CoramBAAF Conversations

Where did my dinosaur go? | Author interview

Where did my dinosaur go? is a charming children's book about two meerkats, Mia and Kit, who do not like their new home. They don’t like their new routine, their new bedroom, or new foods for dinner – and most of all, they definitely do not like their new carer, Becky the capybara. But when the meerkats (along with their very special cuddly dinosaur toys) stay with Becky, they discover that a new home can be OK, and sometimes it’s alright to trust new people. 
Jo Francis, CoramBAAF's Publishing Manager, sat down with three members of the authorial team that worked on Where did my dinosaur go? to talk about where the idea came from, their research findings and how that impacted the story that they told.
Amelia Goswell graduated with a degree in geography from Durham University and currently works as a transport planner in London. 
Meryl Westlake is a researcher at University College London (UCL) studying mental health and risk-taking among children living in residential care. She hopes that the book can share understanding from research in a way that helps children and their foster carers have important conversations about trust. 
Dr Eva A Sprecher is a researcher at UCL, who works with care experienced young people and foster carers to understand how we can support young people who have lived in care with their mental health, especially through thinking about relationships. 
Find out more or watch the interview here: https://corambaaf.org.uk/where-did-my-dinosaur-go-author-interview

‘Adoption by foster carers’ - interview with author Elaine Dibben

Discover firsthand insights on adoption by foster carers in our exclusive podcast interviews featuring Isla, a foster carer turned adopter, and author Elaine Dibben. Joined by Jo Francis, CoramBAAF’s Publication Manager, they delve into both the personal and practical aspects of this journey.
Elaine Dibben started her social work career in residential social work and qualified in 1988. She has over 30 years’ experience of working in adoption and fostering in local authority and voluntary adoption agency settings and is a strong advocate for the importance of securing permanence in family settings for children who cannot return to their parents’ care. She joined BAAF (now CoramBAAF) in 2004 to become manager of the Independent Review Mechanism, which she set up and ran until 2009, when she moved to take on a wider role in BAAF as a trainer/consultant, most recently as the Adoption Development Consultant for CoramBAAF until March 2021. Since April 2021, she has been working as an independent social work consultant, including chairing an RAA adoption panel and fostering panels. She is the author or co-author of a number of popular Good Practice Guides for CoramBAAF, including Adoption by Foster Carers, Fostering for Adoption and Undertaking an Adoption Assessment. 

‘Adoption by foster carers’ - interview with Isla, foster carer and adopter

Discover firsthand insights on adoption by foster carers in our exclusive podcast interviews featuring Isla, a foster carer turned adopter, and author Elaine Dibben. Joined by Jo Francis, CoramBAAF’s Publication Manager, they delve into both the personal and practical aspects of this journey.
Isla is a Foster Carer for a Local Authority with previous professional experiences in education and safeguarding. Her family have been on a journey for the last three years in Fostering and Adoption. The journey has been significantly longer than that of most people who apply to adopt having made their initial intention known well over two years ago (in early 2022) and they are still awaiting the final adoption order. Isla is, unsurprisingly, passionate about seeing the systems improve for all those involved in adoption.

What is a sibling assessment?

Listen to Joan Hunt and Helen Little talk about sibling assessment and the impact they have on children and their sibling relationships. They discuss how sibling assessments have been conducted in the past and the variables this generated. As well as covering, what sibling assessments have looked like since the introduction of CoramBAAF's Sibling Assessment Report (SAR) and how it promotes consistency across reports, and the encouragement of a multi-disciplinary approach to capture multiple voices.
Find out more and explore relevant resources on our website: https://corambaaf.org.uk/resources/co...

Post adoption depression

Post adoption depression: What is it? Who does it affect? What are we doing about it? These questions and more form part of Doctor Lynn Snow's Churchill Fellowship research. In this conversation, Jane Poore, Adoption Consultant, is joined by Doctor Lynn Snow to answer some of these questions.
Doctor Lynn Snow is a community paediatrician working as Designated Doctor for looked after children for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and has worked with looked after children for over 20 years in various roles  (including adoption adviser) in various areas of the country. She was until recently chair of the CoramBAAF National Health advisory committee and has focused on health records for children post adoption working with  DHSC and NHSE.
She has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship to look at post adoption depression. She held a Fellowship with Health Education England East Midlands for two years looking at leadership in the SAS group of doctors. She has previously worked in West Africa in community child health. She is motivated by the desire to see high quality joined up services at all levels which ensure that the child in looked after child remains the focus. If you or anyone you know is affected by this topic, please speak to your social worker or GP
Churchill Fellowship - a community of change makers – has partnered with Coram to offer travel fellowships to research ideas related to children in care. Next year it could be you!
 
Find out more: https://corambaaf.org.uk/post-adoption-depression

Therapeutic interventions

In this episode, Helen Little is joined by Hetty (Hedwig) Verhagen. Hetty is a lecturer in Social Work at the University of Leads, whilst also being a therapeutic social worker, author and associate trainer.
They talk about what therapeutic interventions mean, why there was a need to develop the course, and how social workers, foster carers, adopters and others can benefit from signing up for the course.
Find out more or watch the interview on the CoramBAAF website.

The secure base model

Ellen Broomé welcomed Gillian Schofield and Mary Beek to talk about the new edition of their bestselling publications, The Secure Base Model and Promoting Attachment and Resilience.
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Working with children who have experienced neglect

CoramBAAF Publishing Manager, Jo Francis, engages in an insightful conversation with authors Victoria Sharley and Alyson Rees, delving into the intricacies of their Good Practice Guide. The interview explores the challenges associated with diagnosing neglect in looked after children and highlights the nuanced ways in which its impact can vary among individuals.
Read the book - Working with children who have experienced neglect.
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The key principles of kinship care support

Kinship Care Week (2 – 8 October 2023) is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the commitment of kinship carers and the role they play in the lives of children.
Kinship care’s profile has increased considerably over the past year but more needs to be done. This year’s theme of #DoOneThing aims to continue to raise awareness and keep the spotlight on kinship care.
To end #KinshipCareWeek, Ann Horne and Clare Seth -our Kinship Consultants - go through some of the key principles of kinship care support in our latest podcast episode.
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Accessing care records

Listen to Augusta Itua, our legal consultant, in conversation with Dr Julia Feast OBE. They talk us through the current barriers and support available to care experienced people wanting to access their records.
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