The Adoption and Fostering Podcast

Hello and Welcome to this Episode, It's always a pleasure to have Adoption UK's Becky Brooks onto the podcast. Becky is an adoptive parent, former foster care, author and self confessed policy and statistics Nerd.  Adoption UK's Adoption Barometer is open til the 17th Feb and is a tool that informs policy makers and gives real data to the lived experience of adoptees and adopters' families. We unp...

Hello and welcome to conversations from the A&F podcast. In this episode I speak to solo adopter Ramsey. He shares his journey to adoption and the experience of travelling through it on his own.  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 Fac...

Hello and Welcome to this Episode, we jump on the AI bandwagon and dig into what we think about the idea of support to families being provided by A.I. It is an interesting chat and we give on A.I. model a try with surprising results. We also unpack the comments we got through our FB page.  Fiona Wells joins us for the whole conversation, share's her perspective and then gives us an update about th...

Hello and welcome to conversations from the A&F Network. In this episode I speak to Augusto, with his wife they adopted twins. He reflects on the challenges of early permanence and transracial adoption. 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...

This month, we focus on goals. Do you set goals? If so, are they truly for you, or are they shaped by what society expects?  For fostered and adopted children, the ultimate goal often revolves around finding a permanent family. But how much are they included in shaping this goal? Are their voices heard in the process? Join us in the conversation as we explore the importance of realistic, meaningfu...

Hello and welcome to this episode A&F podcast our traditional new year check in with spouses Tris and Paula.    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, BlueSky or email us at AandFpodcast@gmail.com   Listen/subscribe on iTun...

Hello and welcome to the first episode of 2025! We recorded this episode with Sarah in the run up to Christmas so we're all festive and looking ahead and behind in our references.  We invited Sarah on to share the findings of  FosterWiki's 2024 Independent Allegations Report. We have a really interesting chat about its contents as well as sharing personal and professional experience and reflect on...

Merry Christmas! As we take a break over the holiday we re release what was the most listened to podcast of 2024.   thank you all for listening! Hello and welcome to the Adoption and Fostering podcasting, this week we explore Therapeutic Parenting and Good Enough Parenting. Terms that we often throw around and presume that we understand but we ask what it actually is, is there a definition and are...

Hello and welcome to episode 200 from the A&F Network and our 2024 Christmas special.  We've shipped in the wonderful Mark Owers to guest host a proper retrospective podcast unpicking a whole raft of episodes, anecdotes and think about why we started the podcast and looked at the highlights. Mark weaves in Christmas questions and we think about what the future holds.  We have also released it...

Hello and welcome to a slightly unusual series of episodes of the A&F podcast. In September I joined Fiona wells from PATCH , Friend of the show Vicki McKeown and strategic lead for Adoption England Sarah Johal to speak at the Safeguarding in Adoption online conference. With over 500 tickets requested we were overwhelmed with the interest in this subject that impacts so many families. In this...

Christmas can be a time of joy, but for many adopted and fostered children, it can feel deeply unsettling. The festive season often brings up complex emotions, triggers, and reminders of loss. In this episode, we explore how trauma impacts children during Christmas, why traditional celebrations can feel overwhelming, and how thinking ahead and making adjustments can make the time more manageable....

Hello and welcome to a slightly unusual series of episodes of the A&F podcast. In September I joined Fiona wells from PATCH , Friend of the show Vicki McKeown and strategic lead for Adoption England Sarah Johal to speak at the Safeguarding in Adoption online conference. With over 500 tickets requested we were overwhelmed with the interest in this subject that impacts so many families. In this...

Hello and welcome to conversations from the A&F Network.  In this episode I speak to Mobeena and Wajid foster carers for Hillingdon Council. They describe a positive experience of choosing to be foster carers as their own children grew older and of welcoming a child into their home on a long term basis.  As always if you’ve experience of adoption, fostering or special guardianship from any per...

Hello and welcome to episode 199 from the A&F Network. Well, it's been eight years since we started and that coincided with us being together in Ireland. So, we kick back in Scott's kitchen, catch up on events and reflect on stuff.   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 podca...

Hello and welcome to conversations from the A&F Network.  In this episode I speak to Dr Elaine Machett a solo adoptive parent. Drawing on her own personal experience she shares the results of her interviews with adoptive parents in relation to the challenges they faced when their children first moved in. As well as being a huge transition and stress for children for many parents it is a diffic...

In this latest episode Vicki and Haley discuss what we mean by “consequences”. Although consequences and punishments may seem similar, understanding the difference can have a huge impact on how we view and respond to behaviour. We talk about the need for both, what they might look like in families and in the workplace as well as how people’s experiences of them influence their view and use of them...

Hello and welcome to episode 198 from the A&F Network. This week we speak to Jacqueline Gear the CEO of Walk the Walk Family Support Service based in Herefordshire. We discuss the work that they do with families including a family contact centre supporting positive relationships between parents. As always it's an interesting conversation and you can look at their website and see what they get...

Hello and welcome to conversations from the A&F Network.  In this episode I speak to Barbara, she was adopted as a baby  in the late 1940’s after the 2nd world war . She describes the experience of finding out she was adopted by accident as a 12 year old, the challenges that brought and then later in life searching for her biological family. Barbara has written an account of her experiences an...

Hello and welcome to Episode 197 of the A&F podcast. In this episode we chat to Sam Turner Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Kinship. We'd hoped to catch Kinship Care week earlier in the month but circumstances got the better of us.  Sam joined us to chat about some of the work that Kinship had been doing as well as to highlight the new report Forgotten: Support for kinship children’s educa...

Hello and welcome to conversations from the A&F Network.  In this episode we speak to Jo and James, they are biological parents and adoptive parents and came to that through the process of foster to adopt.  They share their story and shine a light on the challenges that can emerge through the process of early permanence and the emotional turmoil and complexity that it can often bring. Ultimate...