Hello and welcome to this special edition of the podcast. We have an interview with the chair of the Independent Review of Children's Social Care in England where we discuss the final report and the response from the Government and the sector. 

You can read the report here.

It is a conversation and we drew on the published responses and our own reading of the report to inform the conversation. We were mindful of the breadth of the report and consequently  the conversation stays within limits on what we could cover reasonably in the time we had. Josh was open and honest and there was no restrictions on what we spoke about though we did give a broad idea what we'd like to discuss prior to speaking. 

After the last interview with Josh we did have some criticism and accusation of collusion and being in the pocket of the Government. We're not, we do this at no cost and don't get paid, we do this because our lives and the lives of our children have been shaped by fostering and adoption and we want to shine a light on it.

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

We like real live connections so if you want to get in touch do so yourself. 

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In this episode we hear the relatively unique story of Leah who shares her experience of being a birth parent to two children who were adopted. Her story is one of relinquishment instigated by herself and she shares how this came about and the impact on herself and her children. 

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

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Hello and welcome to this week’s Wednesday Webcast where we speak to Jane Griffiths from CAPA First Response, she works directly supporting families living with Challenging Violent and Aggressive Behaviour.

We talk about the usual issue of how we define the behaviour as well as how CAPA works with families and the models of interventions that they utilise to support them and address behaviours. You can self refer and they can be found here. They're also on Twitter here. 

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

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As we march into June we thought we'd have a little palette cleanser before we get into what is likely to be a full on schedule through June with us speaking to Josh McAllister from the Care Review and the Children's Minster Will Quince. We catch up on the start of school holidays for Scott and family, a few thoughts on the recently released Care Review (though we're keeping our powder dry on that one) and some of the other news that's been floating around. Unusually, Al shares how and why he became a social worker and the surprising upshot of his annual traumatic appraisal. 

True to form we totally forgot it was pride months so didn't even mention it. Finally, we give the worst advert in the world to the IAC conference as we were asked to mention it, details here. 

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

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In this episode we asked Sally Donavan to come on the Podcast, she's a new book out, 'The Strange and Curious Guide to Trauma' and we chat about that, why she wrote it and what her future writing plans are. 

To be honest we're all a bit pants at the whole publicity thing so we quickly slip into the other stuff surrounding adoption including the current adoption climate and what seems like an unresolvable debate between behaviourism and trauma informed approaches to managing behaviour in education. It's all good fun and Sally brings her insight, compassion and wisdom to bear. 

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

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Hello and welcome to #AdoptionConversations from the adoption and fostering podcast. 

In this podcast I speak to adoptive grandma Sue. She shares her experience of witnessing her daughter, son in law and granddaughter go through the adoption assessment, matching and then introductions and placing. 

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

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It's Foster Care Fortnight and in a rare piece of effective and planned scheduling we've got Sarah Anderson, foster carer, therapist and founder of the Foster Wiki. 

Sarah shares her story of becoming a foster carer and how some of her experiences of the system pushed her into campaigning to develop the system and to create a better environment for carers as they met the needs children who need fostering. It is a truly fascinating chat and Sarah is passionate about fostering but also incredibly knowledgeable about the system and the impact to carers. You can find a link to all that they do and the resources that are created at the Foster Wiki site. 

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

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Hello and welcome to this episode of the #WednesdayWebcast we speak to psychotherapist Mary-Joy Johnson. She works at Wildways Therapy specifically with adopters/foster carers who are having challenging experiences with their own mental health due to the chronic needs of their children. Mary-Joy is also a programme co-director for the Dare to Live Trust, a charity that works with Military Veterans, First Responders, NHS and Care Professionals who have experienced trauma through their professional roles/service.

This was a fantastic chat and we discussed the impact of trauma, horses and much more. 

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

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In this episode we discus the news last week of the two adoptive parents on trial for murdering Leiland-James Corkill. Though there's limited information we discuss what is an emotive case that I'm sure many people are following with horror and shock. This is an upsetting case so certainly may not be for everyone, we reflect on social work and what may influence people to act in this way. Obviously, there limited information and we don't cover every aspect of this but will likely return when the Serious Case Review is completed in the future. 

Before we discuss the case we catch up on a few things and discuss our children wanting to access their files as well as a the usual bantz. 

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

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In this episode we catch up on all that has been going on in adoptionland over the last month or so. We look at the findings and recommendations from the Somerset Judgement (See here), consider the recent research from Dominic McSherry on adoption and trauma (see here) as well as the recent goings on at the House of Lords with Al and the House of Commons with Adoptees. 

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

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