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

As adoption practitioners we know that there’s no such thing as adoption without trauma. Our training and practice encourages us to continually reflect on the trauma of the adopted child and how best to respond to the resulting emotional, behavioural and relational difficulties they experience.

But what if the trauma belongs to the parent?  And what if that trauma is not vicarious or secondary in nature but instead comes directly from the challenges of parenting their child?  Is there an alternative to child-centred practice that allow us to equally recognise the needs of adopters and, if so, might this actually produce better results for the child long term?

In this training course, Adopter and Psychotherapist Fi Newood shares her experience of the false allegations, violence, coercive-control, verbal abuse, adoption disruption, professional judgement and more, that led to both trauma in the moment and PTSD years later.  She asks whether we can hold empathy for the child whilst also recognising the experience of the parent?

Throughout the course, participants will be encouraged to ‘sit with the uncomfortable’ that we might learn to offer a deeper level of support and connection to adopters.

This course will be challenging as we explore the thoughts and feeling that many adopters find hard to express to the professionals supporting them.

Learning outcomes

• To reflect on the difficult experiences that impact some adopters when caring for their children.
• To recognise the difference between what may be hard for an adopter and what may be traumatic.
• To learn how to respond to adopters ‘in the moment’ in ways that feel supportive for them.
• To consider the long-term impact for adopters and support that may be helpful.
• To hear an honest, first-hand experience of an adopter and have the opportunity to ask questions

About the trainer

Fi Newood

Fi Newood has spent more than 20 years working with care experienced young people.  In 2008 she and her wife fostered a sibling group of three who they later adopted in 2015. Fi now works as an Integrative Psychotherapist specialising in support for foster and adoptive families. She is the creator of the 3B’s Therapeutic Model (Belong, Believe, Behave) and an author of 2 books for parents and 4 therapeutic stories 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.

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

This bespoke evidence seminar delivered by Dr Morvwen Duncan will explore how adoption practitioners can provide comprehensive and well-informed mental health support for adopted teenagers and help adoptive parents do the same.

We will discuss the unique challenges faced by adopted teenagers, emphasizing the crucial aspect of identity formation during adolescence. Our agenda includes insightful sessions on the prevalence of mental health difficulties, risk factors analysis, and practical applications of renowned models like Kim Golding’s Pyramid of Needs and Bronfrenbrenner’s framework. Develop skills in the identification and onward referral treatment of adopted teenagers based on NICE guidelines, with hands-on case studies for practical application.

You will have an opportunity to engage in enriching discussions, hands-on case studies, and smaller group tasks to refine your skills in the identification and onward referral treatment of adopted teenagers based on NICE guidelines, with hands-on case studies for practical application. You will be equipped with practical tools to support adopted parents, navigate identity issues, and implement effective strategies.

By the end of this webinar, you will have acquired a well-rounded skill set, enabling you to navigate the complexities of supporting the mental health of adopted teenagers with confidence and effectiveness.

Learning outcomes

• Gain insights into the distinctive challenges faced by adopted teenagers, fostering a deeper understanding of their mental health needs
• Explore the intricacies of identity formation during adolescence
• Apply theoretical knowledge on the prevalence of mental health difficulties including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and conduct disorder
• Develop skills in the identification and onward referral treatment
• Acquire strategies to support adopted parents
• Develop a toolkit for addressing self-harm concerns and implement ACT/CBT strategies to provide comprehensive support for mental health challenges
• Embrace a holistic approach to mental health support, integrating theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and empathetic strategies to make a positive impact on the well-being of adopted teenagers

About the trainer

Dr Morvwen Duncan

Dr Morvwen Duncan is a HCPC (The Health and Care Professions Council) registered Clinical Psychologist and the founder & director of The Lotus Psychology Practice. She currently works across private practice, as an Expert Witness to the Family Courts and within the NHS as the Lead in a Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team.

Dr Duncan is experienced in working with children and young people of all ages, including children with complex needs due to neurodevelopmental co-morbidities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Dr Duncan has particular expertise in working with looked after and adopted children, having worked within the Tavistock Fostering and Adoption Team and at Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Attachment and Trauma Team.

Dr Duncan is also actively involved in research, having spoken at international conferences with several academic publications across a range of areas of mental health.

Instructions

A member of staff will be in touch with attendees one week before 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

This course will look at the legal framework for adoption support comparing how it varies in different parts of the UK. We will examine planning support from the point of matching and what we can do to ensure placements get off to the best possible start, as well as adoption support assessments in established placements.

“I liked how clear Laura was about people having their cameras on and participating in the training. Also her knowledge and experience was extensive, her presentation style was varied and engaging. Good mix of discussion and presentation.” – Attendee, 2022

What do adopters and young people say about what what they need? With the majority of adoptive placements facing a level of challenge, what is the long term impact on adoptive parents who live with secondary trauma year on year? What does research say about their long term experiences? How do we avoid blocked care or disruption? How can support services offer what they actually need within limited budgets? Can lower tier services can prevent families needing the more intensive ones in some cases? This training will not focus strongly on the details of the ASF, but on the global assessment of need and provision of a range of services.

There will be an opportunity to share examples of good practice.

Learning outcomes

• The legal framework for adoption support pre and post order across the UK
• Research relating to the long term challenges for adoptive families and how best to support them
• How to structure adoption support services to maximise the use of resources.
• Examples of good practice

About the trainer

Laura Payne

Laura has worked as a Social Worker, Panel Advisor and Manager in family placement for over 25 years in both the Local Authority and the Voluntary sector.  She has worked in and managed adoption support teams and has a significant interest in this area, particularly in relation to supporting contact. Laura was Head of Service and then acting CEO at Faith in Families prior to their merger with Adoption Focus in January 2022 and now works as a freelance trainer and consultant and is an Associate Trainer and Consultant for Corambaaf.

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

Together with Joanna Parker, a Child & Family Therapist at PAC-UK, we developed a practice webinar on therapeutic toolkits for adoption practitioners, so they can feel confident about providing good quality support to adoptive families. We will be looking at the multidisciplinary aspect of the this work, the need for a range of therapies, bolstered by some clinician lead training/group therapy and the challenges of Adoption Support Fund.

“The whole session was really creative and tapped into somethings that often get lost in the stress of day to day work” – Attendee, 2022

This webinar aims to introduce participants to a range of therapeutic tools, as a way of connecting to children and young people that they are working with. This will include use of the arts and play, as a form of communication, to help with both the expression and containment of a range of feelings and life events. This is not training participants to be psychotherapists, it is a snapshot of how to enhance engagement with children and young people who are facing difficulties.

“It was a very informative webinar, a lot of useful resources were shared and Jo the facilitator gave lots of examples/ideas/instructions on how to use the resources.” – Attendee, 2022

We will also discuss how we can best meet the changing needs of adoptive families. You will be able to network with practitioners from other agencies, share best practice and glean new ideas.

Learning outcomes

• Understand the basic principles of Trauma-informed practice working with families
• Clear understanding between the difference of therapy and communication using therapeutic tools
• Understanding the importance of developmental age – pitching to the right level
• Introduction to use of the arts as a form of communication, expression and containment.
• Have some practical tools for Improving interactions with families.
• Awareness of the limitations of their specific roles and when to refer

About the trainer

Joanna Parker is a UKCP registered Integrative Arts Psychotherapist MA and clinical supervisor (Dip) with over 20 years of working in a range of settings with children, young people, adults and families. Joanna currently works at PAC-UK with adoptive families, and she has a particular interest in attachment and the power of creative process. Alongside this role, Joanna works for Young Minds as a Professional Adviser to parents, is a member of the Child Therapeutic Wellbeing Practice Faculty at the Institute of Arts in Therapy and Education where she is a tutor and she is the co-founder of Studio 34, from which she runs a private practice. Prior to this, Joanna managed Young Oasis for 10 years in Brighton, a multi-disciplinary therapeutic service, which supports children and families impacted by substance misuse.

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

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.

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

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.

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

An opportunity to explore the themes, challenges and successes around working with birth relatives. Together we will explore challenges and opportunities created through the pandemic and how this has influenced changes within CAFIS to how we bring birth and adopted families together to support their child/ren.

“Everyone who wished to got a chance to speak and share. Good idea sharing forum, good to hear how other agencies are managing dilemmas and situations” – attendee, 2020

This webinar will explore how professionals who work with adopted children engage with birth relatives and the effectiveness of this.  We will look at how birth parents and relatives with lived experience of forced adoption can support current services, and discuss how it could be useful to enlist the help of birth relatives to assist with future service development around adoption.

“I attended this training on my 2nd week in my now adoption role. Prior to this I worked for 10 years on the LAC m. I enjoyed changing my perspective and hearing adoption workers views” – attendee, 2021

There will be an opportunity for participants to reflect on birth relatives input during both stage one and stage two of the foster carer and prospective adoptive parents’ assessment, how this affects current services and how it could be improved.

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

Learning outcomes

• Better understanding of the stigma that birth relatives face both by professionals and wider society particularly birth fathers.
• How to engage birth relatives.
• How the needs of children are often overshadowed by the needs of foster carers/adoptive parents.
• How lived experience can support the development of service which benefits the child.
• How involving birth parents/relatives can impact and influence the views of foster/adoptive parents in regards to family time/keeping in touch arrangements

About the trainers

CAFIS (Connecting Adoptive families Independent Services) Barnardos, is commissioned to provide a number of services on behalf of the RAA Adoption Partnership Southeast, including birth parent support, access to records, intermediary and keeping in touch arrangements for children subject to adoption and SGO.

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, Managers, Social Workers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies and Local Authorities), Children’s Social Workers, Support Workers and Independent Professionals.

Details

Together with Joanna Parker, a Child & Family Therapist at PAC-UK, we developed a practice webinar on therapeutic toolkits for adoption practitioners, so they can feel confident about providing good quality support to adoptive families. We will be looking at the multidisciplinary aspect of the this work, the need for a range of therapies, bolstered by some clinician lead training/group therapy and the challenges of Adoption Support Fund.

This webinar aims to introduce participants to a range of therapeutic tools, as a way of connecting to children and young people that they are working with. This will include use of the arts and play, as a form of communication, to help with both the expression and containment of a range of feelings and life events. This is not training participants to be psychotherapists, it is a snapshot of how to enhance engagement with children and young people who are facing difficulties

We will also discuss how we can best meet the changing needs of adoptive families. You will be able to network with practitioners from other agencies, share best practice and glean new ideas.

Learning outcomes

• Understand the basic principles of Trauma-informed practice working with families
• Clear understanding between the difference of therapy and communication using therapeutic tools
• Understanding the importance of developmental age – pitching to the right level
• Introduction to use of the arts as a form of communication, expression and containment.
• Have some practical tools for Improving interactions with families.
• Awareness of the limitations of their specific roles and when to refer

About the trainer

Joanna Parker is a UKCP registered Integrative Arts Psychotherapist MA and clinical supervisor (Dip) with over 20 years of working in a range of settings with children, young people, adults and families. Joanna currently works at PAC-UK with adoptive families, and she has a particular interest in attachment and the power of creative process. Alongside this role, Joanna works for Young Minds as a Professional Adviser to parents, is a member of the Child Therapeutic Wellbeing Practice Faculty at the Institute of Arts in Therapy and Education where she is a tutor and she is the co-founder of Studio 34, from which she runs a private practice. Prior to this, Joanna managed Young Oasis for 10 years in Brighton, a multi-disciplinary therapeutic service, which supports children and families impacted by substance misuse.

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),  Independent Professionals and other professionals who are working with children.

Details

In this bespoke training session, we will consider key facts, statistics, and research about the internet and mobile technology and the way it’s used by children and young people. The internet saves us so much time and means information is at our fingertips, but also creates risks. As professionals, we need to identify the risks it may create for us, the risk it creates for adopters and also the risks for children.

“It was a real eye opener! Very real about the different areas where there are high risks. And giving practical tools to help educate and reduce the risk…” – Attendee, 27th July 2021

You will explore the potential risks and benefits of technology & the specific risks to children who have been adopted.

“It was extremely useful to raise my awareness around safety. I is really difficult to help parents with this put falls of internet safety and I now feel I can at least be of some use.” – Attendee, 8th March 2022

Learning 0utcomes

• Identify what is being accessed by young people and look at the biggest risks
• Consider online safety for the adopter- dos and don’ts
• Keeping your own social media safe and secure
• Raise and discuss internet safety with young people
• How perpetrators use the internet and mobile technology for targeting, grooming, and abusing young people
• Think about why young people often do not disclose what’s happening to them.
• Identify what controls can be used and where to locate the instructions for implementing
• How to report concerns around internet
• Provide information on resources that can be accessed and used by young people, parents, and professionals

You will leave the training equipped with:

• CPD certificate
• Copy of the presentation
• Links to supporting information
• Risk assessments for use with children and adopters
• Examples of internet agreements to be used
• Link to Dropbox with additional information and guidance including leaflets and toolkits

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, Managers, Social Workers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies and Local Authorities), Children’s Social Workers, Support Workers and Independent Professionals.

Details

This training course will look at the legal framework for adoption comparing how it differs in different parts of the UK. We will examine is the longer term experience for adoptive parents, what did they need and what did they receive – what are the messages from research. We will also think about the impact of secondary trauma, blocked care and factors leading to disruption.

How can we ensure adoption support plans are comprehensive and appropriate? What can we include to ensure placements start well and stay on track?

How do we complete effective Adoption Support Assessments when families are in crisis? Even where there is no ASF funding this can be useful when there appear to be multiple issues.

Most agencies have limited resources to give to adoption support. We will think about adoption support services as a triangle with universal services at the bottom – social events, toddler groups etc, then more structured services such as buddy schemes, courses training, support groups in the middle and work with individual families at the top.  Can lower tier services can prevent families needing the more intensive ones in some cases?

There will be an opportunity to share examples of good practice.

Learning outcomes

• The legal framework for adoption support pre and post order across the UK
• Research relating to the long term challenges for adoptive families and how best to support them
• How to structure adoption support services to maximise the use of resources.
• Examples of good practice

About the trainer

Laura Payne has worked as a Social Worker, Panel Advisor and Manager in family placement for over 25 years in both the Local Authority and the Voluntary sector.  She has worked in and managed adoption support teams and has a significant interest in this area, particularly in relation to supporting contact.

Laura was Head of Service and then acting CEO at Faith in Families prior to their merger with Adoption Focus in January 2022.

She now works as a freelance trainer and consultant and is an Associate Trainer and Consultant for Corambaaf.

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.