Training & events programme

Analysing adult health assessments is a key element of assessing adopters and foster carers. This includes providing reports and evidence-based comments so that panels can reach appropriate decisions. This course is designed to support medical advisers in their role. It is particularly suitable for new or inexperienced medical advisers.

The safety of children in care is paramount. Therefore it is essential we investigate and respond to allegations, complaints and concerns about foster carers in a timely way and ensure children’s voices are heard and their needs met. This course will provide an opportunity to consider how we can manage allegations and concerns, with the rigour and challenge needed, whilst also considering the need for foster carers to receive sensitive support, that enables them to manage risks and keep everyone in the fostering household safe. 

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.

FREE FOR MEMBERS
Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) are increasingly granted as a route for children to leave care. This event will focus on findings from the recent Nuffield foundation study on Special Guardianship Families' experiences and support needs. Hear from Lorna Stabler, who has undertaken extensive research on SGOs, to learn more about these latest developments. and how they can be implemented in practice and shape policy going forwards.

This half day course is aimed at professionals who work with children and families who may benefit from a therapeutic intervention and would like to increase their understanding of different therapeutic approaches. Foster carers, kinship carers and adoptive parents who are considering different options for therapeutic support may also benefit from this training.

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.

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?

Been a medical advisor in the UK a while ? Already attended our child and adult health assessment workshops previously?
Feeling like you’re not sure what’s going on outside your patch? Wanting to learn from others in your role?
Then the Medical Advisor Update day is for you!

FREE FOR MEMBERS
Hear from Emeritus Professor Keith Moultrie on the latest research regarding safeguarding in the context of adoption and special guardianship. The event will explore the implications of this research for social work and safeguarding practices, and discuss ways on how to improve support and reduce breakdowns.

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.