Trainer - Amy Shepherd
Equip Your Carers with the Knowledge and Skills for Kinship Foster Care and Special Guardianship.
Are you seeking to support and empower kinship or connected individuals currently in the pre-assessment, assessment, or recently approved stage of becoming kinship foster carers or special guardians? Do you want to ensure that your carers have a deeper understanding and awareness of their responsibilities and potential challenges? Are you looking to provide them with the tools to understand legal orders and set the foundations to effectively meet the needs of children who have experienced separation, ACEs or trauma?
Introducing our Kinship Foster Carer / Special Guardian Preparation Training, designed to equip your carers with the knowledge and understanding necessary to participate fully in decision-making. This course addresses the rewards, complexities, and demands of kinship foster care and special guardianship. It supports carers in their journey of developing skills to enable them to provide the best possible care to children.
Course Features:
- Three short yet comprehensive e-learning modules allow carers to learn at their own pace and build a strong foundation of knowledge.
- Six hours of interactive online live training delivered via Zoom, providing participants with opportunity to ask questions and participate in discussion.
- A comprehensive workbook and additional resources that carers can utilise for extended learning and ongoing support.
Learning Outcomes:
By enrolling your carers in this training, they will:
- Reflect on the impact of being or becoming kinship carers on their own lives and that of their immediate and extended families.
- Learn strategies to manage their well-being and self-care while providing care, including recognising when to seek support and assistance.
- Gain a clear understanding of the step-by-step process to become kinship carers and the various legal orders that govern the care of children.
- Understand the responsibilities and expectations of kinship foster carers and special guardians.
- Become familiar with the entitlements and available support systems for kinship carers, including resources provided by local authorities and voluntary/charitable organisations.
- Develop an understanding of the roles and contributions of different professionals within the team around the child, promoting effective collaboration and coordination.
- Recognise the profound impact of separation, abuse, and adverse childhood experiences on a child’s development and behaviour.
- Develop an understanding that children who have experienced separation, abuse, or adverse childhood experiences may need a different parenting approach, understanding the significance of providing a secure base and an awareness of the PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy) framework.
- Encourage carers to consider the needs of children, themselves, parents and others regarding family time (contact) and explore the support they may require to facilitate meaningful family interactions.
- Develop an understanding of the importance of life story work and their role in supporting it, identifying areas where they may need additional assistance.
- Understand the evolving needs of children as they grow older, particularly during the teenage years and the benefit of appropriate support and guidance.
Expectations for attending the course:
Participants:
- To have watched the e-learning modules before attending the online live training day
- There will not be any break-out rooms or small group learning activities during this course. AFKA Cymru wants participants to feel as confident as possible to attend, and we will not put them ‘on the spot’. Throughout the training, participants will have time to reflect on learning and ask any questions they may have.
AFKA Cymru will:
- Email booking authorities with an online copy of the workbook and access to the e-learning modules.
- Provide booking authorities with one space for a worker to attend
- Email participants a welcome letter, access to the e-learning modules and an electronic copy of the workbook
- Contact each participant individually by telephone before the training to ensure they have watched the e-learning and have received a hard copy of the workbook.
- Provide each LA with a summary of their participant’s engagement on the course and any specific areas of strength or areas of development noted.
Local Authorities will need to:
- Decide if the course would be relevant to any ‘newly approved’ carers in their authority – AFKA Cymru is not stipulating a time frame for ‘newly approved’; please do contact us for more information if you need support in determining if the course would be relevant for any particular participants.
- Ensure that any participants booked onto the course have the technology necessary to participate in the online learning, delivered via Zoom.
- Consider arranging a venue with suitable technology within their local authority for multiple participants to attend the online sessions with support from a local authority worker. Whilst participants can join individually from their own homes, where there are multiple bookings from within an individual local authority, this approach can benefit both LA and participants.
- Ensure all participants they book onto the training receive a hard copy of the workbook before the course start date.
Empower your prospective and new Kinship Carers & Special Guardians to Embrace the Journey Ahead!
Fees & Booking Information
A one-off payment of £1995 + VAT for access to spaces on all 4 workshops and additional resources throughout the financial year of 2026-2027.
Services can book individual households onto any of the course dates below at a cost of £195 + VAT.
- Tuesday 13th October
- Tuesday 12th January 2027
Please contact info@afkacymru.org to sign up for this training in 2026-27.
Audience
Kinship or connected individuals currently in the pre-assessment, assessment, or recently approved stage of becoming kinship foster carers or special guardians.
Feedback
“Got more information from this course than we did through over 6 years of fostering”
“Amy was very helpful and insightful, and it was lovely to speak to people going through the same thing.”
