Cat Gifford

Therapeutic Social Worker

Cat Gifford is a HCPC Registered Social Worker. Since qualifying in 2008, Cat has been committed to trying to understand the full journey of the child from child protection work to being involved in court proceedings to plan for permanence. She offers support to children in care, leaving care and those who have been adopted.  Within the last 6 years she has specialised her practice in the area of adoption, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team considering long term therapeutic plans for adopted children, young people and their families.  Her practice is DDP informed and she has a particular interest in the positive impact that therapeutic parenting and taking a PACE approach can have on children who have experienced significant loss and developmental trauma.  She is also committed to helping children, young people and their families to process their experiences both as they happened, but also in the context of the impact today. 

Specialism

Adoption And Fostering, Child Therapy

Locations Covered

Cornwall, Devon

As you may be aware, on the 14th April 2025 the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) announced changes to the Fair Access limit with a reduction of funding to £3000 and the discontinuation of the separate Fair Access Limit for specialist assessments.

We are currently working really hard to amend quotes for ongoing therapy work to fit within the new Fair Access Limit and working closely with Adopt South West and other local RAAs. We are also working closely with other specialist adoption support providers and therapeutic organisations including DDP connects and Theraplay UK to explore how we can continue to deliver specialist therapies within this limit.

If you are waiting for a new package of therapy please look out for correspondence from ASW or your regional adoption support agency, as they will need to regain your consent for the amended therapy contract.

If you are concerned about the impact of the delay on your family or have questions about the therapy or assessment you are waiting for please get in touch with Ellen or Jen and we will do our best to support you.

We will be contributing to a wider response to this and the following is a link to a petition requesting government action – Petition · Action Against ASGSF Changes (Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund) – United Kingdom · Change.org