CoramBAAF Conversations

Adoption & Fostering journal #9 | Adoptive parents’ worries and concerns about their adolescent adopted children

In this episode, Dr Dennis Golm interviews Saul Hillman about their PhD, which focused on developing the Story Stem Assessment Profile (SSAP), a tool to measure attachment in children through narratives. Saul has been involved with all phases of the longitudinal adoption study which has followed up on late- and early-placed children since placement. 
Saul Hillman is a Senior Research Fellow at Anna Freud and an Honorary Lecturer at University College London (UCL). Saul’s research has primarily focused on attachment and mentalization in both children and adolescents, especially those who are most vulnerable, such as looked-after or adopted children.  
Read the lastest article in the study, Adoptive parents’ worries and concerns about their adolescent adopted children, in Volume 48 Issue 1, March 2024 of ‘Adoption & Fostering’. 
Members, remember to sign in to your CoramBAAF website account to access any article from Adoption & Fostering. The journal is accessed via the SAGE website. 
For more information visit corambaaf.org.uk!

Episode 25 | CFAB’s Cultural Family Life Library

Clare Seth, our Kinship Consultant, interviews Chloe Hubert from Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) about their Cultural Family Life Library - a series of guides for social workers introducing them to the history and culture of families in diaspora communities in the UK. 
Chloe has a background in asylum and immigration law and has worked in various NGOs working to support women who are survivors of domestic abuse and honour based abuse and supporting migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to access justice. She has been working at CFAB for almost 4 years where she works on the Post Placement Support Service and provides holistic casework to families and young people on practical matters such as engaging with the benefits system, housing, education as well as accessing medical services and legal advice. 
CFAB initiated their Cultural Family Life Library due to serious case reviews which highlighted that social work professionals sometimes require further support to work with families whose culture or religion is unfamiliar to them. Culture-specific training can help inform practice and avoid the risk of inadvertently enabling situations that put some children at risk.  
Some professionals also feel they lack the tools or confidence to build on cultural strengths, or to question specific cultural practices, potentially hindering better outcomes for children. With one in three children born in 2022 having a foreign-born mother, it is of growing importance that social workers receive more support for working within diaspora communities. 
Please note that this conversation references child abuse, domestic abuse, genital mutilation, harmful practices, and the death of children.
For more information visit corambaaf.org.uk or https://corambaaf.org.uk/episode-25-cfabs-cultural-family-life-library

Episode 24 | Let's talk about Morris and Rufus

In this delightful conversation CoramBAAF's Publishing Manager, Jo Francis, speaks with Jill Seeney about the success of her children's books over the years. They dig into what sparked the ideas for the stories and why they've struck a chord with social workers, carers, and kids over time.
Jill Seeney is a Fostering and Kinship Training and Development Team Manager. She has worked in fostering for many years, in a variety of roles, and previously with children as a social worker, counsellor, and French teacher. She studied psychology and educational psychology.
Find out more at corambaaf.org.uk!

Adoption & Fostering journal #8 | Grandparent Special Guardians’ lived experiences of the role and family dynamics

Dr Dennis Golm is joined by author Stacey O'Sullivan, and CoramBAAF Kinship Consultant Ann Horne, to talk about this article from Volume 47, Issue 4 of the Adoption & Fostering journal.
Stacey completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2022. Currently, she works full-time as a Clinical Psychologist in an Early Years (0-4 years) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the NHS. She offers an integrative approach in her work alongside families, namely utilising relational, values based and compassion focused approaches.
Find out more at corambaaf.org.uk.

Adoption & Fostering journal #7 | Biases, concerns and the erosion of rights

Special Edition: The digital turn in child and family social work: Challenges, opportunities and imagined futures
Biases, concerns and the erosion of rights: Addressing digital issues with adopted and fostered children in a policy vacuum
Andy Phippen is a Professor of Online Harms at the Bournemouth University. Starting his career in an AI research lab in the 1990s, he has specialised in the use of ICTs in social and ethical contexts and the intersection with legislation for over 20 years, carrying out a large amount of grass roots research on issues such as attitudes toward privacy and data protection, internet safety and contemporary issues such as sexting, peer abuse and the impact of digital technology on wellbeing. He has presented written and oral evidence to parliamentary inquiries related to the use of ICTs in society, is widely published in the area and is a frequent media commentator on these issues.
Find out more at corambaaf.org.uk.

Adoption & Fostering journal #6 | October introduction with Jennifer Simpson & Cath Larkins

Special Edition: The digital turn in child and family social work: Challenges, opportunities and imagined futures
Dennis Golm is joined by two of the guest editor's for the introduction of the October special collection of the 'Adoption & Fostering journal, Volume 47 (Issue 3, October 2023). They discuss their editorial, The changing digital landscape for looked after children, and the articles from this special edition.
Before joining NTU, Dr Jennifer Simpson taught on the Social Work courses as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton and was also a senior manager at The Open University. Jennifer undertook her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on the area of Looked After Children and issues related to contact, which she completed in 2012. The research aimed to capture how contact between Looked After Children and their birth families has changed as a result of 3G telecommunications and social media, and whether or not there is a tangible impact in terms of key areas of local authority care.
Prof Cath Larkins innovates in participation, activism and knowledge exchange with children and young people, and their allies, across the UK and Europe. She conducts co-research, particularly with marginalised children and young people which is focused on challenging discrimination and improving policy and practice. Working with a wide range of child and adult colleagues, she co-authors guidance to inspire social change. Her scholarship advance theories and methodologies for participation and citizenship. Her collaborative work with children and young people has led to impact on policy and practice internationally. Cath co-directs the Centre for Children and Young People's Participation at the University of Central Lancashire and the NIHR funded Social Care Rapid Evaluation Team (Socrates) with colleagues at LSE.
 
Find out more at corambaaf.org.uk.

Adoption & Fostering journal #5 | An introduction to the BUSS® model with Sarah Lloyd

In this episode of the podcast, Sarah Lloyd talks to Vicky and Dennis about the BUSS® model. Sarah Lloyd is a Consultant Occupational Therapist and Play Therapist and author of the BUSS® Model. Sarah worked in CAMHS for over 30 years before retiring in 2022 to head up the training and clinical teams within BUSS®. Sarah has published two books; Improving Sensory Processing in Traumatised Children, and Building Sensorimotor Systems in Children with Developmental Trauma. 
Sarah is the author of the 2023 paper, An innovative approach to working with children who have experienced developmental trauma: An introduction to the Building Underdeveloped Sensorimotor Systems (BUSS®) model, which is featured in Volume 47 Issue 2 of the journal.
 
Find out more at corambaaf.org.uk.

Adoption & Fostering journal #4 | July introduction with Dr Dennis Golm and Vicky Walker

Dr Dennis Golm and Vicky Walker introduce Volume 47 Issue 2 of our journal. They talk us through Dennis' editorial about the need for routine mental health support for care-experienced children and young people, along with the table of contents for the issue.
 
Find out more at corambaaf.org.uk.

Adoption & Fostering journal #3 | The educational experiences of children in care with Dr Karen Kenny

Dr Karen Kenny joins Vicky Walker and Dr Dennis Golm to discuss Karen's article in Issue 1 of Volume 47 in the Adoption & Fostering journal. It is widely acknowledged that looked after children have consistently lower educational achievements than those young people who are brought up by their birth families. Karen explains the key findings from her research and how we need to support and encourage looked after children with their education. Read more about 'The educational experiences of children in care across five decades: A new perspective on the education of looked after children in the UK'.
Visit corambaaf.org.uk for more information!

Adoption & Fostering journal #2 | BRAC2eD model with Dr Tam Cane

Dr Tam Cane is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sussex. Tam joins Vicky Walker and Dr Dennis Golm to discuss Tam's article BRAC2eD model: An approach to de-bias decision-making in adoption assessments with prospective adopters from minoritised ethnic groups in Issue 1 of Volume 47 in the Adoption & Fostering journal.
In this episode of the podcast, Tam explains the BRAC2eD model for de-biasing is used to support adoption assessments of individuals and families from minoritised ethnic groups. 
 
Find out more at corambaaf.org.uk