National Adoption Service - Good Practice Guides

AFA Cymru was commissioned by the National Adoption Service to develop 4 Good Practice Guides in four key areas: Contact; Working with Birth Parents; Transitions and Early Support; and Adoption Support. We met with a wide range of service providers, adoption managers and practitioners, childcare managers, and sought information and feedback from birth and adoptive parents, foster carers, and young people themselves.

We have a document discussing the Good Practice App Launch, available in PDF format.

We are delighted to announce that all 4 guides are now complete, with fabulous illustrations by Jess Coldrick and can be accessed here:

As well as incorporating best practice examples from across Wales, the guides take into account the most up to date research and evidence available, including information from the Wales Cohort Study. We really hope that they will inform and support practitioners in what needs to happen at each stage of a child’s journey to adoption and post adoption, and ultimately make a positive difference to the lives of children and families.

These guides were formally launched at 2 online conferences in November. NAS and AFA are currently developing the 2nd tier of dissemination and implementation and will be delivering a number of webinar training events in 2021.

We really hope you will find the guides useful.

NEW: Additional resources to do with Brief Contact Planning have been developed, to sit alongside the Contact Good Practice Guide. They consist of a Contact Planning guide, Contact planning template and PowerPoint presentation and Case Studies to introduce practitioners to the new tools.

Good Practice Guide:
Contact

Addendum

Good Practice Guide:
Transitions & Early Support

Good Practice Guide:
Working with Birth Parents

Good Practice Guide:
Adoption Support

Good Practice Guide:
Trauma Nurture Timeline & Understanding the Child Day

Good Practice Guide: Trauma Nurture Timeline and Understanding the Child Day

RESOURCES FOR PROFESSIONALS

These downloadable resources are part of the Resource Pack has been produced by AFA Cymru on behalf of the National Adoption Service to accompany the Trauma Nurture Timeline and Understanding the Child Day training, and the series of Good Practice Guides. It has been commissioned and funded by the National Adoption Service for Wales (NAS).

Practitioners are encouraged to use these source materials to support their practice.

Page

Format

Slide templates_E.pptx

Includes:

P4 – Circle of Understanding

P8 – Brain Development, Trauma and Attachment

P9 – Brain Development: Trust

P9 – Brain Development: Distrust

P11 – Fight, Flight, Freeze & Flop

P12 – The Caregiving Cycle

P16 – FASD: The elephant in the room

P17 – FASD: Ignoring or missing the obvious

P17 – FASD: What was missed?

P17 – FASD: Let’s start at the beginning

P17 – FASD: 3-9 months

P17 – FASD: Alcohol effects on every stage of
brain development

P17 – FASD: The impact of drug exposure

P20 – Circle of Security

Page	Templates	Format	Download link
27	Appendix 1: Guidance for Practitioners	Word template	1 Guidance for Practitioners
29	Appendix 2: Trauma and Nurture Timeline	Word template	2 Trauma and Nurture Timeline
47	Appendix 3: Information for Adopters	Word template	3a Information for Adopters
			3b Adopters Reflections
48	Appendix 4: Information for Social Workers	Word template	4a Info for Social Workers
			4b Questions for Social Workers
			4c Questions for Supervisors
49	Appendix 5: Information for Foster Carers	Word template	5a Info for Foster Carers
			5b Questions for Foster Carers
50	Appendix 6: Information for Schools	Word template	6a Info for Nursery & Schools
			6b Nursery & Education Questionnaire
51	Appendix 7: Information for Health Visitors	Word template	7 Info for Health Visitors
52	Appendix 8: Evaluation of Understanding the Child Day	Word template	8a Evaluation UtCD
			8b Online Evaluation UtCD