Course dates                                                           Venue                                       Cost    

Module One:    11, 12 & 13 November 2019       Edinburgh (tbc)                        £2885 + VAT= £3462.00

Module Two:     20, 21 & 22 January 2020        

Module Three:   16, 17 & 18 March 2020                                 

This post qualifying course is aimed at social workers and managers in children and families’ teams, family placement teams as well as other specialist settings across the statutory, voluntary and independent sector. Applicants will require the support of their employer to attend as well as validate their work. It is imperative that sponsoring agencies ensure their nominated students have the motivation, capacity and commitment to complete the course.

The course is at MSc Level 11 and attracts an award of 60 credits (postgraduate certificate) which can be taken forward to further study. The course is validated by Strathclyde University.

The introductory session for students and their managers will be on the 21^st October 2019. The course requires attendance at three taught modules of three consecutive days per module between November 2019 and March 2020. Final assignments will be submitted in May 2020. Assessment will be on the basis of three written assignments as well as an assessed observation in the workplace. Comprehensive feedback is available to students. A student handbook will provide all the required information.

For more information please download the flyer here and click here for an application form.

Date:            Thursday 3 October 2019

Time:             Registration: 9.30am

                     Conference: 10.00am – 4.30pm

Venue:           Apex Quay Hotel, Dundee

FEES

Member Rate:               □       £190.00 + VAT   (corporate members only)

Non-Member Rate:         □      £230.00 + VAT  (non corporate members and NHS health boards)

Individual Member Rate □       £170.00 + VAT

Mental health difficulties can affect children and adults from all walks of life – but looked after and adopted children are more likely to be affected, often due to their difficult early experiences. Health and social work professionals do a valuable yet challenging job of supporting these children, but the area of mental health can feel like a complex labyrinth. With demands on health and social care increasing, and a new emphasis being placed on the importance of children’s mental wellbeing, the conference will consider how health professionals and social workers can best assess, plan and deliver services that encourage and support good mental health.

Karen Aldred and Helen Rodwell, the two authors of the new CoramBAAF publication ‘Supporting the mental health needs of looked after and adopted children’, will present their work and lead discussion focussing on how practitioners can gather crucial information to help understand a child’s difficulties and plan how to meet their needs. Dr Helen Minnis, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Glasgow University, will speak about her extensive work with children who have experienced early adversity, and the way this learning can inform the way we work with children and their carers. Other contributors to be confirmed.

For more information and to download a booking form please click here 

Date:             Wednesday 6 November, 2019

Time:             10.00am – 4.30pm

Venue:           Jurys Inn, Glasgow

FEES

Member Rate:              □       £110.00 + VAT   (corporate members only)

Non-Member Rate:         □     £150.00 + VAT  (non corporate members and NHS health boards)

Individual Member Rate □       £90.00 + VAT

The work of the Stand Up For Siblings (SUFS) project has done a great dealt to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining relationships between brothers and sisters in the care system - but there are significant challenges for social workers when trying to assess the quality of those relationships, particularly in the context of making plans for permanent placement. Where a placement together cannot be achieved for siblings, social workers are tasked with trying to achieve the best permanent options for each child whilst trying to maintain a meaningful ongoing relationship for those children and their siblings. Courts and judges are urging social workers to be more creative about how they seek to preserve sibling bonds.

The seminar will give practitioners the opportunity to hear about updated practice guidance on working with siblings and on assessing their relationships and be introduced to some of the new tools to use in this work. Shelagh Beckett, author of CoramBAAF's newly published Good Practice Guide ‘Beyond Together or Apart’ will present her work alongside inputs from Dr Chris Jones from Strathclyde University, who has led the SUFS work, and Karen Morrison from the STAR project which provides an inspiring example of how relationships can be successfully maintained.

For more information and to download a booking form please click here

Tuesday 17 September 2019

Park Inn by Radisson, 139-141 West George Street, Glasgow

The role of the minute taker in adoption and fostering panels is a crucial one.  Adoption and fostering panels are underpinned by specific legal and regulatory requirements.  Therefore, minute takers need to have a sufficient understanding of these requirements in order to produce a minute that is relevant, clear and appropriate.

This workshop is for administrative staff who take minutes for adoption and fostering panels.  To download a booking form please click here