Training & events programme

OPEN TO ALL
As the government advances its latest fostering reforms, all fostering services are facing significant changes to policy, practice and guidance. We are delighted to welcome the Department for Education to speak to us about these reforms.

Panel advisers have a complex role in managing the relationship between the agency and the panel, quality assuring and feeding back to all involved in panel work. This open course will enable panel advisors to examine this role in detail and build on effective practice as they carry out their role and responsibilities including: quality assurance; inducting new panel members; contributing to the appraisals of panel members; feeding back issues to the agency and working with the agency decision maker. Case scenarios, group work and practice application will provide opportunities for panel advisors to address shared dilemmas and good practice.

OPEN TO ALL
Safer Internet Day is a global initiative to promote safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. This years theme is on how to support care experienced young people navigate emerging AI technologies.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
In partnership with St Mary’s University, Surrey Virtual School and Achieving for Children Virtual School launched a research project to explore the educational barriers faced by children in kinship care. A key outcome was the creation of a Padlet, an online resource hub offering accessible, targeted information and guidance for kinship carers. Each Virtual School developed a Padlet tailored to local support services, combining general advice with specific educational resources. In this session, we will be exploring the implementation of the Padlet, and how it could be used in social work more widely.

Annual Reviews are an essential part of our statutory support and supervision of foster carers. In this open course, we explore how to complete an annual review well. We explore how to ensure the review meets the needs of the Fostering Service to be legally compliant, but also of carers to feel valued and supported, whilst keeping children at the centre of the process.

OPEN TO ALL
The ReThink project team, in collaboration with CoramBAAF, are pleased to invite you to our upcoming free webinar on Supporting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Care-experienced Young People During Early Adolescence and the Transition to Secondary School. The webinar will present key findings from the ReThink Project - one of the largest UK studies of the mental health and wellbeing needs of care-experienced young people during critical transition periods, including the move from primary to secondary school.

EARLY BIRD SALE
We are delighted to announce a date for our Fostering Conference on 2 March 2026 at the Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ.
This conference is set to become a key event in the calendar of social work practitioners working with foster families. It is a conference that brings together practice and ideas that are current, relevant to you, and which matter. Sign up now for 20% off your tickets.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
Our social work practice must be guided by the values and principles of anti-racist practice and cultural humility. This means embedding them into all aspects of our work with families, bringing self-awareness of our own biases, assumptions and privileges, and centering families’ lived experience. 

This course is an opportunity to understand key concepts and consider why anti-racist practice and cultural humility matter. You will be supported to explore how you can build relationships with families that honour diverse perspectives and recognise unique needs, and explore tools to enable you to better understand the identities of children and their families. You will then consider how this understanding can be applied to your practice to develop culturally appropriate assessments and interventions that reflect the lived realities of children and families and take account of their intersecting identities.

This two-day open course will provide practitioners and particularly those who may be new to undertaking, quality assuring or considering fostering assessments with an opportunity to develop knowledge, skills and practice in completing fostering assessments. This workshop may also provide a refresher for those wanting to reflect and build on knowledge skills and best practice in the completion of fostering assessments.

This half day training is aimed at professionals who are supporting children and their families and who would like to explore different ways to collaborate with schools in meeting the child’s emotional needs. We know that for many children who are in kinship or foster care, or who are adopted, education can be a challenging experience.