Homepage Slideshow
Home
We are delighted to advise that the Kinship Care Best Practice is now complete and available to download - see attachment.
This guide has been drawn together with the assistance of practitioners across Wales and by family members who have been through the assessment process themselves. The members of the National Fostering Framework Strategic Steering Group, CAFCASS and the Family Justice Network have all signed off the final version.
This is a guide to the assessment of family members, friends and other members of the family’s social network as kinship foster carers. The guide references special guardianship as the two assessments are so often undertaken concurrently when the child is either in the pre-proceedings process or the subject of care proceedings. The Best Practice Guide is based on current case law, research and findings from Child Practice/ Serious Case Reviews.
The Guidance has been developed with funding from the National Fostering Framework which is funded from the £8 million investment in Children’s Services announced by WG in 2017. £400k/ year was identified from this funding for the NFF Phase Three work program and, with agreement from the Welsh Local Government Association, was ring-fenced for the NFF in 2018-20.
 Good Practice Guide - Kinship | [ ] | 687 kB |
| Ymarfer Da Gofalwyr a Pherthnasau | [ ] | 681 kB |
We are in the process of developing a range of new workshops so please keep an eye on our website for details.
These include:
- New Adoption Regulations and implications for practice
- New Fostering Regulations and implications for practice
- Fostering panel training; new Regulation and impact on practice
- Life Journey Work
- The impact of Domestic Abuse on Children
- Blocked Care / Secondary Trauma
- Parenting siblings and Adoption Assessment for siblings
- Parenting Teenagers
- Post Commencement Regulations
- Direct work with Children
- Sibling Contact in Permanent Placements
- Therapeutic Parenting
- Child and Parent Fostering Placements
- Effective analysis in Parenting Capacity Assessments
- Reunification
- Anti Disciplinary Practice
We would also be very happy to talk to you about commissioned bespoke training for your agency or region, so please get in touch if there is anything you think we can help with.
Alongside delivering training AFA has undertaken a number of pieces of work on behalf of Welsh Government, the National Adoption Service and the National Fostering Framework.
- The Practice Standards for Independent Reviewing Officers. The process has been an interesting one, co-production is the buzzword at the moment so developing this guidance has involved working with practitioners, foster carers, adopters, birth parents, lawyers, CAFCASS and young people! Once all those views have been collated this has had to be set alongside what the law says IROs should do and then comes the simple task of writing it up! We are pleased with the result and thankfully so are our colleagues in welsh government. Some final amendments are being made to accommodate some recent guidance and then its off to translation and ready for publication.
- A similar task has been undertaken to develop good practice guidance for social workers who are involved in the assessment of family members, when children need to be looked after way from their birth families, so called kinship carers. This work was funded by the National Fostering Framework and has involved lots and lots of different groups of people as well. We’ve developed some good skills as a team in running co-production events and are enjoying this way of working – it can result in some very noisy and lively sessions!. This work has just been published and will now be used across Wales.
| IRO Practice Standards and Good Practice Guide | [ ] | 857 kB |
| IRO Safonau Ymarfer a Chanllaw Ymarfer Da | [ ] | 863 kB |
Welcome to the autumn edition of our newsletter, where we look at the adoption regulations currently out for consultation from Welsh Government. They are due for implementation next April 2019.
There are two sets of these regulations, the first being the Adoption Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) and Local Authority Adoption Services (Wales) Regulations 2019, which come with their own Statutory Guidance and Code of Practice.
| Autumn 2018 Legal Bulletin | [ ] | 184 kB |
Advice Line
We offer advice to members of the public and professionals.
02920 761155 or 01745 336336
AFA Cymru, c/o Children in Wales, 25 Windsor Place, CARDIFF CF10 3BZ
AFA Cymru, W2 Morfa Clwyd Business Centre, 84 Marsh Road, Rhyl, Denbighshire, LL18 2AF
Who we are
In September 2015, The Association of Fostering and Adoption (AFA) Cymru was formed. Whilst its day to day operational services of training, consultancy, professional advice and information are delivered independently of St. David’s, it is by law governed by St. David’s Children Society under the terms of its charitable status.
St. David's Children Society is a registered charity (Registration No: 509163). A Company limited by Guarantee (Registered Cardiff 1546688).
Registered Office: St. David’s Children Society, 28 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3BA.
The Association for Fostering and Adoption Cymru (AFA Cymru) is a Welsh charity that promotes good practice across the breadth of permanency planning for children and young people. It also offers advice, training and consultancy to professionals and members of the public to support best practice.
