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 and other professionals working with children and families.

Details

This practice session will introduce the new Adoption Assessment Report (AAR) and the supporting Toolkit, a distinct method of assessing adopters that is designed to strengthen assessment and matching, leading to better outcomes for children with complex needs and those children waiting the longest.

The session will look at the development and design of the AAR, which is co-produced with adopters and informed by Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and Secure Base principles.

Included will be a sharing of the look and feel of the new format and excerpts from the Toolkit.

We will explore the advantages of using the format and how that works in practice. There will be an opportunity to look at some of the tools in detail and compare through discussion, tools that support assessment and analysis with applicants.

Learning outcomes

• Information about a new method of assessment
• How it can be used in your agency
• Why might it be better for you as a practitioner
• How the AAR can be applied to the current issues in Adoption such as Early Permanency, contact and the assessing of diverse families

About the trainers

Jacqui Bazley 

Jacqui Bazley is one of the founders of the AAR and Toolkit. She has been a SW practitioner and manager in Adoption work since 1988 and is also an adoptive parent of 2 adult children and 2 grandchildren. Jacqui is currently the lead manager in Barnardo’s who are the license holders for the AAR, working in collaboration with Adoption Focus and ACE RAA to support agencies who wish to transition using this new method of assessing adopters.

Sarah McKenna

Sarah McKenna is a Social Work practitioner with Barnardo’s Family Placements team in the Southeast. She has worked with children and families for over 20 years and joined Barnardo’s in 2019. Sarah is currently the lead practitioner for the AAR and provides support and advice to agencies and practitioners who are transitioning to using the AAR. This includes quarterly Practice Workshops to share good practice in assessments.

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.