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Sibling assessments: beyond together or apart

Event--ONLINE

Sibling assessments are complex and emotive for many. This course will offer a comprehensive approach to undertaking these important assessments. It will explore how assessing social workers can plan the assessment, identify the key contributors and ensure you can engage these contributors in the process. Most importantly it will explore how to gain the views of the children, observe sibling interactions, draw conclusions on the quality of sibling relationships as well as focusing on the individual needs of each child and of the sibling group.

Safeguarding for panel

Event--ONLINE

Safeguarding is a shared responsibility for any of us working with children. This course is an opportunity to reflect more deeply on your role as a panel member when thinking about safeguarding children. It will provide you with an opportunity to re-visit some of the key legislation that governs your role. Using case studies and scenarios, you will be able to explore and discuss what safeguarding means in practice, in the context of the assessment and review of foster carers. You will be able to reflect on your own personal and professional identity and how this may impact on your role as a panel member.

Undertaking a Child's Permanence Report

Event--ONLINE

The Child’s Permanence Report (CPR) is the primary document used by the agency decision maker to reach their decision that the child ‘should be placed for adoption’. The CPR also provides information for adoption panels to reach their recommendations when children are being placed for adoption with the consent of their birth parents.

This course will support social workers to understand the content, purpose and function of the Child’s Permanence Report (CPR), good practice in its undertaking and how it can be used to provide a full picture of each child’s journey and needs.

Effective panels: an introduction to the functions and operations of fostering and adoption panels (England)

Event--ONLINE

This open course aims to give new and recently appointed fostering and adoption panel members  an opportunity  to  develop  their  role  as  effective panel members and to consider the tasks and responsibilities involved. This will be within the context of the current legislative framework and emerging messages from research.

Fostering and adoption/permanency panel work is challenging to all concerned in the process. This course is intended to share issues, dilemmas and best practice.

Facilitating parent and child arrangements

Event--ONLINE

Foster carers are increasingly being asked to care for a parent and their child during care proceedings, and to contribute towards the assessment of parenting capacity. This type of arrangement is complex, involving different tasks and responsibilities.

Effective supervision and reflective practice

Event--ONLINE

This course is designed to support those who have previously attended “The role of the supervising social worker in supervising and supporting foster carers” and now looking to develop their practice further.
On this course you will explore how good quality, challenging supervision can contribute to a high quality of care provided by foster and kinship carers and to establishing and maintaining effective working relationships. We will explore the balancing the potentially conflicting role of the supervising social worker, who needs to balance providing support with the need to sometimes have difficult conversations too.

Chairing fostering and adoption panels

Event--ONLINE

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.

Undertaking a fostering assessment - two day course

Event- to -ONLINE

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.

What makes a good kinship assessment

Event--ONLINE

This course is an opportunity to consolidate knowledge of kinship assessment practice. It will provide a focus on what constitutes a good assessment, including how to triangulate information, write robust analysis and plan effective support. There will be the opportunity to discuss examples of assessments and support plan alongside case studies. This one day course will reference CoramBAAF’s Kinship Care Assessment (Form K).

The two day course Undertaking a kinship assessment provides more detail for social workers and managers with less experience of kinship assessment. 

Panel advisers: their role and responsibilities for fostering and permanency panels

Event--ONLINE

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.