Family Futures

Please share your views on the Adoption Support Fund and post-adoption support for this inquiry considering how the future of the ASF can be secured and improved. Inviting responses from adoptees, adopters, social workers, agencies, LAs & support providers by 24 April, 12pm https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BFGWL2M< br>

In response to comments on our earlier post we hope the Adoption Support Fund will continue and believe it will, but we do not know how it will be administered. One of the over-arching issues for voluntary adoption agencies is uncertainty. Uncertainty has financial implications and consequences. We are currently working hard as a sector to recruit adopters to make up for the largest recorded shortfall in placements for children. At the same time, we cannot tell those adopter...s willing to consider taking on harder to place children what post-adoption support will be funded and by whom. We also have embryonic Regional Adoption Agencies saying they will look internally for placements for their children, rather than take up inter-agency placements as they do not have the money to pay for them. It feels like Voluntary Adoption Agencies are in a double bind. #adoption #adoptionsupport
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Fun with the Marshmallow War game today on the last day of Theraplay® Level 1 training here. Thank you to our Theraplay trainers Jay, Helen and Sarah, and all the participants for being such a supportive, enthusiastic group. "Lots of singing, laughing and a very friendly helpful group." "Loved the course. Professional, relevant and well presented. Looking forward to using all I've learnt". To find out more about our Theraplay® and professional development courses visit: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/produ…/ professionals-course/ The Theraplay Institute #adoption #fostering #traumainformed #theraplay

All of us at Family Futures were shocked and saddened on hearing that After Adoption has closed. A real loss to the sector of all their skills, knowledge and expertise and very sad for all the staff and families involved. It's of concern to everyone in the adoption sector that a number of adoption agencies have closed and others have had to merge. This brings into question the support for the voluntary sector that is lacking in government policy. Are we all to be casualties of regionalisation and the end of the Adoption Support Fund? #adoption #adoptionsupport

We have a few spaces left on our Therapeutic Life Story Work training on 23-25 April. Social workers will gain the skills required to undertake this regulatory bedrock for helping children recover from trauma in infancy. In our experience over the past 20 years, life story work can help to establish open and honest conversations between young people, their adoptive parents and social workers. It supports children in making contact with their birth families and helps prevent s...ome of the more extreme acting out in adolescence such as secret contact with birth parents on social media. Family Futures has developed life story work as a therapeutic tool to help children resolve early trauma and form secure attachments with their adoptive parents and foster carers. Find out more about our training here: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/…/thera peutic-life-story-w…/ #adoption #fostering #traumainformed
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If you're involved in decision-making about placing siblings, come along to our training on 7-8 May: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/…/sibli ngs-placements-atta…/ “Excellent resources for the wider professional community – a leader in changing culture!” "Wide ranging information covered in an accessible manner while challenging of assumptions. Very well presented." "So much to take back into my work." This course provides you with the knowledge and confidence to decide what is best for the children you are placing, and to put forward a clear case when going to court. #adoption #fostering #traumainformed

"To prevent adoption breakdown and increase recruitment of adopters, support for adoptive families needs to be improved beyond the current scope of the ASF" - this new research paper looks at the wider context in which the national evaluation of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) was delivered and raise concerns about the sustainability of the early outcomes for very vulnerable children who need more than a single intervention to meet their ongoing needs. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/…/…/10 .1108/JPMH-08-2018-0056 #adoption #traumainformed #ACEs

'Placement' - We prefer: 'Our home or home; My house or the house where I live'. TACT's report, Language that Cares, gives young people's views and preferences on the language they hear professionals using. Important messages here: https://www.tactcare.org.uk/…/TACT-Lang uage-that-cares-2019…

Are you a Social Worker working with adopted & Looked After children? We have spaces left on our Therapeutic Life Story Work professional development training running on 23-25 April. Designed to give Social Workers the skills and confidence to address developmental trauma & attachment insecurity, you'll learn how to use our effective framework for life story work and use non-verbal and creative arts to help children express difficult and complex feelings. The course also gives guidance on how to use life story work to support facilitated contact. Find out more and book here: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/…/thera peutic-life-story-w…/ #adoption #fostering

"I am now confident to use a variety of techniques with children who have had any sort of trauma which doesn't meet CAMHS thresholds" - School Safeguarding Officer with responsibility for LAC. We have some spaces left on our Therapeutic Life Story Work course. Aimed at Social Workers working with adopted and looked after children, this course gives you a framework and the confidence to address difficult issues from the past with traumatised children. Find out more and book here: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/…/thera peutic-life-story-w…/ #adoption #fostering

"The brain is formed by feedback from the environment. It's a profoundly relational part of our body" - Dr Bessel van der Kolk. An interesting interview here on the pervasive effects of toxic stress and the need for intervention to treat childhood trauma and create a sense of safety inside.

Proud to support LGBT+Adoption & Fostering Week. We welcome enquiries from prospective LGBT adopters and support you throughout the adoption process. We are members of New Family Social so you can access the support and resources they offer to LGBT+ families as well. Watch our real life stories to find out more or call us to discuss on 020 7354 4161. https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/real-life -stories/ #proudtoadopt #proudtofoster #adoption #fostering #adoptionsupport

Long Lost Family Special: Born Without Trace is on tonight (25 Feb) at 9pm following the stories of foundlings abandoned as babies. Nicky Campbell, presenter, says “I understand, no matter how happy your adoption is, that nagging sense of rejection that many adopted people get."

This new video gives helpful insight and suggestions for adoptive parents and carers. Dr Dan Hughes, founder of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) discusses techniques for parenting traumatised children with a parent who has adopted a child through Family Futures. Questions include: Is there a danger of ‘putting ideas into their heads’ if you talk to a child about their past? Should you let sleeping dogs lie? Especially where a child’s trauma was very early on, pre-verb...al and the child has no actual memories. What about children who are shut down? How can parents/carers work with schools, help their child make friends, get beyond 'blocked care' and can sensory integration intervention help? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our upcoming videos and please share: https://youtu.be/pAn9mi627JU #adoption #fostering #traumainformed DDP Network
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Delighted to welcome therapists, psychologists, social workers & mental health practitioners to Dr Dan Hughes' DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, DDP Network) Level 2 training here this week. You can see our upcoming professional development training and find out more here: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/produ…/ professionals-course/ #adoption #fostering #traumainformed

Supporting #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek which this year is promoting taking steps to be 'Healthy Inside & Out' and the importance of looking after our bodies and minds together. Lots of good resources for schools and families here: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org .uk/ At Family Futures, Sensory Integration intervention is part of the therapy model we use to help developmentally traumatised children feel regulated & safe. For the dysregulated child, body-based work aimed at regulation is the first focus of treatment. You can find out more about our therapeutic approach here: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/ourapproa ch/ #adoption #fostering #ACEs

In #NationalStoryTellingWeek we're highlighting the work of John Bowlby, founder of attachment theory, who has had a huge impact on psychology and psychiatry. He made one of his founding principles for improving mental health, the 'development of a coherent narrative’ and that all children and adults need to have a story about themselves that is authentic, coherent and meaningful. Story telling is at the heart of our therapeutic approach to working with traumatised children a...t Family Futures. We've developed a life story work model for working with children, their adoptive parents and carers, that works to address developmental trauma and attachment insecurity, side-by-side. Sue, our experienced trainer who works with families here to make sense of early trauma and attachment relationships, will be delivering life story work training for professionals in April. You can find out more here: https://www.familyfutures.co.uk/…/thera peutic-life-story-w…/ #attachment #traumainformed #adoption #fostering
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