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Event Tag: assessment

An Agency-wide Approach to building Cultural Competency in welcoming Black Adopters: Recruitment, Assessment and Support

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

An interactive expert-led training session delivered by an experienced trainer and anti-racism practitioner, Esher Williams, founder of Anti-Racism Hub. You will be guided on a journey of understanding the challenges faced by Black adopters and how to reduce these barriers by addressing the impact of systemic and cultural conditions in our society.

‘There is a lot I shall take from this training to share with my colleagues and aim to improve our services approach to diversity and anti-racism in adoption.’ – Attendee 2023

Going on to explore the pillars of an agency-wide approach to decentring whiteness and how these measures positively impact Black adopters. Investigating culturally responsive competencies in adoption assessment. The group will consider the impact of race, ethnicity and culture on adoption practitioners, prospective adopters and therefore adoptees.

‘A great opportunity to learn about a really important topic which had a variety of learning tools, research and participation.’ – Attendee 2023

In this session, Esher will provide a forum for attendees to share and grow in a non-judgemental environment where curiosity and humility underpin the learning.


Learning 0utcomes

  • Build an understanding of how to encourage and break down barriers for Black adopters
  • Appreciate the importance of assessing Black adopters with cultural competency
  • Adopting an agency-wide approach to building cultural competency in welcoming Black adopters
  • Supporting Black adopters post-adoption

About the trainer

Esher Williams

Esher is an anti-racism consultant, public speaker, corporate trainer, educator and practitioner and the founder of Anti-Racism Hub. Facilitating thought-provoking and engaging training and workshops, Esher is adept at facilitating challenging but essential conversations that build understanding of the complex subject of racism, transracial assessment, placement and parenting.

As a late-discovering step-parent adoptee, a transracial adopter and former foster carer, Esher has a personal interest and dedication in helping parents/carers and children’s social work practitioners understand their responsibility in building cultural competency in their role.


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.

Supporting Prospective Adopters with Capacity to Parent Older Children

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

This practice webinar is aimed at considering how we can make more adoption placements for older children. The webinar will give practitioners the opportunity to consider the needs of older children awaiting adoption and to share experiences and practice that has worked well for them.

“Leigh’s friendly and approachable manner made this training easy to engage with and accessible. Lots of resources shared, lots of good practice shared.” – Attendee, 2021

You will have an opportunity to learn what Adoption Focus are doing in terms of a specific aspect of this work, whilst at the same time having the opportunity to identify the situations you find most challenging and work in smaller groups to consider various solutions.

You will be able to hear from the latest research, practice and lived experience.

“The presentation was well delivered and relatable with good opportunity for group discussion and questions. I felt that I learnt some new ideas that I can take away to use in practice and share with colleagues.” – Attendee, 2022

You will be able to network with practitioners from other agencies, share best practice and glean new ideas.


Learning outcomes

  • To learn from latest research and hear from the lived experience
  • To consider the needs and experiences of older children awaiting adoption
  • To think about what we need from prospective adopters for older children
  • To explore best practice regarding assessments: What do we need to know about prospective adopters of older children? What evidence would we need and how would we get it?
  • To discuss best practice

About the trainer

Leigh Smith

Leigh is the Deputy Manager of Training at Adoption Focus. She has worked with Adoption Focus since 2017. Before this Leigh worked for a Local Authority in their supervised contact team and worked for an independent fostering agency identifying placements for children.


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.

Assessing Prospective Adopters Considered for Sibling Groups

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

This is an opportunity for social workers in the field of adoption to develop their expertise in assessing prospective adopters who wish to be considered for siblings.

“I felt the content was relevant and thought provoking, the delivery was engaging and highly professional and the session was coherent / engaging throughout. I was really pleased to have been part of this training and wish colleagues had had the opportunity to share this too!” – Attendee, September 2021

We will be looking at motivating factors of the prospective adopters and the relationship dynamics of the children in sibling groups who are waiting for adoptive families. With these factors in mind, Coram RAA will be sharing how they make robust assessments of sibling adopters and share elements of their sibling preparation and training session to help participating agencies build up their own skills and resources in this area. The preparation and training session is co-run in house by a Coram adoptive parent and a Coram practitioner, and together they will be delivering the CVAA session on this topic.

“The adopters lived experience was extremely useful and thought provoking. I really liked the practical ideas and I also thought the grid used to guide assessment was fantastic” – Attendee, September 2022


Learning outcomes

  • To have an over view of why prospective adopters wish to adopt siblings
  • To develop skills and guidance on measuring applicants capacity to manage the complexity of a sibling placement
  • To be given resources to build upon this learning and develop a session within an agency’s preparation and training programme which will equip and prepare prospective adopters for a sibling placement

About the trainers

Maggie Davies

Maggie is an adoption manager for Coram Ambitious for Adoption. She has worked in all aspects of local authority adoption work for fourteen years and joined Coram’s adoption team seven years ago.

Rachel Makin

Rachel is an adoptive parent of 2 siblings (adopted aged 4 & 5) who has had a very challenging but rewarding journey through parenting. Partly as a result of that journey, she retrained and is now a psychotherapist. She brings both her practical experience and theoretical training in when she delivers training (particularly related to siblings), and in her role as an Independent Adoption Panel Member.

Rachel and Maggie designed Coram’s Sibling Training session and additional elements for consideration by assessing social workers to Coram’s assessment process 4 years ago. The groups run about 3 times a year and have been attended by prospective adoptive families in assessment with Coram and London local authorities who wish to be considered for a sibling group. They have also delivered the group to voluntary adoption agencies prospective adopters in assessment in the North West, and for Cambridgeshire County Council.


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.

Demystifying Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in Adopted Children: Impact, Implications and Influencing the Outcomes

Who this is for

Adoption practitioners and managers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies and Local Authorities) and Independent Professionals.


Details

Every year in the UK 7,000 babies are born with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD); a type of brain damage caused when an unborn child is exposed to alcohol in the womb. Many of these babies will find themselves among the 70,000 vulnerable children in our care system and making up the numbers in a statistic that claims 75% of looked-after children have a background involving drug and alcohol misuse and are therefore likely candidates for this condition.

‘Of all the substances of abuse (marijuana, cocaine, and heroin), alcohol produces significantly more serious neuro-behavioural effects to an unborn child’.

The impact of this on child behaviour and development are many and varied. Research and studies are limited but through awareness, understanding and a few carefully placed thought-pathways, helping these children bed into a secure family and a happy home is well within our reach.

“I felt this was an excellent training session. I feel with the information i know, adopters will hopefully not be scared away by FASD.” – Attendee, December 2021

We will be looking at exactly what FASD is, why it’s here and what it looks like. We’ll spend a little time demystifying the language and misconceptions before exploring how we can influence the outcomes for these children using candid personal experiences to bring it all to life.

“An excellent course, very informative, very knowledgeable. Thank you!” – Attendee, December 2021

Learning outcomes

  • To explore FASD as a range of disabilities caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol
  • To recognise the prevalence of FASD within LAC
  • To identify possible needs of a child with FASD and explore ideas to support them
  • Know where to go for further information

You will be able to network with practitioners from other agencies: whether you are new to adoption or have been working in the sector for many years, this is a chance to share best practice and glean new ideas. 


About the trainer

Joy Hopgood-Gravett is a teacher by trade, a foster carer turned adopter by life’s twists and turns. She is a speaker, trainer, fierce advocate for children with FASD, since a child waltz into her life 13 years ago weighing 4lb11. Joy has spent a lot of time in recent years supporting the adults who support children affected by FASD. She like’s to think she helps them untangle it and see some of the potential and beauty it holds. Teachers, adopters, carers, social workers, even the occasional doctor… She is unapologetically positive while acknowledging the challenges. As a family that includes two children who were adopted with a history of prenatal exposure to alcohol, Joy has lived enough of family life to know children with FASD are every bit as capable of thriving in a family as their peers… they just bring a little more colour to everything!


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.ukWe 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.

Early Permanence and Concurrent Planning: Professional Perspectives and Practice Reflections

Who this is for

Adoption practitioners and managers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies and Local Authorities) and Independent Professionals.


Details

Early permanence placements are complex and need careful planning from the recruitment of adopters through to the placement of a child. A range of professionals are involved and every early permanence assessment and placement is a learning experience for those involved. Each placement is unique and shapes how we continually adapt our practice.

In this practice session, together with senior adoption practitioners Kate Knowles and Julie Hogan, we will explore the statistics of children placed and the referral process for children. Then we will move onto placements and contact and discuss some of the challenges. We will round up the session with sharing some helpful hints and tips to take away.

“A very interesting and enjoyable course. It was very useful to hear about the practices of other agencies and I thought both Kate and Julie were excellent presenters.” – Attendee, June 2021

The Concurrent Planning service is a joint service run by Caritas Care and Adoption Matters. Since its inception in 2014 they have placed over 150 children in concurrent planning placements across the North West. They have also been involved in the rehabilitation of 14 children to birth parents or family members. There has been a lot of learning on the way and this continues to be the case.

“I liked how the challenges of early permanence was highlighted and discussed including pointers to help in overcoming these. I also liked the videos as it brought the differing perspectives to life. It was very practical and gave a sense of the reality of the benefits and challenges!” – Attendee, June 2021
We are really looking forward to sharing what Concurrent Planning Service have learnt about what works well alongside the challenges they have experienced.

Learning outcomes

  • Learning from effective assessments and the qualities we are looking for from our carers
  • Effective supporting of carers
  • Lessons learnt from working with the Local Authorities, referrals and the type of backgrounds of children that are placed by the service
  • Reflecting on the learning from our rehabilitations that have taken place

About the trainer

Kate Knowles qualified as a social worker in 2003 after working for several years with homeless women and children. Kate has experience of children and families social work, working in the fostering service at Caritas Care for 12 years and developing specialist scheme for older children seeking permanence of adoption via a fostering route. Kate was involved in the early stages of setting up the Concurrent Planning Service since 2013, a joint service between Caritas Care and adoption Matters, undertaking the role of Team Manager in March 2016. Kate has been a passionate advocate of concurrent planning and believes strongly in the value that it has for early permanence within the care system.

Julie Hogan qualified as a social worker in 1999 and has over 20 years’ experience of children and families social work ranging from safeguarding, family support and adoption. Julie has prior experience of concurrent planning; having previously been employed by Manchester Adoption Society within the Goodman Team (Concurrent Planning).  Julie has always been passionate about concurrent planning and achieving early permanence for children and as a result joined Adoption Matters to work within Concurrent Planning Service in January 2015.   Julie became a Team Manager within the Concurrent Planning Service in March 2016.


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.

Assessing Prospective Adopters Considered for Sibling Groups

Who this is for

Adoption practitioners and managers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies and Local Authorities) and Independent Professionals.


Details

This is an opportunity for social workers in the field of adoption to develop their expertise in assessing prospective adopters who wish to be considered for siblings.

We will be looking at motivating factors of the prospective adopters and the relationship dynamics of the children in sibling groups who are waiting for adoptive families. With these factors in mind, Coram RAA will be sharing how they make robust assessments of sibling adopters and share elements of their sibling preparation and training session to help participating agencies build up their own skills and resources in this area. The preparation and training session is co-run in house by a Coram adoptive parent and a Coram practitioner, and together they will be delivering the CVAA session on this topic.

I felt the content was relevant and thought provoking, the delivery was engaging and highly professional and the session was coherent engaging throughout. I was really pleased to have been part of this training and wish colleagues had had the opportunity to share this too! – Attendee, October 2021

Learning outcomes

  • To have an over view of why prospective adopters wish to adopt siblings
  • To develop skills and guidance on measuring applicants capacity to manage the complexity of a sibling placement
  • To be given resources to build upon this learning and develop a session within an agency’s preparation and training programme which will equip and prepare prospective adopters for a sibling placement

About the trainers

Maggie Davies is an adoption manager for Coram Ambitious for Adoption. She has worked in all aspects of local authority adoption work for fourteen years and joined Coram’s adoption team seven years ago.

Rachel Makin is an adoptive parent of 2 siblings (adopted aged 4 & 5) who has had a very challenging but rewarding journey through parenting. Partly as a result of that journey, she retrained and is now a psychotherapist. She brings both her practical experience and theoretical training in when she delivers training (particularly related to siblings), and in her role as an Independent Adoption Panel Member.

Rachel and Maggie designed Coram’s Sibling Training session and additional elements for consideration by assessing social workers to Coram’s assessment process 4 years ago. The groups run about 3 times a year and have been attended by prospective adoptive families in assessment with Coram and London local authorities who wish to be considered for a sibling group. They have also delivered the group to voluntary adoption agencies prospective adopters in assessment in the North West, and for Cambridgeshire County Council.


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.