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 unique training session co-delivered by Dr Zoe Webb, a distinguished Clinical Psychologist, and In-Between Lines project, this workshop is essential for adoption professionals seeking to create inclusive and affirming spaces for adopted young people and their families.

Navigating the complexities of gender and sexual identity can be challenging for young people, especially those who are adopted. In this enlightening session, participants will gain invaluable insights into the unique experiences and challenges faced by adopteens as they explore and define their identities.

Dr. Zoe Webb will draw upon her extensive expertise to guide you through the nuanced terrain of gender and sexual identity development, providing practical strategies for supporting young adoptees and their families on their journey towards self-discovery and acceptance.

In-Between Lines, a rising project for young people with complex identities, will share their insights and resources to help participants foster supportive environments that affirm and celebrate diverse identities within adoptive families.

Learning 0utcomes

• Gain a deeper understanding of the intersections between adoption, gender, and sexual identity
• Explore the unique experiences and challenges faced by young adopted people
• Learn practical strategies for supporting adoptive families in navigating conversations around gender and sexual identity
• Access valuable resources and tools to create inclusive and affirming environments for adopted youth

About the trainers

Dr Zoe Webb

Dr Zoe Webb, BSc, PhD, DClinPsy, is a qualified child and adolescent clinical psychologist with over ten years experience of working with young people & their families. Having worked previously within Child and Adolescent. Mental Health services in the NHS, she has been in full-time independent practice since 2015. Zoe works therapeutically with both young people and adults, individually, dyadically or systemically on a range of mental health & well-being difficulties (inc. anxiety, depression, anger, self-harm etc..) with a specialist interest in developmental trauma & attachment difficulties.

In-Between Lines

In-Between Lines, is an award-winning community exploring the lived experience of multiple cultural, ethnic, or family identities e.g. adoptees, mixed-heritage individuals, and third-culture kids. Their aim is to create spaces for complex identities, to uplift marginalised experiences, and to challenge institutions to make real change.

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

Adolescence can be a particularly challenging time for both adopted young people and their parents. It is a time when parents need not only a great deal of support emotionally, but also strategies to help them think about how to best support their young person.

“I loved the sharing of concrete strategies that I can take away and use with families I am working with. I also appreciated the knowledge and expertise of the facilitators” – Attendee, 2023

In this practice webinar, you will be able to learn from senior adoption practioners at Coram what they consider best practice in supporting young people entering adulthood. The adoption team at Coram has created a program based on the Ministry of Parenting’s parenting skills course, with additional content tailored specifically for families of adopted adolescents.

“The speakers were completely knowledgeable about their subject and were able to communicate this well. The round table discussions were a good opportunity to meet others and share practice ideas” – Attendee, 2023

Together with fellow adoption support colleagues, you will be able to explore their practice that has been informed by the families Coram had worked with over the years. You will spend some time on their reflections and how their learning can improve your practice going forward.

Learning 0utcomes

• a space to think about the extra challenges of adolescence for adopted young people
• strategies and ideas to hold in mind when working with adoptive parents with young people in adolescence
• practical takeaways to sufficiently support the families you work with
• reflecting on your own practice
• networking with adoption colleagues in the same/similar role

About the trainers

Annie Moser 

Annie is a senior social worker, working in the Adoption Support Team at Coram. Annie worked in the Recruitment and Assessment Team at Coram for many years before that, including at a time when cases were held throughout the whole adoption process. Annie qualified as a social worker in 1983, and worked in advice, support and counselling for young homeless people, an HIV health outreach team and as a hospital HIV/drugs social worker. Annie moved to Coram in the 1990s and have worked there since. Annie now works as the lead on parenting groups, and also focuses on education work, alongside case work with families.

Debbie Connolly

Debbie qualified as a social worker in the mid-1980s. Her first job was as a hospital social worker linking with the oncology, ante natal and maternity wards and a community child development team. Throughout the 1990s and since, Debbie has worked in the area of adoption- recruiting and assessing families, family finding for children and the matching and linking process. Debbie has worked specifically in adoption support work for the last 10 years. Alongside my work at Coram, Debbie also worked part-time for twelve years for The Post Adoption Centre as an Outreach Counsellor, working with birth parents, adopted people and adopters. Debbie now focuses at Coram on group work- the parenting groups, and a support group we have recently set up. Debbie has a specific interest in ‘Life- Story Talk’.

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

Adolescence can be a particularly challenging time for both adopted young people and their parents. It is a time when parents need not only a great deal of support emotionally, but also strategies to help them think about how to best support their young person.

In this practice webinar, you will be able to learn from senior adoption practioners at Coram what they consider best practice in supporting young people entering adulthood. The adoption team at Coram has created a program based on the Ministry of Parenting’s parenting skills course, with additional content tailored specifically for families of adopted adolescents.

Together with fellow adoption support colleagues, you will be able to explore their practice that has been informed by the families Coram had worked with over the years. You will spend some time on their reflections and how their learning can improve your practice going forward.

Learning 0utcomes

• a space to think about the extra challenges of adolescence for adopted young people
• strategies and ideas to hold in mind when working with adoptive parents with young people in adolescence
• practical takeaways to sufficiently support the families you work with
• reflecting on your own practice
• networking with adoption colleagues in the same/similar role

About the trainers

Annie Moser and Debbie Connolly

Annie is a senior social worker, working in the Adoption Support Team at Coram. Annie worked in the Recruitment and Assessment Team at Coram for many years before that, including at a time when cases were held throughout the whole adoption process. Annie qualified as a social worker in 1983, and worked in advice, support and counselling for young homeless people, an HIV health outreach team and as a hospital HIV/drugs social worker. Annie moved to Coram in the 1990s and have worked there since. Annie now works as the lead on parenting groups, and also focuses on education work, alongside case work with families.

Debbie qualified as a social worker in the mid-1980s. Her first job was as a hospital social worker linking with the oncology, ante natal and maternity wards and a community child development team. Throughout the 1990s and since, Debbie has worked in the area of adoption- recruiting and assessing families, family finding for children and the matching and linking process. Debbie has worked specifically in adoption support work for the last 10 years. Alongside my work at Coram, Debbie also worked part-time for twelve years for The Post Adoption Centre as an Outreach Counsellor, working with birth parents, adopted people and adopters. Debbie now focuses at Coram on group work- the parenting groups, and a support group we have recently set up. Debbie has a specific interest in ‘Life- Story Talk’.

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

In many cases life story work is undertaken at the point to permanence and there are varying standards across the services. 

During this practice webinar, you will hear from senior adoption practitioners at Family Care Adoption Services considering how young people not living with their birth families can benefit from Life Story work, and how the work can improve a young person’s sense of identity and promote a positive sense of worth.

“Well presented Course and source of information that the Presenters were clearly passionate about, which is very inspiring.” – attendee, 2021

Family Care Adoption Services are very excited at the prospect of a young person and significant people in their life, including siblings and birth families, being able to contribute to their life story. This means giving  young people a living chronology of their life story, family history and ultimately a true sense of their identity.

Through discussion of the Life Story process, a range of effective communication methods will be explored. Practical suggestions and ideas for working directly with young people will be discussed, which can help individuals’ piece together and develop a coherent understanding of their own histories and provide truthful answers to the many questions they have about their lives.

Consideration will be given to how to share information about difficult topics and support carers and/or adoptive parents gain confidence in discussing these issues.

“There was a lot of attendees from different profession backgrounds and with personal experience. Good to share ideas and also speak with practioners on the other side of what my role is who complete life story work later down the line.” – attendee, 2021

Learning outcomes

• consider how young people not living with their birth families can benefit from Life Story Work
• learn how the work can improve a young person’s sense of identity and promote a positive sense of worth
• a range of effective communication methods will be explored
• practical suggestions and ideas for working directly with young people
• share information about difficult topics

About the trainer

Sarah Johnston is a Social Work practitioner and the Project Co-Ordinator of the Life Story Project at Family Care Adoption Services.  The project carries out Life Story work with care experienced young people aged 11-22 alongside their parents/carers. Life Story books are created with each young person, incorporating their personal thoughts, reflections, memories and artwork.  Sarah has over 6 years’ experience of carrying out Life Story work with fostered and adopted teenagers, and facilitating workshops on this subject.

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

Group work for young people who are adopted can have immediate and long lasting impact on not only children and their families lives, but also enrich your organisation as a whole. By utilizing service users lived experience, organisations can be enabled to develop a better understanding of the life-long impact of adoption, what’s needed and when. Learning from the lived experience influences every part of how an agency connects with the adoption triangle.

“All the speakers were great. Mel seemed very approachable and was open about her own misgivings and how her own practice had developed. Aaron and Dani were fabulous! Such insightful, well articulated, engaging and friendly young people. All the speakers made the webinar an absolute pleasure to attend.” – Attendee, June 2021

Scottish Adoption has been running young people’s groups for over 12 years. Within this time, the influence of the impact of these young people’s groups on the practice and structure of the agency cannot be underestimated.

“[I liked…] the expertise and experience of the facilitators on this particular topic, and the contribution of the people who were adopted. Their generosity in sharing their experiences was very powerful and made the webinar even more meaningful.” – Attendee, June 2021

As part of our commitment to #keepthepromise we would like to share our knowledge base on setting up and establishing a young people’s adoption group work programme.

This training will be facilitated by Melanie Thomson, Scottish Adoption Children’s Worker and Dani Armstrong, Adoption Ambassador.

Learning outcomes

• exploring the benefits of teen work
• practical skills to start a group
• realising our young people’s aspiration that all adopted young people should have access to an adoption support group

About the trainer

Melanie Thomson is the Children’s Worker at Scottish Adoption. In addition to proving post adoption support to children and their families, Melanie facilitates a number of different groups for adopted children and young people. Melanie strongly believes in the power of group work within post adoption support and alongside her team of Adoption Ambassadors, manages the @TeenTalk social media channel https://www.scottishadoption.org/teentalk/ where the aim is create an online adoption community for children and young people and educate the wider world via their lived experience.

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.