Conversation & discussion on contemporary Adoption & Fostering
Episodes
Thursday Jun 29, 2023
Thursday Jun 29, 2023
In this episode Al speaks to Sarah Brown, solicitor at Ridley and Hall. Scott wasn't able to make it so social worker, adoptee and adopter Fiona Wells stepped in to help.
We asked her on to discuss the work that she does supporting adoptive families in some of the most challenging moments. It's a difficult conversation so be careful as amongst some a range of issues such as contact orders, seeking support, passports and foster carers adopting we also discuss children having to return to care.
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
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Saturday Jun 24, 2023
Saturday Jun 24, 2023
Hello and welcome to the A&F Podcast.
Before we even start we trial an introduction that artificial intelligence wrote for us, not sure it's quite there yet!
This week we speak to Rachael Stemp and Marie Crook about the new model of support and development (The Reflective Fostering Programme)that has been trialled to over 400 foster carers and is part of a research project to consider how effective the new approach is. We also chat about the work that the study is doing in relation to inclusion in the support and study part of a project called INclude.
You can get more details here and if you want to sign up you can do this via this form.
This is a NIHR funded study.
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
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Saturday Jun 17, 2023
Saturday Jun 17, 2023
Hello and welcome to conversations from the A and F podcast.
In this episode we speak to Peter a solo adoptive parent, he shares his experience as a foster care that ultimately led to him adopting a child he knew through his role as a scout leader and teacher. It’s an unusual path to adoption and Peter shares some of the challenges along the way.
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
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Saturday Jun 10, 2023
Saturday Jun 10, 2023
Hello and welcome to conversations from the A and F podcast.
We start discussing Scott's moonlighting on the Good Tech Podcast and consider the role of Artificial Intelligence in social work assessments and matching, there's a bit of banter and we also unpick Al's reflections on being 'social worked'.
Then we go right into our own experiences of living in a home where there's complex and challenging behaviour. We draw on a few sources, direct messages to us and reflections on conversations with other men. It parallels women's experiences in some ways but we consider if it's different and how we respond and if we're able to access support and if so what do we want.
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
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Thursday Jun 08, 2023
Thursday Jun 08, 2023
Hello and welcome to this podcast special, Scott attended the launch of Adoption UK’s Annual Barometer report in Westminster this week and in this episode he talks us through the day and his reflections on it.
Speakers included Emily Frith, CEO of Adoption UK, Ed Timpson MP, Claire Coutinho MP and Childrens Minister, Helen Hayes MP and Shadow Childrens Minister as well as Sally Donovan and the adopted adults panel.
The Barometer report is available here and is available as the full report or in an Executive Summary.
Scott doesn’t cover the report findings in any great detail – you can find that above, however, he does pick out some of his reflections from the Speakers.
Safe to say that the adopted adults panel discussions were honest, open and raw given their experiences of supports as they transitioned through teenage year and into adulthood.
We will be welcoming Becky Brookes (friend of the show) soon to discuss the content of the Barometer report very soon.
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
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Saturday Jun 03, 2023
Saturday Jun 03, 2023
Hello and welcome to conversations from the A and F podcast.
In this episode we speak to adoptive parent and author Sarah McGeough, She shares her experiences as an adoptive parent and is open and honest in relation to her challenges in relation to getting through the process to having her child move in. Sarah also shares how and why she decided to write two books (Eddy finds a Family and Eddy feels at Home) and you can see them 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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
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Saturday May 27, 2023
Saturday May 27, 2023
Hello and welcome to the A and F podcast, in this Episode we speak to Mike Hancock the National Strategic Lead for PAC UK (Starting at 17:25). We discuss the recently released "Big Consult" drawing on adoptees and birth families experiences and you can read that here.
Of course there's a little banter beforehand and we unpack what we've been up to.
Also, if you've not had chance to complete the short anonymous questionnaire relating to birth family contact we'd appreciate you completing it 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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
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Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
In this midweek podcast we're delighted to speak to Dr Nikki Rutter. Nikki has written a raft of research into #CPV and we invited her onto the pod to chat about her latest research into how mothers are perceived when seeking support in relation to challenging and violent behaviour in children. You can read it here.
It's a great chat and Nikki shares how she got drawn into this area of research and we unpick what is a complex issue
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
Listen/subscribe on iTunes here
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Saturday May 20, 2023
Saturday May 20, 2023
Hello and welcome to conversations from the A and F podcast.
In this episode we cross the Atlantic to speak to Brady, he shares his personal experience of adoption as a 13 year old and how that informed his understanding adoption. With his wife Andrea, Brady then went on to adopt internationally as well as through the US foster care system and has subsequently set up a charity Rods Heroes that seeks to find families for children with Down syndrome who aren’t with their parents. Brady is open and honest in relation to his beliefs and motivation and very comfortable to engage in discussion there are many strands to this story and hope you enjoy it.
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
Listen/subscribe on iTunes here
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Wednesday May 17, 2023
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Hello and welcome to conversations from the A and F podcast.
Allegations can be catastrophic for any family and in this episode I speak to adoptive parent Emily, she shares her families experience of an allegation investigation and the impact on them.
It’s a difficult story to listen to but it’s not uncommon for adoptive families to find themselves caught up in complex processes with police and local authorities safeguarding teams. As such it’s an important topic that Emily shines a light onto.
Here are the links that can offer advice and support
Emily is also happy to speak to anyone in terms of their experience or for advice and support you can email her here oneinfourfa@yahoo.com
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 or twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com
Listen/subscribe on iTunes here
Spotify here
Google here