Foster Care

This course aims to develop practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of parenting assessment and analysis and the importance of multi-agency working.

There are over 30,000 men currently fostering in the UK, 40-45 per cent of all approved foster carers. Nearly 80 per cent of them are part of a heterosexual couple. Most looked after children will have experienced poor quality relationships with men – living with often absent or abusive, unpredictable fathers who give out confusing signals. Within these experiences, children develop their own unique view of what men and fathers are like and how they behave. These viewpoints will heavily influence a child’s behaviour and emotions when joining a foster family. Male foster carers can provide valuable experiences of ‘involved fathering’ for looked after children. For many children in care living with a male foster carer has been their first positive experience of an adult male, giving them the chance to explore how to form trusting relationships with men and to have contact with men who understand their needs. However, evidence suggests that many male foster carers experience marginalisation. Male foster carers need to feel, and should be, valued, respected, trained, supported and, most of all, involved. There is an urgent need for fostering services and the wider public to recognise and respect the role men can also play in transforming the lives other people’s children. Fostering agencies can contribute to this process by recognising the issues, by learning from the experiences of their male foster carers and promoting positive practice. The challenge is now for all fostering services to empower their existing and potential male foster carers, and to reassure them that they have a crucial role to play, either as sole foster carers or as half of a fostering couple.

This course supports members of staff who chair a variety of different types of meetings which all have the same theme in common, they are all sensitive meetings e.g. Adult & Child Protection Meetings, Safeguarding Meetings, HR Meetings, Disciplinary Meetings, Restructuring Consultation etc.

This course is designed to increase the theoretical knowledge of social care professionals on the up to date legal framework, code of practice and human rights that covers the clients’ capacity to make decisions, protection of their cognitive decision making process, and understanding the principles of proper care towards these vulnerable people.

This Sibling Assessment Training course enables practitioners to understanding the dynamics of sibling groups with specific issues or complex histories. The course explores the impact of both placing children together and separating them. A range of theories will enable practitioners to consider short medium and long term issues for placement of siblings. Alongside this practitioners will be supported to consider the impact of trauma on children and young people and how this may be triggered in sibling relationships even long after they have been removed. Practitioners will consider the impact across the whole of a child’s development of remain or separating from siblings.

The aim of this day is to introduce participants to the area of Adverse Childhood Experiences through a mixture of presentation of key concepts and scenarios, allowing participants to gain a greater understanding of the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences with case studies relevant to their daily roles.

The aim of this course is to develop and build foster carers' knowledge of how they can support the education of Children in Care.

The aim of this course is for participants to learn how Looked after Teenagers change as they grow older and how these changes impact their behaviour. They will learn skills to apply this understanding to their day to day care.

This Gangs and Systemic Youth Violence Training explores the national epidemic of knife crime and serious youth violence and how practitioners can respond effectively utilising real time interventions and evidence based practice

The aim of this course is to raise awareness of sexually harmful behaviour displayed by children and young people.

This course introduces participants to the causes and impact of neglect on children, including its impact on development, health, attachment patterns and resilience. It will equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills to recognise and assess for neglect amongst children and understand the concept of thresholds. It will allow participants to expand their knowledge in the causes and impact of neglect on children in terms of their development and well- being and to look at how neglect is assessed and the concept of thresholds of harm.

There are specific requirements relating to support for care leavers. The ultimate aim of leaving care services is to support care leavers so that they can live successful independent lives. Each care leaver will reach that point at a different age and there should be no assumption that the duty means that all care leavers will require statutory support until the age of 25. Young people are not adults and are also transitioning through developmental stages which impact on their decision-making reasoning, risk taking choices and ability to learn and use life skill. As part of this Transitions (Leaving Care) Training course we will look at brain development in adolescence and how to support young people through a range of transition situations

The aim of this course is to offer insight into positive parenting and child development

This one day course aims to introduce team support workers to best practice in creating effective plans. Lessons from research and guidance from current law and policy will be used to enable participants to explore the link between assessment and planning, the principles of SMART and ExACT plans, and the enhance their understanding of creative outcome focused planning.

This interactive one-day course will enable delegates to develop their knowledge and confidence in working with resistant parents and carers to improve the welfare and outcomes for children and young people. This course will develop skills in identifying disguised compliance, why families are resistant, how to identify and evidence this in assessments and understand what they can do to move things forward.

This course is an opportunity for foster carers and others working with looked after children to consider attachment and trauma and how this relates to building resilience and supporting development in Children and Young People

A better understanding of the role that fathers can potentially play in a child’s life is likely to lead to improved engagement with fathers and therefore more reliable risk assessment and risk management. Whilst the father may present as a risk to the child, social care staff need to be less certain and more curious in challenging this perspective and consider, holistically the risk and protective factors he may present to the child. Although the positives can be hard to find, children can spend many years away from their birth family and return to them following their 18th birthday. Social care professionals should therefore try to understand and work with this dynamic, acknowledging that things do change over time, especially when children become older. Professional curiosity is required to guide staff to withhold judgments until the facts are better understood. This is in large part connected to getting to know fathers better. From the outset, the assessing position should therefore be fluid and support an empathic approach. Contracting with fathers collaboratively so they understand what is required from them and listening to their needs in an open and transparent manner, is critical to achieving their engagement in the process. This builds rapport and trust through the process. Helping fathers to express their emotions appropriately is key to overcoming communication barriers. As professionals, we need to avoid punitive responses and collusion with fathers. Being mindful of our own personal bias and challenging this is key. Trying to understand the function of their behaviour is pivotal in order to achieve a more meaningful dialogue and a better understanding of the risks. Developing emotional lexicon is the gateway to navigating through such challenging discussions, which if gone unchecked can develop into aggressive and abusive interactions. This work is often emotionally challenging for professionals and so it is important to acknowledge this and look after ourselves.

For children in foster care, maintaining links with their families is hugely important. This responsibility often falls into the hands of the foster carer and their role is key to ensuring that children are well-prepared and that contact is a positive experience. This course will cover different scenarios on how best foster carers can deal with this.

The aim of the course is to raise awareness of sexually harmful behaviour displayed by children and young people.

Children flourish in an inclusive environment where they feel valued and respected, happy, safe and secure. It is also important that each child is treated fairly with positive reinforcement. In order to achieve this atmosphere, children need to be given clear, consistent boundaries and guidelines of acceptable behaviours, appropriate to the child’s stage of development and individual needs. Furthermore positive behaviours must be acknowledged and appropriately rewarded. In this session we will consider the setting of guidelines and boundaries along with realistic sanctions and rewards for a variety of situations along with how these can be adapted depending upon a child’s capabilities.

Delegates attending this course will be foster carers and social workers who may have a Muslim Looked After Child (LAC) in placement but may not necessarily be Muslim themselves. Attendees will want to gain a better understanding of how British values and Islamic values can be reconciled to give the child in placement the best possible experience. The course will provide foster carers with an in-depth understanding of Islamic tenets and articles of faith to ensure that they are equipped with a competent knowledge base that will provide the best support possible for LAC in their care. Delegates will also explore how cultural/religious cohesion in placement can be best achieved in light of the NMS (National Minimum Standards). They will also be provided with adequate signposting and information on Muslim organisations that can offer advice and support to them. Finally the workshop gives Foster carers and social workers the opportunity to ask any questions they may have about supporting Muslim LAC in placement to a qualified Imam (Muslim faith leader) who holds a qualification in social work.

Permanence is about providing the child with a sense of security, continuity commitment and identity …. a secure stable and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond.’ (DCSF 2010). The right of every child to belong to a family is underpinned by the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children Act 1989 states wherever possible a child should be brought up within their own family, the ‘Ideal family’ being birth parents or members of their extended family, the permanency planning process will explore all the options thoroughly.

This course looks at the role of the foster carer in moving looked after children in to semi or complete independence. It covers the law, professional roles and expectations and demonstrates practical skill sharing.

Research indicates that contact is a complex matter, which may be undertaken for a range of purposes in which decisions must be made on a case by case basis. The Foster Carers Charter emphasises the importance of delegated authority to foster carers in a range of areas of a placement, including aspects of contact. Research also indicates that contact is important for children and young people who are 'Looked After' to achieve three key psychosocial tasks which are essential to their healthy development. However contact may also carry risk of further harm to children and young people who have been traumatised by the actions of members of their birth family. Key factors in the success of contact include characteristics of the child, members of the birth family, but also the family of the carers. The degree of openness of carers, and willingness to work to make contact successful for the child is also a significant factor. Foster carers are therefore central to the planning and implementation of contact plans.

This course will enable workers who are engaged in work with children and families to develop effective ways and build confidence in working with difficult behaviour, in order to recognise potential impacts on professional dynamics and multi-agency child protection work when professionals are faced with working with families who are hostile and evasive.

A succession of public reports, most recently in Rotherham and Oxford have highlighted the lack of communication between vulnerable children and professionals who are tasked with safeguarding them. Positive communication with children and young people is critical and Talking Life’s expert team in this area has extensive experience of listening and responding to LAC, socially excluded and children and young people at risk, both through case work and group work settings. Their specially created training courses have been successful in enabling a range of social care professionals to hone their skills in communicating with children and young people.

A chronology lists in date order all the major changes and events in a child or young person’s life. In a recent High Court judgement Justice Bracewell included a chronology among the records the court would expect to find in a social work file. A chronology can be a useful way of gaining an overview of events in a child or a young person’s life. The chronology should be used by practitioners as an analytical tool to help them to understand the impact, both immediate and cumulative, of events and changes on the child or young person’s developmental progress.

This course is designed to provide delegates with an improved understanding of the issues surrounding losses experienced by children, including bereavement, separation, divorce and illness. It will explore how child development affects children’s views of bereavement and loss and improve awareness of children’s needs in the family context.

The course is aimed at improving theoretical knowledge around the long term impact of poor attachment patterns and trauma in early childhood. It is an interactive course for anyone working with children.

The course is aimed at improving both theoretical & practical knowledge of Attachment within a foster placement in order to prevent placement breakdown in the continuation of the placement.

This course is interactive and practical requiring full participation of each delegate. Delegates will learn basic first aid skills within a friendly, supportive and informal, classroom environment at a pace to suit the group. This course meets the Ofsted requirements for Childminders and childcare workers and exceeds the requirements for Nannies and Au Pairs. Contact time will be12 hours over the course of two days (as a minimum). Certification is for three years and annual refreshers are recommended to maintain skills and provide valuable updates and changes accordingly.

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), formerly Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the umbrella term used to describe the leading cause of preventable birth defects and is the commonest known cause of cognitive impairment in children, in the world. 6,000 babies are born each year in the UK with FASD – and many are undiagnosed. If you work with children, adolescents or vulnerable adults you may be supporting someone with an FASD. It is a spectrum disorder caused when a pregnant women consumes alcohol, Improvements in screening, identification, and treatment of children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) can be enhanced through systematic efforts to educate medical and allied health students and practitioners about these disorders. Such efforts will contribute toward the goal of better identification, diagnosis, and referral for treatment for individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure.

Children and young people who are removed from their family, even those who have been maltreated, experience separation and loss. Research has found that these feelings can be exacerbated when they experience multiple placements (Schofield and Beek, 2005). Placement instability reduces a child’s opportunities to develop secure attachments and may also exacerbate any existing behavioural and emotional difficulties (Schofield and Beek, 2005). This in turn can make it more difficult for children to form relationships with carers and contributing to further placement breakdown and rejection (Munro and Hardy, 2006). According to the Department for Education (DfE 2013) 11% of looked after children had three or more placements during the year ending 31 March 2013. Young people aged between 13 and 16 were those most likely to have three or more placements. Children who experience multiple placement moves have poorer outcomes than those who do not in terms of psychological, social and academic outcomes. Foster carers need to understand what is meant by permanence and long term care and appreciate why achieving this for children and young people is of critical importance for children and young people’s outcomes. Carers need to appreciate the different ways that children and young people can achieve permanence and long term care, foster care being one of these. Foster carers providing permanence / long care need to have the skills and abilities to meet the needs of such children and those providing short term care need to have the skills to support children and young people into permanence wherever possible

This one-day Trauma Informed Practice (Childrens) Training course introduces practitioners to trauma informed practice and enables them to be able to consider adverse childhood experiences and how these may lead to trauma

Children and young people who are removed from their family, even those who have been maltreated, experience separation and loss. Research has found that these feelings can be exacerbated when they experience multiple placements (Schofield and Beek, 2005). Placement instability reduces a child’s opportunities to develop secure attachments and may also exacerbate any existing behavioural and emotional difficulties (Schofield and Beek, 2005). This in turn can make it more difficult for children to form relationships with carers and contributing to further placement breakdown and rejection (Munro and Hardy, 2006). According to the Department for Education (DfE 2013) 11% of looked after children had three or more placements during the year ending 31 March 2013. Young people aged between 13 and 16 were those most likely to have three or more placements. Children who experience multiple placement moves have poorer outcomes than those who do not in terms of psychological, social and academic outcomes. This Use of Professional Authority Training course will help foster carers understand what is meant by permanence and long term care and appreciate why achieving this for children and young people is of critical importance for children and young people’s outcomes. Carers need to appreciate the different ways that children and young people can achieve permanence and long term care, foster care being one of these. Foster carers providing permanence / long care need to have the skills and abilities to meet the needs of such children and those providing short term care need to have the skills to support children and young people into permanence wherever possible.

Helping a child make sense of his or her past is an important part of a practitioner’s role in working with children and young people. Being able to do this sensitively and effectively will help the child cope with current uncertainties, develop a clearer sense of identity and contribute to plans for their future. This course has been developed with reference to the latest research, legislation, standards and good practice and the delivery of knowledge and skills is designed to take account of a wide range of different learning styles.

To deliver training for a range of workers who support families and young people to write consistent and robust action plans following assessments to improve and evidence clear outcomes for children and young people.

This training course will equip participants with a range of techniques for effective listening to and communication with children. It enables workers and carers to work effectively with children to process difficult experiences; use reflective listening skills and assessment techniques; assist children in processing and recording their life history; and support them as they prepare to move to permanence

All adults have a one in four chance of experiencing a period of mental illness in their lifetime. Parents constitute a substantial proportion of mental health users. Being a parent with mental illness is especially challenging. Children in these families are at greater risk of a range of mental health problems and adverse life experiences. Working directly with mental health users as parents and their children can have an immediate impact on the parents’ recovery process which safeguards the child. The Family Model as a conceptual framework identifies that there are risks, stressors and vulnerability factors increasing the likelihood of a poor outcome, as well as strengths, resources and protective factors that enable families to overcome adversity. Risk and protective factors interact with parental mental illness, child development and mental health, parenting and the parent-child relationship in a bidirectional manner. Over time, the complexity and multi-directionality become more complex as the child’s behaviour impacts on the parent’s mental health, the parent’s mental health impacts on his or her parenting and the parent’s mental state and style of parenting affect the child’s behaviour. This one day course will focus on how to use the Family Model effectively in working with families as a reflective tool as part of the safeguarding process, but also as a tool to facilitate parental motivation. We will also focus on how to communicate with children and young carers effectively in a way that they will find supportive. ‘Think Family, Think Child, Think Parent‘is at the core whilst working with parental mental health and safeguarding children and young people.

Helping a child make sense of his or her past is an important part of a practitioner’s role in working with children and young people. Being able to do this sensitively and effectively will help the child cope with current uncertainties, develop a clearer sense of identity and contribute to plans for their future. This course has been developed with reference to the latest research, legislation, standards and good practice and the delivery of knowledge and skills is designed to take account of a wide range of different learning styles.

The aim of this Life Story Work Training course is to give practitioners and Foster Carers an awareness of what is meant by Life Story Work and the importance of it in the child’s journey. It explores the impact of traumatic experiences on memory and helps Carers to find ways to help the child to collect present memories to shift the balance. It will support practitioners to manage the difficult conversations that Life Story Work sometimes creates for children and young people and explore their own emotions and feeling around having these discussions. Finally it will demonstrate to practitioners the important role they have to play along with other professionals and the child in helping them to fit together the missing jigsaw pieces in the Cared for Child’s Life Story

To support Foster Carers’ understanding of the context around Parent and Child foster placements, the requirements of the role and prepare them for the experience of supporting parents and children in their home. The course will explore the concept of “good enough parenting”, the importance of evidence-based recordings and the emotional and practical impact on those involved.

The focus of this training event is to equip participants with knowledge skills, practice examples and provide them opportunity to apply practice during the training. This training is tailored to enhancing communication with children and young people.

This Hostile & Evasive Families Training course will enable workers who are engaged in work with children and families to develop effective ways and build confidence in working with difficult behaviour, in order to recognise potential impacts on professional dynamics and multi-agency child protection work when professionals are faced with working with families who are hostile and evasive