Training & events programme

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.

OPEN TO ALL
This session is for health professionals, named and designated professionals for children in care, managers of services that provide health assessments, and children's social workers. It is an opportunity to put forward questions relating to the new suite of health forms. We advise attending these sessions after viewing the new forms and accompanying guidance.

OPEN TO ALL
In this session, we will be exploring anti-racist practice and the role of anti-racist practitioners in children’s social care and the justice system. We are delighted to be working alongside the Racial Justice Family Network to bring together a panel of experts to discuss what anti-racist practice looks like, the tools social workers can use to embed anti-racism in their practice, and the pathways toward a more equitable system for all children and young people in contact with the care system.

Adoption related research, practice and lived experience reported over the past century have shown that adoption is not a one-off event, but a lifelong process, with ongoing implications for all members of the adoption kinship network. Services for adults affected by adoption are an important element of addressing the range of needs expressed by adopted people, birth relatives and people with a prescribed relationship2 to an adopted person and ensuring that their legal rights are upheld.

FREE FOR MEMBERS.
Hear from Polly Baynes, a children and families social worker with over 36 years of experience. Polly's research explores the experiences of 10 mothers and fathers of keeping in touch with children who were no longer in their care, using photographs and interviews. Contact provided an important but limited opportunity to express a continued sense of parental responsibility. Parents used familiar food, toys and children’s belongings to maintain connections to their past shared life with the child and as expressions of loving care across the boundaries of placement and into the future. The research shows there is potential for family time settings to provide increased support in the aftermath of separation to the benefit of both parent and child, improving the prospects of safe reunification and positive long term connections.