Hello and welcome to this episode of the Better Me Better Us Podcast with Vicki and Hayley. It’s the start of GCSE exams so we talk about how to support our children and young people through this difficult time. We also highlight Foster Carers week and the amazing work that they do every month not just in May. Connect with us - Instagram- BMBUltd Facebook – Better Me Better Us Twitter – BMBUltd Email – info@bettermebetterus.co.uk ..read more

Hello and welcome to this edition of conversations from the A&F network.  In this episode I catch up with Kinship carer and researcher Michelle Hall, she is looking at the issue of contact between kinship carers and birth parents for her PhD. Michelle highlights the ongoing and complex challenges that can be present and shares the experiences of those she has spoken to. You can find access to her research here.  As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast pleas ..read more

We're back in the same room after a year online. Consequently, we're a little giddy but get ourselves on track and discuss the CVAA strategy update that we were attending in that London. We ask the question that many prospective adopters ask, RAA or VAA? Then we unpick adopter sufficiency, PP+, the three year rule and more.  Here's a link to the new Adoption England Strategy that we mention, we'll unpick it more in another episode. As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the po ..read more

Hello and welcome to this edition of conversations from the A&F network.    In this episode I speak to adult adoptee Julie McGrue, she was adopted in the US with her twin sister and grew up in the 60s knowing she was adopted. Julie shares her story of fighting to get access to her birth records and the names of her biological parents and the support that she received through a post adoption support group.  Julie’s website here shares more of her story and her writing and is an excellent resource and window into the US system.    As always if you’ve experience of ad ..read more

Hello and welcome to Episode 185 of the Adoption and Fostering Podcast.  In this episode we interview  transnational/transracial Adoptee and Sexologist Anna Linde. Anna's research, website and social media can be found below Free Discovery call and my ”workbase” at Healing Exchange LLC: https://www.healingxchg.com/booking-calendar/discovery-meeting-with-anna?category=0ec8fc3e-78a2-4ef9-921b- 40851f4b1fa5&referral=service_list_widget Intimacy coaching group for Adult Adoptees: https://www.healingxchg.com/intimacy-for-adult-adoptees Instagram here. Linkedin: here We took our time g ..read more

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Better Me Better Us Podcast with Vicki and Hayley. As it’s National Stress Awareness Month we thought we’d talk about expectations both of ourselves and others and how it contributes to our stress levels. We would love to hear your experiences and open up the conversation. Connect with us - Instagram- BMBUltd Facebook – Better Me Better Us Twitter – BMBUltd Email – info@bettermebetterus.co.uk ..read more

In this episode we speak to Jenny Ginger in relation to her Phd looking at the issue of adopting when you've already got a biological child.  It's a fascinating subject and we drew on Jenny's research and knowledge as well as a raft of interesting comments and questions that came from listeners though our FB page. You can read them here.  We mentioned a new research project 'family routes' you can find more details of that here. As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on ..read more

This episode is an interview that Al did with Adopt 4 Life's Kathryn Connor and Murray Coulter looking at the support service that they provide for fathers experiencing challenging and violent and aggressive behaviour.   You can check out their website here.  As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective personal or professional and would like share that on the podcast please get in touch through the Facebook page, the app formerly known as Twitter or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com Listen/subscribe on iTunes here Spotify here G ..read more

Hello and welcome to this special edition of  the A&F Podcast.  In this episode we’re sharing a keynote speech that I gave to the CoramBAAF post adoption support conference to mark the release of the their  best practice guide by Caroline Thomas and John Simmonds. I tried to ground the talk in the lived experience of families but there was certainly much more that could have been said.  I hope you find it interesting and please let us know what you think.   As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any perspective perso ..read more

Hello and welcome to episode 183 of the Adoption and Fostering Podcast. We had a plan but got slightly sidetracked by the good news of FASD Ireland's funding success. That led us down a rabbit hole in terms of how do we affect change, what are the levers we need to pull and what are the challenges. We unpick that then Al has some feedback from CoramBAAF's post adoption conference and we run through that.  We also check in with Al and get an update on his solo parenting experiment as well as the usual infobantz. There was swearing but nothing too bad, beware ye.  Here's a link to the ..read more