Ten top tips for placing disabled children

The Ten Top Tips series considers some of the fundamental themes in child care practice in concise, practical guides ideal for busy practitioners.

Attitudes to disability have come a long way in the last few years but finding a new family for a child with a disabling condition still poses particular challenges. Why and when do they require permanent foster care or should they/could they be adopted? How should we recruit and support suitable families? Can we work directly with all children, however seriously impaired? Should a disabled child be separated from a sibling group?

This book provides an essential checklist for anyone seeking the right new family for a disabled child.

Who is this book for?

The book is intended for all practitioners engaged in placing children with disabilities.

What you will find in this book

Each of the ten chapters presents a basic “tip” in an accessible and straightforward style, including:

• Knowing the child before learning about the disabling condition
• Checking personal attitudes to disability
• Respecting the birth family and the child’s need for continuity
• Being aware of the resources available
• Considering the choices
• Thinking because of, not in spite of disability
• Finding the right family
• Preparing each individual family for each individual child
• Preparing each individual child for each individual family
• Devising a robust placement support plan

Good practice points are included throughout and top tips are also offered by a parent with firsthand experience of adopting a boy, now a teenager, with cerebral palsy.

Author

Hedi Argent is an independent adoption consultant, trainer and freelance writer. She has written and edited many books for CoramBAAF including Adopting a brother or sister, Dealing with disruption and a guide for children about kinship care, Kinship care: what it is and what it means.

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