Who this is for

Adoption practitioners and managers (Voluntary Adoption Agencies, Regional Adoption Agencies and Local Authorities) and Independent Professionals.

Details

This is an opportunity for social workers in the field of adoption to develop their expertise in assessing prospective adopters who wish to be considered for siblings.

We will be looking at motivating factors of the prospective adopters and the relationship dynamics of the children in sibling groups who are waiting for adoptive families. With these factors in mind, Coram RAA will be sharing how they make robust assessments of sibling adopters and share elements of their sibling preparation and training session to help participating agencies build up their own skills and resources in this area. The preparation and training session is co-run in house by a Coram adoptive parent and a Coram practitioner, and together they will be delivering the CVAA session on this topic.

I felt the content was relevant and thought provoking, the delivery was engaging and highly professional and the session was coherent engaging throughout. I was really pleased to have been part of this training and wish colleagues had had the opportunity to share this too! – Attendee, October 2021

Learning outcomes

• To have an over view of why prospective adopters wish to adopt siblings
• To develop skills and guidance on measuring applicants capacity to manage the complexity of a sibling placement
• To be given resources to build upon this learning and develop a session within an agency’s preparation and training programme which will equip and prepare prospective adopters for a sibling placement

About the trainers

Maggie Davies is an adoption manager for Coram Ambitious for Adoption. She has worked in all aspects of local authority adoption work for fourteen years and joined Coram’s adoption team seven years ago.

Rachel Makin is an adoptive parent of 2 siblings (adopted aged 4 & 5) who has had a very challenging but rewarding journey through parenting. Partly as a result of that journey, she retrained and is now a psychotherapist. She brings both her practical experience and theoretical training in when she delivers training (particularly related to siblings), and in her role as an Independent Adoption Panel Member.

Rachel and Maggie designed Coram’s Sibling Training session and additional elements for consideration by assessing social workers to Coram’s assessment process 4 years ago. The groups run about 3 times a year and have been attended by prospective adoptive families in assessment with Coram and London local authorities who wish to be considered for a sibling group. They have also delivered the group to voluntary adoption agencies prospective adopters in assessment in the North West, and for Cambridgeshire County 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

Note: The national recruitment campaign includes a particular focus on sibling placements. This training is therefore particularly relevant to all agencies. 

In this webinar you will have an opportunity to consider how we can attract potential adopters for siblings and how we inspire confidence in those who may be initially overawed by the possibility of parenting more than one child…all at once! As practitioners, what are the qualities and experiences we want adopters of siblings to be able to demonstrate, or cultivate.

“Well paced seminar with good use of break out rooms to offer group discussion. Provided a lot of food for thought and ideas from other agencies sharing good practice.” – Attendee, August 2021

• Do we tailor some of our preparation and training accordingly and if so in what ways?
• Are our Adoption Panels confident generally in approving adopters for siblings or is there a tendency to be risk averse?
• When it comes to matching, how confident and clear are we in evidencing the additional emotional, practical, financial support which our adopters may require in order to parent a sibling group?
• What specific resources do we provide in terms of adoption support; what challenges do contact issues raise for sibling placements. What do we know about outcomes for children placed with siblings?

You will have an opportunity to learn what Adoption Focus are doing in terms of a specific aspect of this work, whilst at the same time having the opportunity to identify the situations you find most challenging and work in smaller groups to consider various solutions.

About the trainer

Leigh Smith has been a Training and Volunteer Co-Ordinator with Adoption Focus since 2017. Before this she worked in the Local Authority and then within a private fostering agency. Her roles have included supervising contact for looked after children, finding suitable foster placements for children and young people, mentoring adolescents in foster care and working in residential units. She now works within the training team at Adoption Focus and the post-adoption support team.

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.