Hello and welcome to the A&F podcast, we recorded this on the 9th September, FASD awareness day. 

We speak to Susie Richardson, who is research FASD in the prison population. Susie has a broad range of experience and from running prisons and working with care leavers she has seen the need for a better understanding of the impact and prevalence of FASD in those communities. She shares her journey to this research and what inspires her passion. 

You can find out more about Susie here

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Website- www.bettermebetterus.co.uk

Instagram- BMBUltd

Facebook – Better Me Better Us

Email – [email protected]

Hello and welcome to conversations from the AandF podcast.

In this episode I speak to Bethan Pell a PhD Student in Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences. Her Phd is focused on developing a theoretical understanding of Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence  (CAPVA) in the context of Wales. 

I really enjoyed this conversation and saw the potential for the use of her model to help practitioners and parents who are living with Child to parent violence understand it and address it. 

You can read Bethan's research here and can contact Bethan here.

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Hello and welcome to conversations from the AandF podcast.

In this episode I speak to Bethan Pell a PhD Student in Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences. Her Phd is focused on developing a theoretical understanding of Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse (CAPVA) in the context of Wales. 

I really enjoyed this conversation and saw the potential for the use of her model to help practitioners and parents who are living with Child to parent violence understand it and address it. 

You can read Bethan's research here and can contact Bethan here.

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of  the AandF podcast. 

In this episode we rage across a couple of matters that impact on many families, power dynamics with social workers. After a Tramadol start and Scott's good news we get distracted by the complicated relationship prospective adopters and foster carers can have with their social workers. The power dynamics are often set against applicants and what questions are appropriate and what are not. How do we push back and can we question the questions, it's not simple. 

If you want to read the research mentioned you can do that here.

If you want to listen to Scott's radio documentary on FASD you can do that here. 

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Hello and welcome to Conversations from the A&F podcast

In this episode I speak author Fran Hill, we spoke in 2023 about her first novel ‘Cuckoo in the Nest’ and in this interview we chat about her follow up novel ‘Home Bird’. 

Fran shares her experience of being in foster care and how it influenced the characters in these books and the experiences that they face. 

You can find out more about Fran and her work here

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Hello and welcome to the A&F podcast

In this episode I speak to Psychotherapist, NVR practitioner and Adoptive parent Simone Harch. Simone shares a little of her journey but the focus of this conversation is about mental health and the impact on adoptive parents of caring for children with complex needs. It is a really pertinent conversation and highlights the need for support for adopters and help for them to stay well. 

Simone is starting a pilot project for Adoption East Midlands and you can contact them directly or Simone here 

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Hello and welcome to the AandF podcast. 

In this episode we unpack how caring for and parenting children with complex, challenging and aggressive behaviour can impact on relationships between parents and carers. 

It's a thorny issue, the impact of high levels of need and stress in the home with differences in motivation and approaches to the behaviour can take its toll and we share some of our experiences and look at the lack of data and draw on out professional experience. 

You can read the article referred to here. 

As always, if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Better Me Better You Podcast.

How old is old enough to be left unsupervised? As families navigate the summer holidays, we unpack the guidance around children's independence and explore the bigger questions beneath it. We look at the difference between age and maturity, challenge the idea that increasing responsibility should come at the expense of play, and discuss how children's ability to manage risk develops over time.  We finish by thinking about how we can support young people to learn, grow and prepare for adulthood through experience, not just protection.

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]

Hello and welcome to conversations from the AandF podcast. 

In this episode I speak to Matthew Page, a care experienced adult, former foster carer and trustee of the Fostering Network. Matthew is also a specialist in intersectionality and identity thought leader, an adoption celebrant and many other things. 

We chat about his experience growing up as a black child in a white foster family, his search for his dad and appearing on DNA family secrets.  

You can visit Matthew’s website here

As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, BlueSky or email us at [email protected]