Fostering, Adoption and Kinship Care (FAKT)

(We are able to provide this information in any language you require or in other formats such as large text. Please speak to your clinician or email businesssupport@tavi-port.nhs.uk and we will arrange this.)

Our specialist NHS multi-disciplinary team has over twenty-five years of experience of providing mental health and emotional wellbeing services for children, young people and families who are living in kinship, fostering and adoptive families, or in residential and other kinds of social care accommodation.

We can offer long term and/or intensive treatment for children as well as short term work, group work, assessments, carer/parent work, consultation to schools and networks.

Our team includes Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, Systemic Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Social Work and clinicians training in all of these disciplines. 

What to expect

You and your family will be offered a number of meetings to explore what are the strengths and difficulties in your family and what you might want to be different.  Clinicians will spend time trying to find out more about you and your circumstances and what they can offer to you and your family to help you bring about the changes you want to make.  

Once there is a clear and agreed understanding of what you and your family might want to achieve, a treatment plan will be offered.  This might include some individual, family or group therapy, therapeutic parenting work, network meetings, school liaison, neuro-developmental assessments and psychiatric assessments, tailor made to address your needs.

Who you’ll meet

We are a diverse team of clinicians who are passionate about working with and learning from the different communities and cultures we serve.  We are interested in how feelings of sameness and difference are an important and sometimes difficult aspect of getting to know and trust each other.  We try hard to include in our thinking themes of gender, race, age, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, spirituality and disability as well as many other aspects of our humanity.

Your first point of contact will usually be our team administrator. The team consists of a range of professionals including: child psychotherapists, systemic psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, psychological therapists and child psychiatrists working together to support your care.

The team’s work is described in:

“Creating New Families: Therapeutic Approaches to Fostering, Adoption and Kinship Care” (2006) Kenrick, J, Lindsey, C and Tollemache, L (Eds); Tavistock Clinic Series/Karnac

“Surviving and Thriving in Care and Beyond - Personal and Professional Perspectives” (2016) Barratt, S. and Lobatto, W. (Eds); Karnac

Contact details

Team Admin Contact

• Tel: 020 8938 2500 (9am-5pm Monday- Friday)
• Email: FAKTAdmin@Tavi-Port.nhs.uk
• Address: Tavistock Centre, 120 Belsize Lane, London NW3 5BA

Referral infomation

General Enquiries - CYAF Intake

• Tel: 020 8938 2241 
• Email: tpn-tr.CYAF-intake@nhs.net

Evidence base

We are informed by a number of NICE guidelines, particularly by the Nice Guidelines for Looked-after children and young people. We work in a flexible and adaptive way as current evidence and research may not match the circumstances of each family.