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

During this unique practice webinar, we will hear from senior adoption practitioners at at ARC Adoption discussing their “Baseline assessment” work, measuring outcomes in placements and how this model can be adapted to other agencies. In 2015 ARC developed their baseline assessments as an opportunity to capture children within the early weeks in placement. They seek to track children’s developmental progress through the early months as well as seeking to understand their attachment patterns.

The aims of our assessments are to:

• Monitor progress
• Early intervention and targeted support from our therapeutic adoption support service
• Provide opportunity for child observations during early days of placement
• Positive reinforcement for parents and opportunity for reflection

The second part of this practice session will be facilitated by Jay Vaughan, the CEO of Family Futures, who will discuss Family Futures research outcomes using psychometric measures and parent and child interviews. Jay will also explore the implications for placement and post placement support based on their findings. In this session, Jay, will discuss the Family Futures battery of psychometrics measures, the outcomes from the Neuro-Physiological Psychotherapy (NPP) 2016 and 2019 research as well as the Family Futures review of i-adopt placements.

Jay will also share Family Futures thinking about Family Futures recent inclusion of the tool ‘Goal Based Outcomes’ following the ASF decision to use evaluation tools to review outcomes of ASF funded intervention.

An important part of this presentation by Jay will be supporting agencies/authorities in thinking about psychometric measures they can put in place and the value of this for their organisation.

Learning outcomes

• To consider practical tools in line with the evidence-based research
• To understand the importance of key relationships with professionals and early interventions when thinking about post adoption support
• Thinking about the impact of transition to adoptive family and how what we know about the child before placement isn’t always a reflection of how they present in their adoptive family
• To consider the importance of psychometric measures and evaluation
• To discuss the outcomes measures the ASF are requested are used to evaluate and the various options for agencies/authorities
• To think about appropriate measures individual agencies/authorities can put in place
• To think about what happens to children and adoptive families when we fail to intervene effectively

About the trainers

Donna Mease has been a qualified Social Worker since June 2010, having obtained a BSc in Social Work at University of Northumbria, following secondment by North Tyneside Council Children’s Services. Donna is registered with Social Work England and joined ARC Adoption North East as Adoption Support Co-ordinator in 2015. Prior to this Donna worked as a Social Worker in North Tyneside’s Looked After Children’s team for 5 years. Donna obtained the Post Qualifying consolidation module at University of Northumbria in March 2013, whilst working for the authority. Donna also holds a BA Joint Honours Degree in Childhood Studies and Professional Practice which she obtained in June 2004 from the University of Northumbria and a BTEC National Diploma in Caring Services (Nursery Nursing) from Newcastle College, June 1999. Since joining ARC Adoption NE Donna has undertaken a diploma in therapeutic life story work (Richard Rose model), Level 1 Theraplay, Level 1 DDP and Level 1 & 2 BUSS model training.

Jay Vaughan, M.A., is a Somatic Experience Practitioner. Jay is also a state registered Dramatherapist, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapist and certified Theraplay therapist and supervisor as well as a Theraplay trainer. Jay is CEO of Family Futures CIC and Registered Manager. Jay has been working with traumatised children since qualifying as a Dramatherapist in 1989, and passionately believes in the use of arts, play and body-based approaches in helping traumatised children and their families heal.

Instructions

A member of staff will be in touch with attendees one week prior to the event to share a pre-event delegate pack. Please also check your spam folder if you don’t receive anything in your inbox. 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.