Hello and welcome to  Conversations from the A&F podcast 

In this episode I speak to adoptive parent Amiee, with her husband she proactively chose adoption and she shares their journey so far. We talk about the challenge of being linked with a child and the difficulties they experienced prior to finding their child. 

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]

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In this episode of the A&F podcast we have a quick catch up then throw ourselves into the murky world of adoption and ethics. We may have fallen at the first hurdle but we are speaking as adoptive parents and we look specifically a the balance of morals and ethics within this world. We're not high minded lads so it's pretty rudimentary but we consider some of the challenged and consider the role of pragmatism. The court case we mention can be found 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]

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In this episode we talk about the idea of home. What does home mean to us, as individuals, as parents, as professionals? Is it a place, a person, a feeling?

We reflect on how our own experiences shape the way we support children and young people especially, those where home hasn’t always felt safe or secure. For care-experienced young people, home can be a complex and loaded idea, something longed for, feared, or never truly known.

As always you can connect with us through the following -

Instagram- BMBUltd

Facebook – Better Me Better Us

Email – [email protected]

Hello and welcome to  Conversations from the A&F podcast 

In this episode I speak to adoptive parent Julie, she became a foster carer then adopted as a solo carer and has experience working as a professional in mental health and social care. Julie shares her  experience and the challenges as professional dropped away as the local authority team moved to a regional adoption agency as well as the benefits of the adoption support fund. 

Julie now support other families like hers through the not for profit Nurture Hub Therapy Service that she founded working  with birth parents, adopters, and foster carers,  understanding the unique complexities that these families face.  

Julie writes:

'Nurture Hub is a specialist counselling and support organisation founded by Julie Ingram, a parent carer with an adopted daughter who has a background in social care and mental health.  Nurture Hub Therapy Service works with birth parents, adopters, and foster carers, and we totally understand the unique complexities that these families face.  The service is strictly not for profit offering low cost counselling and therapeutic groups to parents.

For more info don't hesitate to get in touch with the team via the website www.nurturehubtherapyservice.co.uk' 

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Hello and welcome to  Conversations from the A&F podcast 

In this episode I speak to Dan Boxall_Simpson a Foster Carer, special guardian and fostering panel member 

Dan shares his experience of becoming a foster carer with his husband and how that opened up many of the things that came afterwards including the decision to become a special guardian for two of the children they fostered. Dan is now in the process of starting an independent foster care  agency through a community interest company in his area to meet the needs of vulnerable children where he lives. 

Website www.epicfamilycic.co.uk

Facebook 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]

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Hello and welcome to the A&F podcast, we're in the same country so after a very busy day at the FASD Ireland Conf we took to bed (think Morecambe and Wise) and unpacked the day's events as well as catching up with the latest news from the world of adoption and fostering and house moves!

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]

Listen/subscribe on iTunes here Spotify here

Hello and welcome to Conversations from the A&F podcast In this episode I speak to Tristian Smith a US care experienced adult. He shares his vivid experience of coming into the care system after a difficult kinship care arrangement. Tristian with his brother moved several times, experienced a failed adoption and then separation from his young er brother. It’s a difficult listen as he shares his story. Tristian now looks to support and encourage other young people in the care system and has written his experiences in his book Against All Odds.

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]

Listen/subscribe on iTunes here Spotify here

Hello and welcome to this third episode of Al's Churchill Fellowship. You can read the full report here.

In this podcast I reflect on conversations with carers and practitioners that support parents and children in the context of respite arrangements.  It is a model of practice rarely seen in the UK and not available from statutory support services. The model of intervention explored from two settings in North America raised questions about perceptions of family and how intervening to rebuild and reform families can be an affective solution for some.

‘I came to the conclusion, if parents aren’t ok then kids can’t be ok.’                                                          

Tanya Eichler, Interwoven Connections Clinical Lead in the AFFCA Family Support Programme.

This month we’re diving into the topic of risk. Are we too risk averse? And what does that really mean in the world of parenting, adoption and fostering, education, and social work.  Join us as we explore how fear of risk and the consequences shapes decision-making, and what impact it has on the young people we’re trying to support. This conversation invites you to consider where caution helps and where it might be holding us back.

As always you can connect with us through the following -

Instagram- BMBUltd

Facebook – Better Me Better Us

Email – [email protected]

Al was invited to attend the 2025 Adoption England Conference (Moving Forwards) in London. So, he off he went with his C30 tapes and trusty recorder and was able to grab a few interviews with attendees and contributors. The conversations cover a range of subjects; Early Permanence, the ASGSF, opportunities, adoptee voices, pre order disruption with kind contributions from the following:

Vicky Davidson Boyd - Adoption Tees Valley

Emily Frith Adoption UK

Nathanial-Elliot Coad Youth Network

Sarah Johal Adoption England

Prof Beth Neil University of East Anglia. 

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, the app formerly known as Twitter or email us at [email protected]

Listen/subscribe on iTunes here

Spotify here

Google here

Hello and welcome to conversations from the A&F Network.