This group is a dedicated space for practitioners working across fostering, adoption and kinship care to discuss, share and reflect on the use of AI in their practice. This is a community of practice to share insights, developments and consider practice and ethical issues to support you in your work, share knowledge at a national level and identify and co-create the support that practitioners and agencies need.
AI is moving quickly into the everyday work of fostering, adoption and kinship practice, in case recording, assessments, reports, as well as the material that is produced from elsewhere. Practitioners have told us they want a space to think critically and together about what this means, what’s good practice, and how this fits in to modern social work.
The role of a practitioner navigating AI tools in practice can be an uncertain one, with policy and guidance still catching up. The time to share, discuss and reflect with peers is the heart of these sessions.
What members will get out of it
By the end of the series, we will have explored how practitioners can:
Confidently use, scrutinise and push back on AI in their day-to-day practice.
Exercise judgement about what AI use is acceptable
Consider the legal grounding on data protection, confidentiality, disclosure of AI use, and professional accountability.
Explore current and developing practice tools.
Be part of a trusted peer network across fostering, adoption and kinship practice.
Help develop the practice tools and guidance needed for modern social work practice.
This is not a training course it is structured peer learning.
Session format
Each 90-minute session will follow a clear structure and will be based on a number of key themes for practice. We will also be responsive to feedback.
Six sessions will take place across nine months, 10:00am – 11:30am via Zoom on the following dates:
7 July
1 September
6 October
24 November
12 January
2 March
Themes
We will be covering the following topics across the six sessions:
- Landscape – where AI is already showing up in fostering, adoption and kinship practice and available support.
- AI in writing and case recording – case notes, reports and letters.
- AI in assessment and analysis – summarising files, spotting patterns, prepping for meetings, and the bias question.
- AI in direct work and with families – translation, accessible communication, young people and families using AI themselves.
- Risks, harms and red lines – hallucinations, data leakage, synthetic content, near-misses from the cohort.
- Integration and forward agenda – identifying what to take back to agencies and the wider sector.
Join the group
The group is open to all members working in fostering, adoption or kinship care — practitioners, social workers, therapists, kinship navigators and adoption-competent clinicians. A short expression of interest helps with cohort cohesion across the nine months, as the value of the group depends on the same members building trust over time.
If you are interested in joining future sessions and would like to be kept up-to-date with relevant legal and practice updates on AI in fostering, adoption and kinship care, join the mailing list now.