It’s All About Me Scheme

A nationwide service to find and train adoptive families for children who are suitable for adoption but ‘harder to place’.

  • Bedford Borough Council

  • Northumberland County Council

  • Bristol City Council

  • Tower Hamlets Borough Council

  • Derby City Council

  • Ealing Borough Council

  • Medway Council

  • Bolton Council

  • North Somerset Council

  • Leeds City Council

  • Cabinet Office

  • Action for Children

  • Adoption Matters

  • PACT

  • After Adoption

  • Caritas Care

  • Family Futures

  • South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

  • Location

    Nationwide

  • Launch

    Oct 2014

  • Area

    Fostering & Adoption

Collaborators & funding partners

  • Bedford Borough Council

  • Northumberland County Council

  • Bristol City Council

  • Tower Hamlets Borough Council

  • Derby City Council

  • Ealing Borough Council

  • Medway Council

  • Bolton Council

  • North Somerset Council

  • Leeds City Council

  • Cabinet Office

Delivery Partners

  • Action for Children

  • Adoption Matters

  • South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

  • After Adoption

  • Caritas Care

  • PACT

  • Family Futures

Team

Collaborators & funding partners

  • Bedford Borough Council

  • Northumberland County Council

  • Bristol City Council

  • Tower Hamlets Borough Council

  • Derby City Council

  • Ealing Borough Council

  • Medway Council

  • Bolton Council

  • North Somerset Council

  • Leeds City Council

  • Cabinet Office

Delivery Partners

  • Action for Children

  • Adoption Matters

  • South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

  • After Adoption

  • Caritas Care

  • PACT

  • Family Futures

  • Andrew Levitt

    Co-Founder and Executive Director of Operations, Innovation and Learning

    Andrew is Co-Founder of Bridges Outcomes Partnerships and Executive Director of Operations, Innovation and Learning. He is a Director of Kirklees Better Outcomes Partnership, GM Homes Partnership, Homelessness Support, the Single Homeless Prevention Service and is a Trustee of West London Zone.

    Prior to Bridges, Andrew was Managing Director of a social enterprise “Baobab” in Madagascar, and a non-Executive board member of two other financial inclusion social enterprises, in Senegal and China.

  • Antony Ross

    Senior Advisor

    Antony is a member of the Bridges board and is actively involved in the management of the Bridges portfolio. He is also a trustee for the Bridges Impact Foundation.

    Antony has over 20 years of private equity and venture capital investment experience in a wide range of businesses, from early- stage development opportunities to later-stage management buy-outs. He joined 3i in 1988 and led a number of successful MBO investments before managing 3i’s Newcastle office in 1995. He then managed 3i’s Cambridge office before leading 3i’s healthcare team, which invested in medical technology and biotechnology businesses across Europe.

    Antony is a Teaching Fellow at London Business School and lectures on financing entrepreneurial business in London, Dubai and India. He is also Director of the North-East based seed fund, NorthStar Ventures, and was previously a director of two other early-stage technology spin-out funds and a founder director of the Cambridge Network.

    He studied Mechanical Engineering at Bristol University and has an MBA from London Business School.

    Antony was awarded an OBE for services to social enterprise and social investment in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Overview

It’s All About Me (‘IAAM’) is a nationwide scheme focused on finding adoptive families for ‘harder to place’ children, who would otherwise grow up in foster care or children’s homes.

Research shows that if a child grows up in the care system, they are less likely to find a job as an adult; they also cost the taxpayer around three quarters of a million pounds until they reach 18 years old. Where a child is adopted from care, however, they can often catch up; successful adoptions save local authorities care costs and creates over £500m of total social value (e.g. reduced offending, avoiding poor physical/mental health outcomes or poor education/training outcomes).

The IAAM programme is delivered by six Voluntary Adoption Agencies: Action for Children, Adoption Matters NW; After Adoption; Caritas Care; Family Futures; and PACT. These charities are experienced at finding, training and supporting families to adopt children, particularly those with complex needs.

Outcomes

The ‘It’s All About Me’ scheme engaged with 27 families, supporting 17 placements to be stable for 2 years, enabling a consistent and secure environment for these children to grow up in.

  • 27

    Starts to the programme

  • 17

    Placements stable for 2 years

  • £1.3m

    Outcomes achieved

  • £1.8m

    Value to Government

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