The Apple Tree Centre delivers psychotherapeutic packages of support to adoptive families, Special Guardianship Order kinship placements, children in long term foster care and in residential placements. We gained Ofsted registration as a an Adoption Support Agency in early 2019 and then re-registered when we incorporated as a Limited Company in July 2019, gaining re-registration in 2020.
We welcome referrals from Post Adoption Social Workers and Social Workers from other Looked After Children Teams in the South Yorkshire and East Midlands region. We are an approved provider on both the North Yorkshire Approved provider List and the East Midlands Therapeutic Provider Framework.
To make a referral, download our Referral Form here and return to us via email to info@appletreecentre.co.uk – We will then provide you with a quote for a package of therapeutic support.
We have a proven track record of providing high quality therapeutic support within the fair access limit of the Adoption Support and Special Guardianship Fund (ASGSF). We recognise the limitations of the funding and unfortunately the changes announced in April 2025 mean that we are no longer able to provide funded support to families over an extended period of time.
We routinely include provision for regular therapeutic reviews, and our focus on involving parents and carers in a systemic holistic approach continues to achieve the most sustainable change within funding limitations. Where appropriate, we offer Therapeutic Parenting Support instead of or in preparation for individual therapy, in order to strengthen resilience and support parents and carers to become agents of therapeutic change for their children. We also include multi-systemic therapeutic work with schools and other professionals where this is appropriate to the needs of the child.
Our person centred approach focuses on therapeutic expertise and therefore avoids unnecessary overheads such as expensive standardised assessments. Within the Fair Access Limit we are usually able to provide weekly therapy sessions for a period of around 4-5 months, alongside regular therapeutic review meetings with parents/carers which are designed to reinforce therapeutic progress. We also include an interim review meeting with the referring social worker as well as an ending report including recommendations.
As an Ofsted registered Adoption Support Agency we can also offer sessions to families outside a contract with the Regional Adoption Agency, so if families have the financial means they can choose to continue to self fund longer term therapy. This is charged at our usual discounted rate for private work.
Our charges include normal communication with referrers and commissioning bodies in relation to appointments and cancellations, invoicing, etc, as well as any urgent information sharing in relation to risk of harm.
Once funding is approved we make direct contact with the family to arrange an initial consultation. We allocate therapists from within our team of qualified and experienced therapists, giving adopted and Looked After children access to our full range of age-appropriate therapeutic interventions.
A written guide to the service is provided to all children when they first access the service. This contains a summary of what the Adoption Support Agency can offer, our aims and methods of working, in a manner appropriate to the child’s understanding. Information also includes how to contact Ofsted to give feedback about our service.