Therapeutic Interventions for Children Adopted from Care and Their Adoptive Families

Birmingham Children's Trust (BCT) is responsible for discharging the statutory Social Care duties of Birmingham City Council towards its Children, Young People and Families, among them the duty to provide an Adoption Service. In 2015 the Department for Education introduced the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) for eligible Adopters and Special Guardianship (SGOs) families across England.

This fund is designed to offer families specialist therapeutic support following adoption. The purpose of this specification is to ensure quality provision for eligible Adopters and Special Guardianship (SGOs) families across England.

This service provision is designed to offer families specialist therapeutic support following adoption in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for children, young people and their families in line with statutory legislation and guidance. This requirement has emanated from the Government’s initiative to provide an Adoption Support Fund to Local Authorities and Children’s Trusts to support adoptive families.

BCT is seeking to commission a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for organisation(s) to provide Therapeutic Interventions for children adopted from care and their adoptive families in response to funding available through the Adoption Support Fund (ASF). The DPS will be established on the following categories of therapeutic services: Category 1 - Therapeutic/Attachment Focused Parenting Support, Category 2 - Therapeutic Life Story Work, Category 3 - Psychotherapy, Category 4 - Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Category 5 - Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Category 6 - Solution Focussed BRIEF Therapy, Category 7 - Sensory Integration Processing Therapy/Therapeutic Listening Programme/ Sensory Integration Attachment Therapy, Category 8 - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for the Child, Category 9 - Systemic / Multi Systemic Family Therapy, Category 10 - Video Interaction Guidance, Category 11 - Dialectical therapy (branch of CBT), Category 12 - Reducing Anxiety Management Plan (RAMP), Category 13 - Neuro Integration System Therapy (NIS), Category 14 - Lego Therapy, Category 15 - Dance Movement Therapy, Category 16 - Group Programmes, Category 17 - Educational Psychotherapy, Category 18 - Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Category 19 - Creative Therapy, Category 20 - Theraplay, Category 21 - Mindful Yoga, Category 22 - Non-Violent Resistance (NVR), Category 23 - Training for Adoptive Parents (eg.

Secure Base / SafeBase Parenting Programme), Category 24 - Play Therapy, Category 25 - Therapeutic support for sexualised behaviour/ sexually harmful behaviour, Category 26 - Specialist Assessment, Category 27 - Filial Therapy, Category 28 - Further or more complex assessment, Category 29 Therapeutic Respite Services. The DPS will be for a period of up to a maximum of 3 years, commencing 1st July 2023 until 30th June 2026, (unless terminated under the terms and conditions of contract) with the option to extend for a further two years in yearly increments.

Call-off contracts awarded under the DPS may be in place for up to two years. Contract extension to be reviewed on an annual basis, subject to requirements, availability of funding and satisfactory compliance and performance.

The selection stage consists of qualification questions to select Individuals / Organisations. The questionnaire will be based on mandatory and discretionary exclusion criteria as well as contract specific questions.

Stage 2 – Award Stage – There are two ways of making a call off from this arrangement as detailed below: Direct Award or Further Competition. The DPS will be open to new suppliers to enter throughout the duration.

This enables suppliers who miss the initial advertising of the opportunity or who may not initially meet the selection criteria, another opportunity. Suppliers have the opportunity to review their processes, capability or financial situation and apply or re-apply, as the case may be, for acceptance onto the DPS.

In addition, to support small and medium enterprises, there is the opportunity for suppliers on the DPS to revise their submission as circumstances change. This will allow suppliers to enter the DPS for further categories beyond the one originally accepted for.

The Council will be using its free to use e-tendering system (in-tend) for the administration of this procurement process and potential suppliers must register with the system to be able to express an interest. If you wish to express an interest in this opportunity please click on the following link to access https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc/ and submit your details to register. You will then be sent details on how to log on which will enable you to download all relevant Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation.