This month is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. If you've got a lumpy one, go see a doctor.
Euan
@euanpreston.bsky.social
📖 Adopted dad & campaigner for adoptive families. 🥔 Chair, The POTATO Group. 🎥 Director. 📷 Bromide dragger. https://linktr.ee/euanpreston
My lifelong quest to find London’s grimmest hotel might just have drawn to its conclusion
Email titled “The story behind behaviour” just arrived in the POTATO inbox. My day job is all about stories: x happened because y happened. We instinctively seek motivation and causality. So why do we so often stop doing that with real human behaviour, especially when it’s difficult or complex?
If someone has died by suicide on the railway, you are NOT entitled to complain about the minor inconvenience to your journey.
Today we've published our organisational response to the Department for Education's Adoption support that works for all consultation. The response draws heavily on our research. Thanks again to all who participated and to those who led and contributed to it's publication.
Adoption support that works for all consultation: The POTATO Group response.
Today we are publishing The POTATO Group’s full organisational response to the Department for Education’s consultation, Adoption Support that Works for All.It draws on our 2025 research, Far, Far Beyond the Adoption Order, alongside Department-commissioned evidence and the lived experience shared across our community.Our response sets out serious concerns about the direction of reform, particularly the risk that specialist therapeutic support is replaced by lower-cost universal provision that do
thepotatogroup.org.uk
Very grateful to the Adopters Anonymous podcast for inviting Lisa Mainwaring, Clare Solomons and me on to discuss the ASGSF campaign and the future of post-adoption support. open.spotify.com/epi...
"Sometimes a poem contains the words that fell off the page, just like the people who fell off the sidewalk."
Tom Waits - "Tom Traubert's Blues" (Live on The Human Factor)
"Tom Traubert's Blues" (Live on The Human Factor) by @tomwaits Watch the full episode: https://tomwaits.ffm.to/thelastride Credit: Luigi Montebello (@luix90) ______________________________________ ABOUT TOM WAITS In the work of American songwriter Tom Waits, swampy blues, Beat poetry, West Coast
youtu.be
The DfE’s own research documents high levels of trauma, neurodevelopmental difference and clinical need among adopted and kinship children. Our open letter to the Minister asks how the proposed reforms align with the data. Policy must follow evidence. www.thepotatogroup.org.uk/post/open-le...
Open letter: Adoption Support that Works for All consultation and the future of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
By Euan Preston, Chair, The POTATO Group16 February 2026As chair of The POTATO Group, I have written an open letter to the Minister for Children and Families regarding the Adoption Support that Works ...
thepotatogroup.org.uk
Today we have published an open letter to The Minster for Children and Families setting out concerns relating to the Adoption Support that Works for All consultation.
Open letter: Adoption Support that Works for All consultation and the future of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
By Euan Preston, Chair, The POTATO Group16 February 2026As chair of The POTATO Group, I have written an open letter to the Minister for Children and Families regarding the Adoption Support that Works for All consultation and the future of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund. The full text is published below.Josh MacAlister MPMinister for Children and FamiliesDepartment for Education16th February 2026Open letter: Adoption Support that Works for All consultation and the future of th
thepotatogroup.org.uk
DfE consultation launched on the future of post-adoption support. ASGSF funding confirmed to 2028, with proposals that point to its replacement. www.thepotatogroup.org.uk/post/adoptio...
Adoption Support Consultation Launched as Government Sets Out Plans for Post-2028 Reform
The government has launched a consultation on the future of adoption and kinship support, setting out proposals that will shape what replaces the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund from 20...
thepotatogroup.org.uk
Statement regarding the aims of our campaign, @asgsfprotest.bsky.social asgsfprotest.com/what-this-ca...
What this campaign is, and is not - Action Against ASGSF Changes
As we resume campaigning after the Christmas break, we have an opportunity to improve how our campaign aims are currently understood, both by those who support our work and by those who are still form...
asgsfprotest.com
I'd be most extremely grateful if you'd consider voting for My Thryoid and Me: A Young Person's Cancer Story in the Smiley Charity Film Awards. 🙏 smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/my-thy...
My Thyroid and Me: A Young Person's Cancer Story
The Smiley Charity Film Awards is the world’s biggest campaign to promote cause-based films. Nearly half a million members of the public have voted in the…
smileycharityfilmawards.com
Our response to BBC File on 4 Investigates: Adoption - The Blame Game. www.thepotatogroup.org.uk/post/bbc-fil...
BBC File on 4 Investigates: Adoption: The Blame Game
On 2 December 2025, BBC File on Four released Adoption: The Blame Game, an investigation into lies, blame and systemic gaslighting within adoption in the UK. Presented by Judith Moritz, it drew on wha...
thepotatogroup.org.uk
On the eve of the budget, a quick reminder of the economic illiteracy behind some of this government's decisions, made without any assessment of impact. This is satire, and still does not capture the true absurdity of the situation. Thanks to @michaelspicer.bsky.social youtu.be/p1DXxDHXLU0
Minister Stuart Piper-Aloysius defends slashing funding for kid’s therapy. @MrMichaelSpicer
YouTube video by Action Against ASGSF Changes
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Heading home after a lovely weekend in Brum for our AGM. Huge thanks to Becky Brooks, Dr David Junior Gilbert and Gillian Elam for outstanding presentations, & to our volunteer committee for making it all happen. Grateful to members who joined us, and to those who wanted to but couldn't. - Euan
A disappointing meeting with the children's minister. Grateful to Community Care for reporting on it. @asgsfprotest.bsky.social www.communitycare.co.uk/2025/11/20/a...
Families disappointed by MacAlister's response to therapy cuts - Community Care
Action Against ASGSF Changes says children's minister showed no willingness to engage with impact of Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund cuts
communitycare.co.uk
Thanks to Community Care for publishing our research article.
The POTATO Group 🥔@thepotatogroup.bsky.social · 11mo agoToday our research article was published in Community Care. Thanks to our Research Manager, Gillian Elam, and to all of those POTATO Group members who revisited some of the most traumatising times of their lives to share their experiences. www.communitycare.co.uk/2025/11/12/w...
This morning, Clare Solomons and Anna Maxwell Martin appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss our campaign to reverse the cuts made to the #ASGSF. @asgsfprotest.bsky.social youtu.be/Z8Mies999cM
Anna Maxwell Martin & Clare Solomons Discuss ASGSF Cuts on ITV's Good Morning Britain, 11.11.25
YouTube video by Action Against ASGSF Changes
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Quick explainer video about this ASGSF thing I've been endlessly harping on about, courtesy of @michaelspicer.bsky.social (thank you, Michael). @asgsfprotest.bsky.social
atSTAKE@at-stake.bsky.social · 11mo agoWith thanks to @michaelspicer.bsky.social for supporting our campaign. The government MUST listen. youtu.be/p1DXxDHXLU0?...
At our professionals conference last year, our members’ lived experiences took centre stage. A volunteer team, led by Research Manager Gillian Elam, carried out research that shaped our landmark report. Clip from Family Matters podcast. thanks to @adoptionuk.bsky.social for inviting us on.
The Impossible Choice 36% of families answering our survey have been forced to make this choice since the cuts to the ASGSF were made. These cuts must be reversed The government must listen. Survey Report: asgsfprotest.com/pcsurveyapril2… #fundnoworpaylater #ACutTooFar #asgsf #carenotcuts
It’s #NationalAdoptionWeek, and it would be remiss not to mention our landmark research into the lived experiences of adoptive families raising children and young adults affected by early-life trauma. www.thepotatogroup.o...
“81% of respondents stated the cuts to the ASGSF had a very negative or negative affect on their child’s mental health. 85% of respondents stated the cuts had a negative or very negative impact on their child’s emotion wellbeing.” #NationalAdoptionWeek
atSTAKE@at-stake.bsky.social · 11mo agoThe stark reality of the cuts to the ASGSF from: Key Finding 3 Families have seen a deterioration in their Children’s mental health. asgsfprotest.com/pcsurveyapril2… Summary link: asgsfprotest.com/pcsurveyapril2��� #fundnoworpaylater #ACutTooFar #asgsf #carenotcuts
Our survey results were raised with the Minister for Children and Families in Parliament directly by Clive Jones. When will this government start seeing our children? When will they recognise their needs? When will they look to truly address those needs to the right level and at the right time?
Of the 777 children and young adults represented in our survey, only 10 were felt by their parents or carers to have had their therapeutic needs met. 10.
atSTAKE@at-stake.bsky.social · 11mo agoThe stark reality of the cuts to the ASGSF from: “Assessing the impact on families following the April 2025 changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund ‘’. Key Finding 1 : The new fair access limit of £3,000 is not enough. asgsfprotest.com/pcsurveyapri...
