The ATTACH team

Who we are

We are clinical psychologists, therapeutic social workers and an educational psychologist. 

We support adoptive, special guardianship, and foster care families in Oxfordshire, using psychological models to understand the needs of children who no longer live with their birth parents.

Parents, carers, and young people tell us they come to our service and feel understood, not judged. This is really important to us.

We are a therapeutic team within Oxfordshire County Council's Children's Services. In other areas of the country, services like ours may be accessed privately or through the NHS. In Oxfordshire, there is a commitment to providing this therapy through children's services. 

We work closely with, but are separate from, Adopt Thames Valley (ATV). ATV provides adoption support assessments and services for adoptive families, while Oxfordshire's Special Guardianship Support Service provides similar support to special guardianship families.

Parents and carers

We work together with parents and carers to support you and your child to make the changes you want to make, to build healthier relationships, and to thrive as a family. 

We specialise in understanding the experiences of children we care for and their foster carers, adoptive and special guardianship families, but recognise that you are the expert on your family. We centre on childhood trauma, attachment and therapeutic parenting.

How to make a referral to the ATTACH team 

There are different ways to refer to the ATTACH Team.

Adoptive parents can contact the Adopt Thames Valley (ATV) Helpdesk to discuss their needs. If appropriate, the Helpdesk can refer families to us. Special guardians can contact Oxfordshire's Special Guardianship Support Team to discuss whether a referral would be helpful.

Adopt Thames Valley 
Call: 01865 323121
Email: ATV.permanencesupport@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Oxfordshire Special Guardianship Support Team
Call: 01865 323050
Email: SGOsupport@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Adoptive parents and special guardians can also refer themselves to us using our referral form (docx format, 91Kb). Foster carers can be referred by the child's social worker or their supervising social worker.

How we decide what is right for your child and you

Before we meet with you, we will send you some questionnaires to help us understand the nature of the difficulties your child and family are experiencing. 

We usually meet with you initially without your child. This is because it may be easier for you to speak openly without your child present. If it feels helpful, we might meet with your child to better understand themselves and their world.

When we first meet for your assessment, we will spend about an hour and a half building an understanding of your and your child's experiences together and considering what support might be most helpful.

How long do we work with people?

The length of time varies from person to person, depending on the agreed goals and type of work.  Work may vary in length from a single consultation to a series of therapeutic sessions over several months.

Therapeutic interventions

We think carefully about the therapeutic intervention that will be most helpful for you. That might be just with you, as a parent/carer, it may involve your child or be part of a group. Our recommendations are guided by what we know to be effective.

The types of therapeutic interventions we provide include:

• dyadic developmental psychotherapy
• Video interaction guidance
• non-violent resistance
• compassion-focused therapy
• trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy

The therapeutic groups we offer include:

• STAIR (Skills Training in Affect and Interpersonal Regulation) (pdf format, 218 KB)
• Foundations for Attachments Group (pdf format, 214 KB)
• My Brain, My Life (pdf format, 308 KB)

Working together with other services

Families working with us may also be supported by other social care teams:

• CAMHS
• ATV
• Educational Psychology

Or integrated services such as:

• Speech and Language
• Occupational Therapy 
• Communication and Interaction Team

It is helpful for us to know who else you are working with. 

We will work alongside the other teams that are supporting you. With your permission, this may involve talking or meeting with them.

It is usually not helpful for your child to be engaging in psychological therapy with different professionals at the same time, and we would discuss with you and other professionals how we can fit into the support you are receiving.

Working with schools

If your child is experiencing difficulties in education as well as at home, we can provide advice and consultation to schools as part of our wider involvement with the family. Our educational psychologist may also become involved, working closely with the clinician working with your family and with the school.

We do not accept referrals when the concerns are only related to school. In that situation, the school should contact their educational psychologist.

Sharing your information

We are part of Oxfordshire social services and store information and documents on our shared secure computer system. We do not share information with outside agencies without your permission unless we are concerned about your safety or someone else's safety.

Professionals

How to make a referral to the ATTACH team 

Referrals can be made to us by social workers through our shared computer system (LCS Referral Form).

When appropriate, other professionals can refer to us via our referral form (docx, 91 KB). 

We do not accept referrals directly from schools or the virtual school.

Services for professionals

We offer consultation and a wide range of training to colleagues within and outside of the department. 

Contact the team to discuss arranging:

• consultation for professionals
• training 
• supervision
• service liaison
• consultation for considering whether to place siblings together or apart

Services for Professionals (pdf format, 235 KB)

Education and schools

The ATTACH educational psychologist (EP) offers specialist support to schools for children open to the team who are experiencing more complex educational difficulties. The ATTACH EP uses methods such as:

• consultation with schools and carers
• observation
• assessment
• training
• joined-up network involvement

The ATTACH EPs help adults make sense of children's needs in school through an attachment-aware and trauma-informed lens. These methods allow children to feel safer, better understood and more able to thrive in school. 

The ATTACH EP also works closely with the Virtual School and contributes to their training programme for schools, as well as with other professionals in the Educational Psychology Service or SEN Team.

Recommended books 

Books to share with children

• Good Days, Bad Days (Anholt Family Favourites) – Laurence Anholt & Catherine Anholt (a story about the ups and downs of life)
• Goodnight Mister Tom – Michelle Magorian (a story about a boy who thrives with a new carer after experiencing abuse and neglect)
• Giraffes Can't Dance – Giles Andreae (on recognising that everyone has their own strengths)
• How Hattie Hated Kindness: A Story for Children Locked in Rage or Hate – Margot Sunderland & Nicky Armstrong
• I Wish You More – Amy Krouse Rosenthal (a book of love, hope and encouragement)
• Not Again, Little Owl – Vivien Norris (on moving placement and coping with change)
• Owl Babies – Martin Waddell (on separation, abandonment and secure attachment)
• Ruby's Worry – Tom Percival (on understanding and managing anxiety)
• The Boy Who Built a Wall Around Himself – Ali Redford, Plum Stickleberry & Kara Simpson (a story about children who put barriers up in relationships)
• The Colour Monster – Anna Llenas (a book about feelings and emotions)
• The Invisible String – Patrice Karst (on love, connection and coping with separation)
• The Tracy Beaker Series – Jacqueline Wilson (stories about a girl's experience of being in care; may be most suitable for older children)

Books for parents, carers and professionals

• A Therapeutic Treasure Box for Working with Children and Adolescents with Developmental Trauma: Creative Techniques and Activities – Dr Karen Treisman
• Attachment, Trauma and Resilience: Therapeutic Caring for Children – Kate Cairns & Brian Cairns
• Creating Loving Attachments: Parenting with PACE to Nurture Confidence and Security in the Troubled Child – Kim Golding
• Dealing with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder – Mary Mather
• Everyday Parenting with Security and Love – Kim Golding
• Healing Relational Trauma with Attachment-Focused Interventions: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy with Children and Families – Daniel A. Hughes, Kim S. Golding & Julie Hudson
• Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries (2nd Edition): A Self-Help Guide for Parents – Cathy Creswell & Lucy Willetts
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk – Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
• Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain – Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
• New Families, Old Scripts: A Guide to the Language of Trauma and Attachment in Adoptive Families – Caroline Archer & Christine Gordon
• Parenting a Child with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties – Dan Hughes
• Principles of Attachment-Focused Parenting: Effective Strategies to Care for Children – Dan Hughes
• Superparenting! Boost Your Therapeutic Parenting Through Ten Transformative Steps – Amber Elliott
• The A-Z of Therapeutic Parenting: Strategies and Solutions – Sarah Naish
• The Whole-Brain Child – Daniel J. Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson
• Using Stories to Build Bridges with Traumatised Children: Creative Ideas for Therapy, Life Story Work, Direct Work and Parenting – Kim S. Golding
• When Adults Hurt Children: Helping Children Heal from Abuse – Marge Eaton Heegaard
• Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson
• Why Can't My Child Behave? Empathic Parenting Strategies That Work for Adoptive and Foster Families – Amber Elliott