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 evidence-based seminar will explore best practice in matching children with their adoptive families.

We will consider the research that exists on the process of matching in adoption and how effective this is for children and their families. Recognising that there is a lack of recent research in this area, we will reflect on why this may be and use the day to explore areas that are under-researched, particularly given the implementation of Regional Adoption Agencies and the impact this has had on the adoption landscape.

From the adopter’s perspective, we will discuss how their matching criteria is assessed. We will highlight the effectiveness of appropriate social worker challenge in encouraging prospective adopters to widen their matching criteria where appropriate.  Specific tools that can be used to explore matching criteria will be discussed.

We will highlight the use of adopter profile videos and how these can be an effective family-finding tool in allowing prospective adopters to showcase their strengths. An example video will be shown to portray how these relatively simple videos can help adopters be noticed in what can be a competitive family-finding field.

We are hoping to have a family-finding social worker attend the seminar as a guest speaker to share what they are looking for in prospective adopters, how they shortlist families and how they decide which family’s to progress to a social work visit to.

From the child’s perspective, we will introduce the FLAG tool which is part of the One Adoption Child Focussed Family Building and Birth Parent project. This matching tool supports children’s social workers and family finding social workers to find the right adopters for their children. It involves supporting birth family members as part of the family finding activities, to include them in the process. Whilst there are challenges with this and it will not be possible for every child, the involvement of birth family members fits with the modern adoption agenda and creates unique opportunities for long-lasting relationships to form between adoptive parents and birth family members.

Finally, the signs of safety mapping tool will be showcased that Yorkshire Adoption Agency use once a link is agreed to evidence the strengths and vulnerabilities of the match. This becomes the adoption support plan which is used as evidence to support the link at matching panel and reviewed to monitor the progress of the child/ren’s placement.

Learning 0utcomes

• To understand what research tells us about best practice in matching, whilst identifying areas for future research on this topic to further inform effective matching.
• To recognise the value of adopter profile videos in family finding and have a basic understanding of how to support adopters to create these.
• To consider matching from the child’s perspective and how family finding social workers make difficult decisions about which families to choose for children.
• To be introduced to the FLAG tool and how this is used as part of the One Adoption Child Focussed Family Building and Birth Parent project and to reflect on the value of including birth family in family finding.
• To recognise the value of using a signs of safety approach to map out links as a way to evidence the strength of a match and create an effective support tool for families

About the trainer

Sarah Clarke

Sarah is the Team Manager for Training & Adoption Support at the Yorkshire Adoption Agency. She qualified as a Social Worker in 2013 at Manchester Metropolitan University, obtaining an MA in Social Work. Sarah is registered with Social Work England. She has previously worked across two Local Authorities in the fields of Child Protection, Fostering and Adoption. After initially being employed as an Adoption Social Worker at Yorkshire Adoption Agency, she has now been with the team since July 2020 and as a Team Manager since October 2022.

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.

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

During this practice webinar you will have the opportunity to explore ideas around family finding in adoption and start to think about the methods Coram practitioners use and how we can ‘think outside the box’ to try new ways. Alternative family finding can have lots of benefits.

‘Prospective adopters tell us that having the opportunity to engage with ‘real’ children helps them to establish if they feel a connection and encourages them to widen their thinking about the sort of child they envisage parenting.’

We will also explore ‘what makes a good profile’, reflecting on how we write profiles, the information we include and why we include it. Profiles are such a big part of family finding and it is essential we get this task right for the children we work with as often it can mean finding the right family or not.

During the session we will explore including children in their family finding and the importance of being open and honest with children and supporting them on this journey.

Lastly, we will explore the role of the family finder. The role is such a key part of a child’s journey, so what does the role involve? How can we develop our practice as family finders? What works well? What can be done differently?

The adoption climate is changing all the time and it is essential that family finding can adapt and change to the challenges we face and develop with the ever changing world of adoption.

Learning 0utcomes

• Current adoption landscape, court delays and who are the children waiting?
• Profiling children for adoption across a range of media, both local and national
• Preparation of written profiles – what makes a good profile?
• Featuring children in the wider media (including good practice for video profiles) – key issues for consideration
• Including children in their family finding process – how do we prepare them for this?
• The benefits of alternative family finding, including Adoption Activity Days & Exchange Events
• The role of a family finder
• Best practice guidance for family finders

About the trainer

Kirsty Hammonds and Stephanie Bentley

Kirsty is a Child Placement Consultant with the Activity Days Team at Coram. She has worked in the team for 9 years, organising and running Activity Days for both Adoption and Fostering. Kirsty works closely supporting RAA’s, VAA’s and LA’s during this time with their family finding and have also delivered training workshops around Profile writing. Before joining the Activity Days Team, Kirsty was an Adoption Social worker for nearly 10 years, family finding for children and assessing and supporting adopters.

Stephanie has been employed by Coram as a social worker in the Activity Days team for four years. Her role includes organising and facilitating both adoption and fostering family finding events and undertaking intensive family finding for priority children. Prior to working for Coram, Stephanie was a children’s social worker at Herefordshire Council and a fostering social worker at Walsall 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.

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.

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.

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.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.