children understand their past, and put the building blocks in place to help them have a better future, but parents told me that getting the right support is the difference between adoptions failing and children going back into the care system, or an adoptive family being able to stay together. 

As you can watch for yourself in the videos on this Facebook post, on Tuesday afternoon, I and many other MPs put this to the Childrens and Families Minister in a debate in Westminster Hall. I like the Minister and I think she understands the issues, but I found her response woeful.  

I then presented my application for debate on the ASGSF to the ‘Backbench Business Committee’. This was a bit like a dragons den pitch. I am pleased that my debate was granted, but it won’t be selected for debate for some months.

We will keep the pressure up on the government, because I think many MPs understand that these children cannot speak for themselves, and so it is incumbent upon each of us to ensure that their futures are as bright as possible.

Care(less) People

My reading pile is stacking up. 

I am currently very much enjoying Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams which is a memoir of working at Facebook. It’s a cracking read, and is a good reminder (if it were needed) of the transformational consequences of the social media age upon individuals, society and global politics. 

Of course, I am also reading Why I Care by Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey during the Whitsun Recess. I thought this interview with Ed on GB News showed that we can all connect over a shared story.

Getting in touch

My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch.

Best wishes,

Alison

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