Training & Workshops
Individualised Recruitment and Therapeutic Placement Strategy for Children waiting the longest
Individualised Recruitment and Therapeutic Placement Strategy for Children waiting the longestIndividualised Recruitment and Therapeutic Placement Strategy for Children waiting the longest
17 July, 2025 at 10:00am - 1:30pm
Online
Practice webinar co-delivered with Mahonga Shibemba (Team Manager) and Penny Rowntree (Team Manager) from Adopters for Adoption
3.5 hrs
CPD
Who this is for
Adoption practitioners and managers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies, Local Authorities, and independent social workers), children’s social care services, children and family social workers, foster carers, kinship carers, designated teachers, and other professionals working with children and families.
Details
Can single people adopt? Can single men adopt? What about other aspects of single adopter diversity? What values underpin how single adopters are approached and supported across the adoption journey? This practice session will highlight single adopters as a vital resource in securing permanency for children. It will provide an opportunity for you to join other practitioners in reflecting on the salient issues specific to assessing and supporting single adopters. You will share and reflect on individual and agency attitudes to factors such as male or female single adopters, wider diversity, adopter motivation and support networks.
The webinar will consider good practice in the use of family network meetings and single adopters’ support groups as specific approaches in supporting single adopters. It will be an interactive learning opportunity with facilitator led content and break-out room discussions for attendees.
We are very pleased to have Jenny, an experienced single adopter join us to share her felt experience. Attendees will go away with specific ideas for improving their practice and maximising the benefit that single adopters bring to children in need of permanence.
Learning outcomes
- Understand the numbers by considering the prevalence and diversity of single adopters in the UK.
- Explore recruitment opportunities and barriers for single adopters, considering agency and practitioner attitudes and myth busters.
- Increase practitioner confidence in the assessment and preparation of single adopters consider the challenges and diversity issues specific to single adopters
- Increase practitioner confidence in providing Post-approval support to single adopters, including managing transitions, and the use of family network meetings in consolidating support for adopters.
- Learn from the Felt experience of single adopters, reflect on the emergence of adopter- led support groups for single adopters (presented by a single adopter).
About the trainers
Mahongo Shibemba
Mahongo has been a social worker for over 30 years, working in voluntary and statutory services. She is currently Adoption Support Team Manager at Adopters for Adoption and has worked in Adoption Services for 10 years. For many years, Mahongo worked in local authority Children’s Services, in various roles including as locality service manager with oversight of permanence planning and children with disabilities.
Penny Rowntree
Penny has been a social worker for over 30 years, working with children and families and often in the area of adoption either as the child’s or adopter’s social worker. Since qualifying she has worked for Durham LA, The Catholic Children’s Society and as an Independent Social Worker. She qualified as a play therapist in 1999 and has worked in and managed a therapeutic social work team, held a role developing mental health services for Care Experienced children and young people as part of the CAMHS Strategy and set up play therapy and schools counselling services across several London Boroughs. She has worked with AFA since it’s inception 2015
Instructions
A member of staff will be in touch with attendees one week prior to the event to share a pre-event delegate pack.
If you have any questions regarding this webinar, please contact us at info@cvaa.org.uk. We will aim to answer your query within two working days.
CVAA accept online payments only. In case you do not have instant access to your company card, we suggest using your personal card instead to book a training event and claim it back with your agency in your expenses. Requesting an invoice to pay for our standard practice events is not possible.