Sing in the rain

  I found out that my council has a Home Safety Check Scheme, which visits homes throughout Gloucestershire with children under 5 years old, to offer free, friendly advice on ways to minimise the risk of accidents in the home. The team can identify any safety equipment which may be useful, they can also supply and fit the equipment. A wide range of items including fire guards, stair gates and window locks are provided at low cost, and there is no charge for the fitting. The team also works with medical and social care professionals, charities and voluntary agencies to provide equipment free of charge to families in need. https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/.../children-and.../home-safety/... . This feels like it is probably available in other areas, but wasn't flagged up to me elsewhere so thought i'd pass it on in case others might find it a useful thing to search for..

What an amazing experience.. Could not have asked for better!!  First meeting and she came through the doors, saw me and ran over shouting 'Mummyyyyy!!!!' before giving me a giant hug! I think the intro book (& amazing foster carer work) did their job!!! 😯

Transitions, the uea model and transition planning So when I was told that I had been linked I was told that I should receive a draft transition plan shortly afterwards. One month on, i had my information sharing day, but still no transition plan. Matching panel and then the ADM decision came and went with no draft transition plan.  A meeting was put in and finally a transition plan was completed whilst in the virtual teams meeting. That meeting was 10 weeks after the confirmation of my link!  What I did manage to ascertain before that point was that we'd be following the UEA Model (  https://www.movingtoadoption.co.uk/resources ). The UEA model sets out to take between four and eight weeks. At one point i was told it would be four weeks. The final answer was five weeks; 4th July to 8th August this year.  

Normally in my region, the information sharing is done as two separate sessions, but lucky for me, they manage to book both in on the same day! Mine was held about a month after I was 'linked' and just under a month before my matching panel. (Linked 31st March, Info sharing day 28th April, Matching panel 23rd May ) 1) Foster carer(s) 2) Nursery/School  To quote some of the matching material "Relationships with people who care for them are the ‘golden thread’ running throughout a child or young person’s life. Whatever the route to permanence, professionals must work to match the developmental needs of the child with the caregiving required to meet them. There are many criteria to be considered but these should be viewed through the ‘lens’ of the quality of the child’s relationships." Basically - I need to learn from those who are closest to littl'un. I know this might sound sensible, but it's good that seems thought through that this needs to start ASAP and tha...

Purpose: The Welcome Book, also known as an Introductions book. It's a book that provided in advance of the first meeting and is intended to help a child/children transition to a new home. . Formats: The welcome book will obviously need to be tailored to the child/ren and their ages. There are some online shops which offer welcome books, but I found that the waits didn't really fit in with the timescales I was looking for. I actually made two in the end. One as a printed board photobook and, because the delivery times changed from the original, another using a self-adhesive photobook and adding photos and captions to it. As my little one was turning three around the same time and was still occasionally prone to chewing on things she shouldn't or not caring for her paper books properly, a board book seemed a safer option.  This decision came after a chat with the foster carers and a social worker, where i was able to ask about anything to take into account.  Transition toy: ...