Just a quick post, I was messaged by a Canadian researcher, Karine Tremblay, this week in relation to the impact of 'filial harm' on adoptive parents caring for adoptive parents. Like a lot of research it can confirm what we're experiencing or what we see happening but the 'gears of the wheel of suffering' shown here are helpful in articulating what many feel and experience. I'll see if I can get her to come on the A&F podcast as well as a full copy of the research findings.

While you're hear, don't forget that I'm delivering the findings of my Churchill Fellowship Report looking at how other contexts and countries support families living with CPV to practitioners on the 23rd April and parents and carers on the 24th all online and free (click links for details). If you can't make the dates sign up anyway and I'll send a recording after the events.

#adoption #Fostering #Kinship #CPV #CCVAB #CPVA

Walking with Familes - System change, my report and some dates.

My Fellowship report is complete. 

There's a lot to unpack in terms of what I've learnt and one thing that strikes at the heart of what many families live with is how do we access support and what that support looks like and for how long is it needed?

An example of this could be adoptive families in crisis, as a little experiment I asked a couple of closed FB groups what was the influence of children's challenging and violent behaviour on the level of challenge that they experienced. O being not at all and 10 being the overwhelming influence. 

You'll not be surprised to hear that of 50 responses only 3 were scored less than 10. 

If we want to talk about family breakdown and disruption we have to talk about challenging behaviour, if we want to talk about challenging behaviour we have to talk about services' responsibility and response.  

But my point is this, with two thirds of adoptive parents experiencing challenging and violent behaviour then the response of services should be fundamentally built on a developed and informed knowledge base.

It should also be build on the expectancy that challenging and violent behaviour most likely will happen, with the only doubt being when? 

We need to move away from the idea of a short, one off, intervention or course of NVR/therapeutic training is enough. 

We need systems that can 'walk with families' across the span of a child's childhood, that can respond when needed but never shut the door when not needed. Challenges don't go away, they ebb and flow, they reemerge at different landmarks, school changes, family loss, adolescence etc. 

Systems need to be built to keep in touch and be available.

So, banging that drum is my next project!

Anyway I'm getting into the stuff of my report!  The words are written, recommendations finalised, podcasts polished and audio appendix locked into the document. The nice people at TCF have said it's fine!

So, I've put a date in the diary to release it to the wild and on the 23rd and 24th April I will hold to online events as a start point and release the podcasts through the A&F Podcast. 

Why so far away? Well, there's a new website to build and what with one thing and another I've got no time between now and then. 

Please do sign up and pop along!

Free online event at 12noon to 1:30 on the 23rd April for professionals 

Book here

Free online event 8pm to 9pm on the 24th April for parents/carers

Book here