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, and other professionals working with children and families.

Details

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), developed by Dan Hughes, is an approach designed to support children who have experienced trauma within the family. It functions both as a therapeutic intervention—offering direct support to the child alongside their parent—and as a model for parenting.

DDP-informed parenting helps parents build strong emotional connections with their children, increasing their sense of safety and security. The model recognises that many traumatised children can fear emotional closeness and supports them to overcome these fears and begin to heal. At the heart of DDP is the attitude of PACE (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy), which draws on the emotional regulation and reflective capacity of both therapists and parents, promoting greater security for the child and, within parenting, being combined with appropriate behavioural support.

Polly is amazing, very calm and very attentive listening skills . She delivered the training
beautifully. – Attendee 2026

This introductory session will explore the DDP model and its application in both therapeutic settings and parenting practice. It will introduce the neurobiological theories underpinning DDP, explore key principles of the model, and consider the concept of blocked care alongside the importance of carer wellbeing and resilience. The session will also support reflection on your own nervous system and examine the significant role that professionals play in offering co-regulation to families.

It was an incredible training. – Attendee 2026

Learning 0utcomes

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Understand the DDP model and its application as a therapy
• Understand the principles of DDP-informed parenting support
• Understand the usefulness of this model for adoptive parents and their children
• Consider examples of DDP in practice

About the Trainer

Polly Nugent

Polly qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 2009. She then worked in Bristol’s looked after and adopted children specialist CAMHS team for 10 years, where she used DDP principles throughout her work. She has a broad range of experience in offering DDP to families with complex needs, has provided supervision to a range of professionals developing their DDP practice, and has delivered extensive training to both parents/carers and professionals.

Polly is now in private practice, offering therapy to families, supervision to professionals, as well as group work and training. Alongside her strong commitment to DDP and relational approaches to working with trauma, she also has a keen and developing interest in polyvagal theory and what it can offer in terms of wellbeing, resilience and regulation.

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 [email protected]. 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.

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, and other professionals working with children and families.

Details

Supporting birth parents throughout the adoption journey requires sensitivity, honesty and a deep understanding of the profound loss many experience. This training offers practitioners a thoughtful and reflective space to explore the emotional, practical and relational challenges faced by birth families — both during the adoption process and in the period that follows.

The session led by Naomi Head, the lead for Scottish Adoption’s Bluebird project, will support participants to reflect on their own practice, consider the barriers birth families commonly encounter, and explore how support can be offered in ways that are compassionate, realistic and firmly rooted in what is best for the child, both in the short and longer term. It is designed for practitioners who want to deepen their understanding and approach this area of work with greater confidence and care.

We are very fortunate to be joined by Mandy, whose contribution makes this a particularly rare and valuable learning opportunity. Mandy brings both lived and professional experience, offering a perspective that is seldom available in training spaces of this kind. Over the past ten years working across the charity and third sector, she has focused on raising awareness of trauma, domestic abuse, cleft lip and palate, and the realities faced by lone parent families, families in crisis and birth parents.

By sharing her own story alongside professional insight, Mandy challenges assumptions and invites practitioners to think differently about adoption, fostering and birth parent experiences. Her input brings depth, honesty and humanity to the session, supporting more empathetic, informed and reflective approaches to practice.

Learning 0utcomes

• To gain ideas and guidance on how to work alongside birth parents and support them in a beneficial and effective manner
• To further the focus in your practice on birth parents and the role they can play with the adoption process and the importance of this for the child, the adopters and the birth parents themselves
• To gain a better first hand understanding of a birth parent’s experience of adoption
• To have a chance to reflect on our own personal practice and how this can be changed to improve our impact on families and their futures

About the Trainers

Naomi Head

Naomi has worked with Scottish Adoption and Fostering since 2015, as a Senior Practitioner in the Family Team. She brings over 20 years of experience as a social worker and has previously worked in a range of settings within the third sector, including with people affected by homelessness and addictions, children and families and independent assessment work.

Over the past 2 years, Naomi has also been Project Co-ordinator for Bluebird, the agency’s service for birth parents who have lost permanent care of a child, through adoption, fostering or kinship care.

Mandy Temple

Mandy brings both lived and professional experience, having previously worked with Scottish Adoption, the Cleft Lip and Palate Association, Muirhead Outreach Project and Fife Women’s Aid. She offers a unique and honest perspective on adoption and fostering. Over the past ten years in the charity and third sector, Mandy has worked to raise awareness of trauma, domestic abuse, cleft lip and palate, and the realities faced by lone parent families, families in crisis and birth parents. By sharing her story, she seeks to challenge perceptions and support more empathetic approaches.

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 [email protected]. 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.

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

The Adoption Journey consists of Kate Garside and Caroline Milner who have many years’ experience of working with birth relatives whose children are on the path to adoption in the Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes areas.

This workshop focuses on the services provided by the Adoption Journey – it’s model, mechanics and lessons learnt. We will talk about the benefits of the groups we run and our successful birth relative/adopter meetings which have laid the groundwork for direct and indirect contact.In the changing world of keeping in touch, the Public Law Working Group has now produced a paper which outlines what is expected in maintaining relationships with birth family and highlights the resources required.

This collaborative workshop will address the challenges that professionals who work in this field face. We will talk about our response to this initiative, advocating for birth relatives and engaging the wider social work community in the advantages of these plans.. There will be video footage from birth relatives and adopters who are navigating this ever-changing complex area.

There will be opportunities for all participants to explore their own practice and a case study in breakout rooms.

The Adoption Journey are passionate about working with the frequently forgotten service users in the adoption story.

Learning 0utcomes

• To learn about a distinct model of working with birth relatives.
• To consider the key points of the Public Law Outline on Keeping in Touch – the realities and challenges.
• To explore service user engagement strategies and the ongoing role of birth relatives in the child’s adoption journey.
• To understand the powerful impact of group work in this area.
• Opening the minds of all those involved in the adoption journey on the positive role that the continued involvement of birth relatives can have.

About the trainer

Kate Garside

A qualified Social Worker, with over 30 years’ experience in the fields of child protection, fostering and adoption. For the last 17 years, Kate has delivered local authority contracts supporting birth relatives whose children were on the path to adoption via both individual and group sessions. Additionally, Kate sits on an adoption panel where she raises the awareness of birth relatives.

Caroline Milner

Qualified as a social worker in 2009. Following this worked within the Domestic Abuse field for 6 years. Since 2015 Caroline has worked within Adoption services both assessing adopters and offering post adoption support, including birth parent support and access to records. Caroline is also trained in Therapeutic life story work and creating Therapeutic stories. She uses many of these techniques in working with birth relatives.

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 [email protected]. 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.

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 webinar will challenge your thoughts on birth parents, question the processes they have to go through within adoption and feel ready to return to your work place and make some positive changes. You will hear birth parents views on the workers they have encountered, the experiences they have had and the changes they feel should be made.  These views will be shared via recordings and some direct thoughts from birth parents who will be part of the webinar.

“I thought the facilitator Ally was very passionate about her role supporting birth parents, she definitely promotes the hearing the voices of birth parents and using their experiences, thoughts, ideas to develop practice. I totally agree birth parents voices should be heard and listened to inform future practice. Therefore it was really good for the birth parents on this webinar to share their experiences.” – Attendee, 2022

Ally Osnowska at PACT will discuss what she has learnt over her time running Birth Family Matters, the tools she uses, and the challenges she faces in her day to day work.

“The webinar fully met my expectations, the facilitator was clearly a very experienced and passionate practitioner working with birth parents, she is clearly a good advocate for birth parents trying to ensure that birth parents voices are heard and they are more visible in the whole process” – Attendee, 2022

Supporting birth relatives at a time of significant loss is challenging. This practice webinar will look at:

• When to engage birth parents
• Practical exercises that have been especially positive for engaging birth parents
• How birth family support groups can have a positive impact on their wellbeing
• How supporting birth parents can support the adoptive placement

Learning outcomes

• To gain ideas and guidance on how to work alongside birth parents and support them in a beneficial and effective manner
• To further the focus in your practice on birth parents and the role they can play with the adoption process and the importance of this for the child, the adopters and the birth parents themselves
• To gain a better first hand understanding of a birth parent’s experience of adoption
• To have a chance to reflect on our own personal practice and how this can be changed to improve our impact on families and their futures

About the trainer

Ally Osnowska

Ally has 17 years experience of working in children’s social care. She has run the Birth Family Matters service in Dorset since 2019 and is very passionate about the work she does and is very proud of the birth parents she supports.  She aims to make the process of adoption less traumatising for birth parents and has an amazing group of birth parents who are helping her in her goals.

Before this role she worked as a Social Worker in a Looked after child team and spent two years working in a children’s hospice, supporting families in their grief.

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 [email protected]. 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.

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

This webinar will challenge your thoughts on birth parents, question the processes they have to go through within adoption and feel ready to return to your work place and make some positive changes. You will hear birth parents views on the workers they have encountered, the experiences they have had and the changes they feel should be made.  These views will be shared via recordings and some direct thoughts from birth parents who will be part of the webinar.

Ally Osnowska at PACT will discuss what she has learnt over her time running Birth Family Matters, the tools she uses, and the challenges she faces in her day to day work.

Supporting birth relatives at a time of significant loss is challenging. This practice webinar will look at:

• When to engage birth parents
• Practical exercises that have been especially positive for engaging birth parents
• How birth family support groups can have a positive impact on their wellbeing
• How supporting birth parents can support the adoptive placement

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

Learning outcomes

• To gain ideas and guidance on how to work alongside birth parents and support them in a beneficial and effective manner
• To further the focus in your practice on birth parents and the role they can play with the adoption process and the importance of this for the child, the adopters and the birth parents themselves
• To gain a better first hand understanding of a birth parent’s experience of adoption
• To have a chance to reflect on our own personal practice and how this can be changed to improve our impact on families and their futures

About the trainer

Ally Osnowska has 17 years experience of working in children’s social care.  She has run the Birth Family Matters service in Dorset since 2019 and is very passionate about the work she does and is very proud of the birth parents she supports.  She aims to make the process of adoption less traumatising for birth parents and has an amazing group of birth parents who are helping her in her goals.

Before this role she worked as a Social Worker in a Looked after child team and spent two years working in a children’s hospice, supporting families in their grief.

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 [email protected]. 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.

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

This evidence seminar draws on findings from new research on fathers and recurrent care proceedings, carried out by Dr Georgia Philip as part of a research team from the University of East Anglia and Lancaster University. Together with Debra Brady, a senior adoption practitioner at Adopt Thames Valley, we will also explore practice issues when working with birth fathers and consider what best practice could look like when supporting them.

“I thought it was very thought provoking training and helped me to think about my own practice and how I work with birth fathers.” – Attendee, September 2021

The seminar will involve sharing and discussing evidence on the scale and pattern of birth fathers’ involvement in care proceedings, and important insights about the life histories of fathers who experience child removal. It will also present key messages for developing gender sensitive practice to get alongside birth fathers and fully explore how they may be supported to retain a stake in fatherhood which benefits children.

“I enjoyed the course and would recommend to colleagues.” – Attendee, September 2021

Learning outcomes

• to gain an appreciation of the bigger picture of birth fathers’ involvement in first and subsequent care proceedings
• to gain an appreciation of the early life histories and cumulative vulnerabilities of birth fathers who have experienced child removal
• to consider the opportunities and priorities for developing practice to support birth fathers

About the trainers

Dr Georgia Philip is a Lecturer in Social Work, in the School of Social Work at the University of East Anglia, and her role involves both teaching and research. She joined the School as a postdoctoral researcher in November 2011, after completing her PhD on fathering after separation. She subsequently worked on a study on decision making for children in care and since 2014 worked as a lead researcher on two Nuffield funded projects – the first on men’s experiences of the child protection system (Counting Fathers In) and the second on the scale, pattern and dynamics of fathers in recurrent care proceedings (Up Against It). Georgia is currently working on an evaluation of the Caring Dads programme in Blackburn with Darwen, and on developing training and support for working with fathers who experienced repeat care proceedings.

Debra Brady has been working in social care for 47 years starting in 1975. Debra has worked in residential care with adolescents  in Buckinghamshire and for the London Borough Of Islington. She qualified in 1989 and moved to become a field social worker in Bucks initially in child protection and then in all other areas of children`s services. Debra has worked in Adoption since 1994 and from 2001 became a post Adoption worker and then in 2012 moved to her current post in Oxfordshire as a Birth relative support worker and letterbox co-ordinator. Debra has also been lucky enough to have a placement with PAC and complete their therapeutic counselling course. Debra has also been a member of Adoption panels.

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 [email protected]. 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.

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

A child’s life story considering best practice and learning from lived experiences, will allow adoption professionals to explore their knowledge on how to support children with life story work throughout their life. It will explore child appropriate language on how to speak about difficult topics including, domestic abuse, neglect, physical abuse and other topics that may be challenging.

This will follow the child’s journey from the conclusion from care proceedings to the final adoption order.

The training session will aim to explore a child’s journey through adoption with support from the Child and Family Workers within the Cumbrian children’s adopt team. We will be exploring the importance of relationship building with children, birth family, foster carers and adopters, while discussing life story tools to support communication and openness within families.

During the training we will share best practice and also look at tools used within the Cumbrian team and how this has supported children, foster families and adoptive families during the adoption process.

Learning outcomes

• Exploring and sharing best practice in how we work with children with their birth family, within their foster family and then supporting them moving onto their adoptive family
• Exploring how we support children to understand their life story within their foster home, along with supporting adopters to understand their child’s life story and how to support them to share this with their children
• Sharing practical tools that families have found useful
• Explore examples of the work we have completed
• Looking and reflection on feedback Cumbria County Council have had from adopters, children and foster carers

About the trainers

Kayleigh Ward is a Child and Family Worker who currently resides with the children’s adoption team within Cumbria. Kayleigh has over 5 years’ experience working with children within child protection to adoption. She also has recently completed an advance certificate in therapeutic life story work to further her development to continue to support children. Kayleigh has completed over 80 life story books and has supported over 10 children to move on from foster care to adoption, along with supporting their birth families and adoptive families to understand the child’s life story so far.

Kim Conyers is a Social Worker who currently resides with the childrens’ adoption team within Cumbria. Kim has over 6 years of supporting children within support and protection and adoption. Kim is currently completing her level 2 in BUSS training. Kim has a wealth of knowledge on supporting adoptive families and continues within the team to share her lived experiences and knowledge.

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 [email protected]. 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.