Enhancing Adoptive Parenting (EAP) and Early Intervention Support (EIS): Parenting programmes for new adopters and special guardians - plus NEW ONLINE VIDEO RESOURCE

Enhancing Adoptive Parenting (EAP) is a parenting programme designed for new adoptive parents whose children are aged between 3 and 9, and who have been in placement for 12 months or less. The programme is also suitable for special guardians, as well as prospective adoptive parents/special guardians, and it may be suitable for families whose children are older than 9 years, or who have been in placement for longer than 12 months.

The EAP programme was devised by Professor Alan Rushton OBE and Dr. Helen Upright. Professor Rushton is a former PAC-UK Chair of Trustees and Dr Upright is Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Cambridgeshire Fostering and Adoption Clinical Psychology Service. Unlike some other parenting resources, the EAP programme was rigorously tested for effectiveness in a Randomised Controlled Trial as part of the Adoption Research Initiative (funded by the Department for Education and the Nuffield Foundation).

The EAP programme, as well as EIS is usually delivered within the home or via Teams/Zoom by a specially trained counsellor or therapist.

In addition we offer Early Intervention Support (EIS), which consists of 4 sessions for families whose early placement support needs are to be clarified. The EAP programme may be advised to follow EIS.

The EAP programme, as well as EIS is usually delivered within the home or via Teams/Zoom by a specially trained counsellor or therapist. Our leaflet with further information can be found at the bottom of this page. If you are a social worker or professional who would like to commission the EAP or EIS for a family, please contact us.

We found each session extremely beneficial, we put in practice the various strategies over the past 10 weeks with the girls, learned a lot about how to approach various difficulties (which we are already using) and the homework brought it all together.Adoptive Parent.

To support EAP delivery, we have created an ONLINE resource of 10 short VIDEO sessions which cover the programmes’ core content. The average length of each session is around 10 minutes. These video sessions are now an integral part of the face-to face or Teams/Zoom delivery of the EAP programme (and possibly EIS).

The 10 video sessions can also be purchased directly by parents and carers for £35 (plus VAT). Once payment is made you will receive instant access. You can make your purchase here:

For online payments - complete your purchase here for instant access

The 10 video sessions can be purchased directly by social workers too, e.g. for individual prospective adopters/special guardians, or group trainings, for £99 (plus VAT). You can order your license/s here:

For invoice and purchase order payments - order your online video resource license/s here

Adoption UK published a review (see below extract) of the online 10 video sessions in their Adoption Today magazine of February 2019, which you can read in full here.

Click on the image to read a review of the online 10 video sessions published in Adoption Today.

This series of video clips is a great addition to any adoptive parent’s toolkit. They provide a good backdrop to a support network of people who ‘get it’. A good resource to watch, consider then return to and dip in to over time.

In our tenth year as adoptive parents, we wonder what we might have done differently if this kind of resource and information had been available when we started out.Ruth, Adoptive Parent.

The Enhancing Adoptive Parenting (EAP) programme has two main aims:

  1. To help adopters and special guardians understand their child’s problems and how they may be related to their previous experiences, with particular reference to early trauma and lack of secure attachments
  2. To provide practical parenting strategies to help adopters and special guardians manage a range of problems, with particular reference to:
  • Understanding Attachment Insecurity
  • Regulation Difficulties
  • Fears and Anxieties
  • Positive Attention, Verbal praise, Rewards and Ignoring
  • Special Play
  • Clear Commands and Boundaries
  • Effective Discipline and Use of Consequences
  • Problem-Solving
  • Managing Siblings and Peer Relationships (as needed)
  • Wetting and Soiling (as needed)
  • Sexualised Behaviour (as needed)

Funding: the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) will fund the EAP programme. An Adoption Support Assessment will need to be undertaken by the family’s Local Authority first (as for all ASF funded interventions).

Please feel welcome to contact us to find out more.