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This two-day open course will provide practitioners and particularly those who may be new to undertaking adoption assessments with an opportunity to develop knowledge, skills and practice in completing adoption assessments. Practitioners will be enabled to consider thorough, rigorous, consistent and fair approaches across the service in the assessment of prospective adopters. This course may also provide a refresher for those wanting to reflect and build on knowledge skills and best practice in the completion of adoption assessments.

Previously Robust analysis and evidence based connected persons & special guardianship assessments

This open course will be an opportunity to explore personal and professional values and thresholds in respect of assessing connected persons, including tools to assist in assessing the child’s and the Connected Persons’ continued relationship with the birth parents and any possible risks posed to the child and carer and how these can be managed.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
In this session, Hedwig Verhagen, will be discussing some of findings from her latest book - Parenting Matters: Parenting a child affected by child to parent violence and aggression. We will be discussing CPVA in an adoption context, the strategies for helping children and their families affected by CPVA and an overview of best practice guidance for social workers. Hedwig Verhagen is an independent therapeutic social worker and a social work lecturer at the University of Leeds. She has an MSc in Therapeutic Interventions for Psychological Trauma.

The responsibilities of a Chair can be considerable. Whereas some duties may be clearly outlined in related practice guidance along with the qualities that ensure effective chairing, not all Chair responsibilities are so helpfully detailed or provided. This workshop will explore general planning for and facilitation of panels and complex meetings in the children’s sector. It will explore time management and group facilitation whilst holding the child at the centre of thinking, recommendations and decision making. It will enable Chairs of meetings to consider good practice and approaches to effectively managing the flow of information, summarising and the formation of key action plans.

Panel advisors 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.

Foster carers are susceptible to allegations and/or complaints which will impact on the whole fostering household and their future as care givers. How should we as a profession respond to these situations in a sensitive, timely manner, whilst giving due regard to the safeguarding of children as well as the needs of carers and their household? This open course will address the process for distinguishing standards of care concerns from allegations or complaints, with opportunities to share good practice in recruiting, reviewing and supporting foster carers.

This course will enable participants to explore how ongoing life story work contributes to children's and young people's understanding of their past, present and future.

Published as part of the Our Story series, this is the story of the adoption of two children from Guatemala. But it is more than that. It is a moving and inspirational account of how a couple, in their search to build their family, find not only two children but what will become their extended family – their familia.

The Good Practice Guide, Safeguarding Children living with Foster Carers, Adopters and Special Guardians: Learning from case reviews 2007–2019, is based on a UK wide study of 52 case reviews concerning 98 children who had experienced serious harm while living with foster carers, adopters or special guardians. The study spans 12 years and is the first to focus exclusively on reviews of cases of children in alternative family care. It shines a spotlight on those issues particular to these children – selection and assessment of carers; support for children and carers; and the supervision and management of arrangements.

Let's acknowledge and celebrate difference. Understand neurodiversity as a natural variation to ‘the norm’ rather than as something that is disordered, dysfunctional or deficient. This session is an introduction to aspects of neurodiversity including autism, dyslexia and ADHD. It will give an overview to increase participants' knowledge and develop confidence in the subject.