Sunday 8th November 1700 - 1900
Welcome Reception Monday 9th November
0730 - 0845
Registration
0900 – 0930
Opening Ceremony
0930-1000
Opening Keynote Speaker Foster Care ROI… Kevin Brown (USA) Child welfare professionals and foster/adoptive parents have big hearts and they work tirelessly to be a conduit for youth to live their dreams and create the lives that they desire after care. During the uphill battle of positively molding a youth to be all that they can be fatigue sometimes sets in and causes both professionals and parents to ask themselves “Am I doing the right thing? Am I really making a difference?
10-10.30
Morning Tea
10.30-11.30
An international perspective…
1030-1100
Same but different - Estella Abraham (UK) Foster care is organized and provided differently across the world however the carers voice, and their needs are the same the world over, but whose listening?
1100-1125
Foster care overview from around the world.
11.25-1300
A foster child's perspective
1125-1130
Video introduction - Neil McFarlane(AUS)
1130-1145 1145-1200
Role Model of Resilience - Luke Rogers (UK) Engaging with children and young people in care - What they want you to know Tracey Shipton - (NZ)
1200-1230
Me, Myself and I - Danielle Douglas (Ireland) This presentation will explore ideas of multiple identities, agency and voice from the perspective of a care leaver, focusing specifically on the role of interactions in children's lives
1230-1300
Improving the outcomes of children and young people in care - Marilyn Chilvers (AUS) First findings from interviews with children and caregivers, an overview of the Pathways Of Care Longitudinal Study with latest wave published by November
1300-1400
Lunch
1400-1410
Welcome back - MC
1410-1545
It's all about the connections...
1410-1425
Connecting with laughter - Steven Bloom (AUD)
1425-1455
Life without Barriers… Claire Robbs (AUD)
1455-1530
Successfully fostering 21st century kids - Maggie Hamilton(AUS) In this powerful presentation foster parents and professionals will be given a series of take-home tips on how best to capture the attention of their boys and girls, how to stretch and encourage, and empower them, and help keep them safe.
1530-1600
Afternoon Tea
1600-1700
Understanding the teen years…
1600-1630
The Teenage Brain - closed for renovations… Nathan Wallis (NZ) This keynote address explores and explains the latest understandings of the adolescent brain and the changes that are taking place. An understanding of these changes allows us to be innovative in our approach to young people.
1630-1700
The Digital World - Nina Funnell (AUD)
1700-1800
IFCO Annual General Meeting and Book Launch
1800>
Free night for delegates
Tuesday 10th November 0730 - 0830 8.00-10.00
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15 mins 10-10.30 10.30-1200
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Registration 1A Knowledge is power : Training and support for 1B Voices of Diversity In Care carers Chair: Robbi Mack Chair: ABSEC repesentative Issues and challenges in the provision of therapeutic foster care in Australia Indigenous Care and Education with Kentish Marilyn McHugh and Anita Pell (AUS) Dale Austin (AUS) Aboriginal Kinship Care: Culturally safe care for children or a cheap alternative to foster careCaring is a Brain Thing - Noel McNamanara (AUS) Julian Pocock (AUS) Self Care - what is working for carers? Bobbie Zanloren (AUS) Promoting attachment in foster carers Karleen Gribble (AUS) Engaging with foster carers in the development of supports and training based on their needs: what do they say? - Sarah McLean(AUS) Voice of the Child- Dina Dasic (AUS)
Aboriginal Cultural Connections: Everyone's responsibility -Lauren Murray (AUS) Engaging CALD Foster and Kinship Carers: Transition, connection and collaboration - Catherine Martin (AUS) The Voices of Aboriginal Kids in Care Julie Welsh(AUS)
Supporting infant's who have had life stressors, find Ensuring Inclusion of Children from Marginalised sleep. - Helen Stevens(AUS) Communities in India - Malay Dewanji (India) From IRC to IFC an alternative Care Model Transforming Carer Assessments Practice: Introducing The possibilities, probabilities and challenges Winangay Resources across Australia Vanessa Smith (Ireland) Aunty Sue Blacklock (AUS) Morning Tea 2A Permanency planning: Stable life journeys Chair: Robbi Mack Adoption from care after traumatic abuse and neglect: A 30 years study of open adoption in Australia Susan Tregeagle/Lynn Moggach -(AUS)
2B Changing face of foster care: Recruiting and keeping carers. Chair: Key Assets Key Developmental Assets: evidence based recording of children's progress in foster care Judith Wilkinson (AUS)
Long term outcomes of the Australian Care LeaversWhen Family Care - Peeling back the layers Elizabeth Fernandez (AUS) Hayley Robinette(AUS) Achievements and challenges in Deinstitutionalisation programs globally with special focus on Europe - Maria Herczog (Hungary) Does lack of truth-telling destabilise a child's life journey? Helen Oakwater (UK) Safe home for life: Innovation & change Simone Walker(AUS)
Restoration in the context of carers with a contemporary lens - Maree Connolly (AUS) Question and Answer Time
1200-1300
Culture is Healing: Journies to belonging and identity Sarah Diplock (AUS)
Lunch
No more apologies: the experience of siblings separated in Australian out of home care. Trish McCluskey (AUS) Professionalising foster care - qualifications or capabilities?- Linda Watson (AUS) Developing a therapeutic care outcomes pilot project for non-government out of home care service providers in NSW Robert Urquart/Wendy Foote (AUS) Case work and services for foster carers: What does the research tell us? - Ilan Katz(AUS) Question and Answer Time
Tuesday 10th November 1300-1430
3A Carers' rights and resonsbilities :Handling allegations, complaints and problems what does it mean for everyone? Chair: Connecting Carers
3B Understanding and responding to mental illness Chair: Robbi Mack
15 mins
Managing Abuse Allegations in KInship Care Jill Worrell (NZ)/ Rosemarie Carbino (USA)
Understanding and responding to difficult behaviour: codesigning and co-developing relevant supports together with foster carers. - Sara McLean (AUS)
15 mins
Evidence- based skills training for foster carers: The Foster carers and the mental health of children in their experience of the KEEP programme in England care - a scoping review - Josh Fergeus (AUS) Helen Jones(UK)
15 mins
The intersection between children's voices and child safety- Melinda Clarke (AUS)
Reconceptualising Care -Nicola Atwool (NZ)
15 mins
Walking the Talk Together - Leigh Hillman (AUS)
15 mins
Supporting foster carers: Exploring the benefits of the carer and worker 'match' through case studies Melanie Barclay (AUS)
The critical importance of supporting the shift from child to healthy adult psychology Arne Rubinstein (AUS)
Question and Answer Time 1430-1500
Question and Answer Time
Afternoon Tea
1500-1630
4A It takes a family to foster‌ Chair: Claire Robbs
4B Transitioning to Independence. Chair: FACS to chair
15 mins
I Care 2' & 'Hold my Hand' - training and support resources for sons and daughters of carers Deb Collard and Gail Walton(AUS)
A therapeutic approach to transitioning children between placements in out-of-home care Andrew Browning (AUS)
15 mins
Involving the fosterparents' own children Tone Nordby & Dag Lund - Fallingen (Norway)
CareLeavers Unite: The Power of Young People from Care - Lacey McKendrick(USA)
15 mins
Many kinship carers are grandparents, but who are Living with strangers - learning from reflections on care the others? - Meredith Kiraly (AUS) experience - Sarah Milan (UK)
15 mins
Keeping up appearances: The role of visual similarities in the formation of permanent and foster care families in Australia Damien Riggs (AUS)
15 mins
Supporting Foster Carers at Critical Times Linda Watson (AUS) TBC
15 mins
Understanding children's contact and relationships with family in out-of-home care Judy Cashmore (AUS)
15 mins Question and Answer Time 7.00>
Gala Event - included in registration
After Care: a new approach to young people leaving care in Queensland - Brad Swan (AUS) By care leavers, for care leavers: mobilising and developing adult care leavers' expertise on leaving care in the GOAL project - Carrie Wilson (UK) I'm not just leaving care, I'm leaving home Angie Adams (AUS) Making it happen - How changing the conversation ultimately changed the game Stephanie Delaklakis (AUS) Question and Answer Time
Wednesday 11th November 0830-1030
830-0900
0900-0930
Protecting our children: Knowledge and know-how Gregory Nicolau - Mad, Bad or Sad? It's conclusive - childhood trauma caused by sexual, physical, emotional abuse or neglect 'changes the brain' in ways that impact a child's ability to form strong relationships and be the 'boss of their feelings'. This engaging topic reveals the impact of trauma on the developing brain and illuminates the pathway of how to best work with and care for infants, children, young people and adults who have experienced trauma and abuse. Handling disclosures of abuse from chidren in care - Joint Investigation & Response Team NSW (JIRT -FACs, Health & Police) Insights and practice: Better handling and responding to allegations of abuse in care Online safety: Protecting and supporting our kids online - Esafety Commissioner, Alistair MacGibbon(AUS)
0930- 1000
Alastair MacGibbon heads up the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commission which leads online safety education for the Australian Government and protects Australian children when they experience cyberbullying by administering a complaints scheme. The Office also deals with complaints about prohibited online content. Learn more about online safety through this presentation.
10.00-10.30
Morning Tea
1030-1215
Safe journeys for children in care…
1030-1100
Policy Development in the UK - Staying Put, Going the Extra Mile and When I am Ready - Sarah Milan Rees Foundation (UK) ‘Staying Put’, ‘Going the Extra Mile’ and ‘When I am Ready’ have been widely recognised as steps in the right direction for care leavers in the UK, however, responses also highlight the issues we face to implement new legislation and policy in times of austerity and in such a way that genuinely makes a difference to young people leaving care. We are able to reflect on the different approaches taken across the UK, in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales considering the dilemmas faced and lessons learnt as changes take place offering the IFCO audience opportunity to reflect on their own practice.
1100-1145
Panel discussion - safe journeys for children in care - everyone you wanted to ask about foster care/ adoption
1145-1215
Final Keynote Speaker - To be confirmed
1215- 1300
Closing ceremony - Including President of IFCO and announcement of IFCO 2017 and CREATE Program