Key Assets Newfoundland and Labrador provides residential and family based care to children and youth who are temporary or permanent wards of the provincial child protection authority. Team Parenting is the central framework guiding how we practice collaboratively with all those who have a veste...

A life of independence is an exciting and anxious time for young people. This is even truer for young care leavers, who are expected to very rapidly acquire a level of maturity and self-reliance that will allow them to lead an independent life. What this means in practice is that they need to have...

The Opening Doors for Europe’s Children Campaign is a pan-European Campaign is a partnership between five international organisations, Eurochild, FICE Europe, Hope and Homes for Children, the International Foster Care Organisation (IFCO) and the SOS Children’s Villages International. The Opening...

When we work directly with young people, who, at some point in their lives have experienced childhood trauma, we open ourselves up to the risk of being affected by Secondary Trauma, also known as Secondary Traumatic Stress. Secondary traumatic stress is the emotional duress that results when an indi...

FASD/Trauma: Definition & Cause  FASD/Trauma – Strengths & Characteristics: Primary Characteristics Secondary Characteristics Protective Factors to Reduce Secondary Characteristics       Brain and Behaviour Predict the Connection: Brain = Behavior Demonstrate a variety o...

Adoption, half adoption, open adoption, pre-adoption foster care, foster parents with parental authority, regular foster care…. confusing!  They say: foster care is helping a child, adoption is having a child.Or: all foster children have behavioral problems and family contacts are a problematic;...

What has happened in recent years to address the problems for foster carers and their families when maltreatment is alleged?  Is the situation as bad as ever, or have practice and policy improved?   My review of recent professional literature suggests that most nations have not improved how foste...

Children are frequent clients of various services and the way to them, to their stories or their torments is not always easy. A playful and creative approach is a way to start a partner-like and safe relationship. At the workshop we will demonstrate how to involve the child in a dialogue and make th...

From a Child’s Rights perspective, the workshop covers  abuse, neglect and abandonment of children with and without special needs who are removed from parents or given a place of safety due to being unaccompanied or refugee children. The use of residential care institutions rather than other for...

Extensive research highlights the importance of birth family connection for children and youth in care, as long as that contact does not present risk. Key Assets Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada) provides care for more than 100 children and youth in rural and urban communities, both on the island p...

Summary The Pellin Institute has been providing foster carer training to Banya foster carers, social workers and staff for over 3 years and trained some 80 people in this time. This training is based on the ‘Pellin Workbook for Foster Carers: Foundation Course’. The Calm of the Pendulum is on...

Working along side youth in and from foster care it's important that we understand how trauma affects their daily lives and how we as service providers have a responsibility to provide the best care possible to them. Participants of this workshop will learn how to be responsive to the physical, psyc...

The Childonomics research project has developed an instrument that can help reflect on the long term social and economic return of investing in children and families within a given national or sub-national context. The instrument enables consideration of  the different types of costs of different...

  Youth voice is a pivotal part of child welfare reform—including in the field of research. Have you ever wondered how to create a research design that incorporates young people with lived experienced in a meaningful way? Are you a young person that wants to influence how child welfare research ...

The aim of the session is to enable participants to gain insight into the theory and practice of reference group work with children in relation to researching children’s experiences and views.  It will offer insight into broad aspects of reference groups as well as an opportunity to explore data ...

The numerous complex issues in fostering, such as placement endings, behavioural difficulties and responding to allegations, can be confusing or distressing for all involved. International research recognises support for foster carers as an essential component of effective alliances and outcomes for...

Trauma is a word which is like a bogeyman, especially when it comes to a child trauma. Workers are often afraid to talk to children about their traumas and they consider such dialogues challenging. This workshop is a place where we will share our experience from a long-term work with traumatised chi...