Events archive

The open course will help to increase the understanding of the supervisory requirements of supervising social workers, in line with fostering legislation. It will look at roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding children and young people and how foster carers can be supported and developed in their role.

This session will look at the relationship-based practice model in family justice pioneered by social workers and lawyers in Sussex. We will explore its impact on local practice and its role in fostering a culture of respect and inclusion within the family justice system.

This course is an opportunity to consider what we know about staying in touch from research, including what works well, the voices of those with lived experience, and aspects that may present challenges or need more support.

This event will introduce participants to findings from two research projects focused on better understanding both professional responses to, and young people’s experiences of, extra-familial risk and harm.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
This webinar is designed for local authorities that may be new to the Outbound service and want to find out what we offer and hear some initial guidance on how to approach overseas placements. It is for local authority staff - both social workers and lawyers - who are involved in the placement of children currently living in the UK with kinship carers overseas on all legal orders. We will do a short presentation and then take questions.

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

This course is an opportunity to explore personal and professional values and thresholds in relation to kinship carers and explore what good kinship assessment practice looks like. It will include how to robustly assess and analyse strengths and vulnerabilities, and the importance of careful support planning to mitigate assessed risks. It will consider the key principles of best practice in assessment of kinship carers and provide an opportunity to reflect on some of the dilemmas and challenges in achieving permanence for children.

Decision makers in fostering and adoption agencies have a vital but often under-explored role. Many decision makers describe finding themselves in the role with little or no preparation, and with few arenas locally to share dilemmas or discuss best practice. What is the best process for reaching a sound decision? How can you avoid it simply becoming a ‘rubber-stamping’ exercise? What is your role in relation to the quality assurance of the panel’s activities? How should a decision maker appraise a panel chair? What does a reasonable decision look like? How should it be conveyed?

FREE FOR MEMBERS
A large proportion of children entering care are from families who have previously had a child removed from their care: almost half (47%) of all newborns who are subject to care proceedings were born to mothers who had previously been subject to care proceedings regarding their older sibling. Pause is a national charity working to improve the lives of women who have had - or are at risk of having - more than one child removed from their care, and the services and systems that affect them. At this participatory session, we will explore learnings from the past ten years of providing support to parents who have had children removed from their care and set out the case for support services for birth parents.

This course is an opportunity to explore the legal and practice framework of private fostering, including best practice in how to 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.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
The issue of the adultification of Black girls in England has received more attention in recent years with the high-profile case of Child Q who was strip-searched by police officers in her school in London. This session covers Sylvia Ikomi's PHD research into the adultification of Black girls in state care and her Churchill Fellowship interviews and focus groups with experts on the topic, as well as professionals, that have observed the dynamics of this issue within their own work in the social care sector.