Who this is for

Adoption Practitioners, Managers, Social Workers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies and Local Authorities), Children’s Social Workers, Support Workers and Independent Professionals.

Details

CCS Adoption will share ideas and advice aimed at supporting adoptive families through their child’s education. Over the years, CCS’s Adopter Forum has brought together the knowledge and experience of adoptive parents, including two teachers. The result has been the creation of a number of practical tools to support adoptive families through day to day challenges and hotspots in education, including transitions.

“Please thank Jane. I have been qualified 20+ years and it is always great to leave a training course feeling that you know more leaving than you did starting. The personal perspective that Jane was able to provide was very powerful and Pat was able to provide a very helpful and clear overview of how things could be improved in practice.” – Attendee, 2022

Plans have also been developed to encourage more collaborative working between parents, social workers, therapists, school staff, SEND coordinators and virtual schools.

“Absolutely loved the speakers and the experiences of Jane and the work that Pat has done in his school.” – Attendee, 2022

During the workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to share their experiences of the challenges and successes experienced by adoptees and their parents in education.

Learning Outcomes

• Deeper understanding of the challenges that parents, social workers, virtual schools and teachers face meeting the needs of adoptive families
• Awareness of the need for more collaborative working between the above and ideas to support this
• Discussions/group work (opportunity to learn from each other’s practice).
• How an adoption agency forum can inform better ways of working
• Signposting to resources that will help support parents, teachers, and social workers to meet the needs of children who were previously looked prior to joining a new permanent family through adoption or a special guardianship order.

About the trainer

Jane Thompson

Jane is the training officer for CCS Adoption and an adoptive parent of twins, now 21. She has personal experience of the frustrations and hopelessness that adoptive parents can feel as they struggle to be the advocate that they want to be for their child during their educational years. Her interest in education is as a result of her children’s experiences.

Shelina Jerram

Shelina has worked in education for 25 years with experience in both primary and secondary schools, as a school governor and as a member of the local authority foster panel. She has been an Education Advocate at The HOPE, Bristol’s Virtual School, since 2015 and in her current role she provides training, advice and guidance on supporting previously looked after children in education.

Patrick Callaghan

Patrick is the designated teacher for previously looked after children in a school that has between 50-60 care experienced children on their roll. This brings benefits and challenges. It has enabled Patrick to spend 50% of his time in his designated teacher role, provided funding for a successful programme of teaching for the pupils he supports and has led to a culture that is better equipped to support vulnerable children to thrive in school.

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.