Our kinship care consultants develop a range of practice notes, briefings and other resources to support our members in special guardianship, private fostering, kinship foster care and other care plans involving family members and friends. They also support the exchange of ideas and good practice at our practice forums.


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Upcoming training

We are a leading provider of specialist training for social workers, practitioners, adopters, foster carers, kinship carers and all professionals associated with children's social care.

Birth mothers’ experiences of having children in kinship care

In October, Pause published a paper highlighting the experiences of birth mothers who have children placed in kinship care. It draws on their learnings from working with over 1,800 birth mothers over the past decade, as well as in-depth conversations with a group of four women who have children placed in kinship care.

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Making good use of the ASGSF to support kinship families

5 December | 9.45am - 4pm | Zoom
This course is aimed at practitioners working with kinship families to equip you with the knowledge and skills to confidently assess a kinship family’s support needs, match to a therapeutic intervention, and understand the scope, eligibility and requirements of the ASGSF in order to make applications to the fund.

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An introduction to private fostering

13 December | 9.45am - 1pm | Zoom
This course is an opportunity to explore the legal and practice framework of private fostering, including thinking about how to identify and work with this often unseen group of children. It will include explanation of the respective responsibilities of parents, private foster carers and local authorities, when private fostering arrangements are made.

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Private Fostering Awareness Day

On the 6 November, we hosted our second Private Fostering Awareness Day! A child who is cared for by someone who is not a close relative for more than 28 days is living in a private fostering arrangement. All local authorities have a responsibility to raise awareness of private fostering in their area.

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Continue raising awareness

Take a look at the events and resources that we hosted for this year's Private Fostering Awareness Day. Browse our newly published report, posters, banners and more. Continue raising awareness in your area today.

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Incorporating what matters to children into practice with kinship care

We are delighted to be able to publish Dr Paul Shuttleworth's latest work, ‘Incorporating what matters to children into practice with kinship care: Listen, Understand, Do’.

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Listen, Understand, Do

A practical guide to listening to children living in kinship families to help ensure that their voices and views are heard and acted upon.The guide is accompanied by a short video that powerfully illustrates the importance of listening to children.

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Working with Ukrainian children and families

Supporting kinship carers of Ukrainian refugee children (2024)

Read the latest version of our FAQs which has been updated to reflect the changes to visa schemes. We have produced a set of comprehensive FAQs to help professionals navigate the tricky interface between social care and immigration law.

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Top ten tips for social workers working with Ukrainian children

For those wanting a summary about how they can support Ukrainian children in kinship care families read our top ten tips!

This is a condensed version of our 'Frequently Asked Questions' resource,- we have included the headlines and key points from our longer document to offer a shorter and accessible version as an introduction to the topic.

Updated version coming soon

Advice

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Placing a child abroad?

The Outbound Permanence Service provides specialist information & advice on the legal, assessment and support options available in the overseas country.

Get advice

Get involved

Our multidisciplinary groups and provide a platform to our members so we can advocate on their behalf to Government, and ensure that their voices are heard in the development of legislation, policy and practice.

Kinship Care Practice Forum

Discuss developing areas of policy and share views at our Kinship Care Practice Forum.

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Private Fostering Practice Forum

Discuss developing policy and practice dilemmas in Private Fostering arrangements.

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