Training & events programme

This training will provide an overview of the available research and Outbound data for children being placed abroad. There will then be ample time to discuss issues regarding viability and support plans for overseas cases during case studies and group discussion.

OPEN TO ALL
In this free UK Trauma Council Insight Series in collaboration with CoramBAAF, experts will come together to answer the questions they are most frequently asked about supporting the mental health of children in care, drawing on research evidence, lived-experience, and frontline practice.

This open course will look at the relevant statutory frameworks and recent case law, the challenges of working with relinquished babies and their parents, some of the complexities of the background histories of relinquished babies, the importance of counselling for relinquishing parents, care planning and the support needs of relinquished children and their adopters.

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.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
Regular physical activity has a wealth of health benefits for children and young people. But more than that, physical activity is shown to improve wellbeing and academic performance, open up social connections and create pathways to volunteering or employment. Despite the considerable benefits, data demonstrates that 52% of children and young people do not get the recommended 60 minutes of physical exercise per day. Furthermore, Local Government Association (LGA) shows that care-experienced children and young people are a hidden group whose needs and experiences are overlooked in physical activity policy and provision. In this practical webinar we will be exploring how to improve access to physical activity for care-experienced children and young people based on current research evidence.

This course is aimed at social care professionals who are engaged in the assessment of prospective adoptive parents, foster carers and kinship carers and who wish to increase their awareness and confidence in considering gender issues in assessment, analysis and decision making. 

FREE FOR MEMBERS
Adoption UK's Adoption Barometer is the UK's only annual stocktake of the impact of policy and practice on the lives of adoptees and adoptive families. More than 3,500 prospective adopters, adoptive parents and adoptees aged 16+ gave their views on topics including the preparation and matching process, birth family contact, adoption support, education, accessing records, tracing and reunion and mental health. Rebecca Brooks, the report author, will present an overview of the findings, highlighting stories to celebrate and stories that challenge.

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund has been available to children living with special guardians since 2016, and its name was changed in 2023 with the publication of the National Kinship Care Strategy. Although the number of applications made on behalf of children living with special guardians is slowly increasing, the number of applications is still considerably lower than those made for adopted children.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
Our social work practice must be guided by the values and principles of anti-racist practice and cultural humility. This means embedding them into all aspects of our work with families, bringing self-awareness of our own biases, assumptions and privileges, and centering families’ lived experience. 

This course is an opportunity to understand key concepts and consider why anti-racist practice and cultural humility matter. You will be supported to explore how you can build relationships with families that honour diverse perspectives and recognise unique needs, and explore tools to enable you to better understand the identities of children and their families. You will then consider how this understanding can be applied to your practice to develop culturally appropriate assessments and interventions that reflect the lived realities of children and families and take account of their intersecting identities.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
Our social work practice must be guided by the values and principles of anti-racist practice and cultural humility. This means embedding them into all aspects of our work with families, bringing self-awareness of our own biases, assumptions and privileges, and centering families’ lived experience. 

This course is an opportunity to understand key concepts and consider why anti-racist practice and cultural humility matter. You will be supported to explore how you can build relationships with families that honour diverse perspectives and recognise unique needs, and explore tools to enable you to better understand the identities of children and their families. You will then consider how this understanding can be applied to your practice to develop culturally appropriate assessments and interventions that reflect the lived realities of children and families and take account of their intersecting identities.