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I would pay for the assessment if you can possibly manage to then use it to get the other services if you can. We paid for an ADHD assessment after having taken ages to go through the system and been told by the psychiatrist who did a screening test that he was fully trained to do screenings and she did not meet the criteria. We got a private assessment within a week by someone very experienced in the field who knew right away she had ADHD which actually comes out as severe. As for the ASF - I think it depends on what you want. We applied for a specialist therapy service - for people with learning difficulties / autism who had experienced trauma - which was really needed and which had been suggested by two different organisations and it was turned down. We later applied to them for life story work and it was agreed immediately - I guess because it’s one of their standard services. Any assessment you can get is helpful so I would get it ASAP even if that means privately then you have something concrete to use in your applications

Re: ASF

There's a list of what's in/out of scope here: https://www.first4adoption.org.uk/adoption-support/financial-support/adoption-support-fund/

In short, they definitely won't pay for ASD/ADHD assessments which have a medical pathway. They may pay for assessments which are part of a bigger assessment of all of their needs and are trauma/attachment focused.

A note of caution re ASF: my experience currently is that getting theraputic services via ASF is glacially slow due to COVID backlogs. We have funding in place for various things but nothing actually happening.

In Scotland we dont have ASF - but I paid for independent help and luckily because my DD came from ENGLAND THE PLACING AUTHORITY PAID FOR US TO GO TO Catchpoint but I still had to pay for transport and accommodation - it was worth every penny but was hard

oops didnt mean to shout!!!!!!!