Event Tag: foetal spectrum disorder

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, 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

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.

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, 2021

During this webinar, we will consider the importance of having a professional understanding within the context of relevance. This will cover the prevalence of the disorder generically and within the care sector, statistics related to current outcomes for children, some of the challenges around why those statistics exist and why children fall through the cracks, and the importance of their continued professional development in this area.

This expert-led training session will cover:

The new NICE guidelines and what this means (a breakdown of terminology, common misconceptions, limitations of a diagnosis and identification of what information is truly relevant within the context of our children and families)
The lived experience and how that can be supported by social workers from an informed position
Experiences of parents/carers on what works, what doesn’t, and what they need at different stages of their journey
Views and experiences of children and parents in school settings
Hearing from education professionals in regard to how extra provision works, what parents can do to trigger this and how social workers can support
Views and experiences from medical professionals about the challenges of a diagnosis exploring the advantages and limitations
A brief look at the latest news and research into FASD and current affairs

“I liked how Joy laid out the theory behind the disorder and then brought practical ways of supporting children and families. I liked how she made it real by bringing her own real life experiences to the training. She also had a very relaxed manner which helped when listening to her and asking questions and answering the quizzes” – Attendee, 2022

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
Practical takeaways

About the trainer

Joy Hopgood-Gravett

Joy 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.