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  • 6 Jul 2020 15:21 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Need the text? See below



    2020's been a challenging year and we're barely half way through it. Here's some of our highlights:

    Our members

    We're the credible voice for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers across the UK. Some 4,800 LGBT+ adopters and foster carers now access our online services. We also support over 200 agencies to help them better work with LGBT+ potential parents.



    Online support

    Lockdown's a challenge. New Family Social stepped up to the plate. We moved meet-ups and information sessions online - and supported some 500 members through real-time sessions since April 2020. A highlight was delivering our first information session with signing for Deaf people.



    Spilling the tea!

    Adoption, Fostering & Tea - our podcast series sharing the experiences of real-life LGBT+ people adopting, fostering or going through the assessment process - has been 'enjoyed' by some 1,200 listeners. Biscuits were consumed in the recording of each installment.



    New website

    Our window to the world was given a good clean with the launch of a sparkling new website. It's been enjoyed by 4,000 unique visitors since May 2020 and led to surge in re-engagement from our long-standing members.



    Getting on your socials

    We Facebook, we Twitter, we hashtag. All with a soupcon of sass. To a combined audience of 12,800 people who are interested - whether professionally, personally or both - in LGBT+ people adopting or fostering.



    Increasing awareness

    1 in 7 adoptions in England in 2019 were to same-sex couples. It's no coincidence that the proportion of LGBT+ people successfully adopting has increased every year since the start of our annual awareness raising campaign - LGBT+ Adoption & Fostering Week. In 2020 the campaign reached 23 million people through social media alone.

  • 6 Jul 2020 08:53 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ members go through.

    The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio

    In this episode we talk about the decisions and thoughts behind adopting a sibling group.


  • 17 Jun 2020 10:15 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ members go through.

    The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio

    In this episode we chat with DJ about contact with birth siblings.


  • 9 Jun 2020 15:45 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Changes to responsibilities towards children-in-care have provoked concern among some experts in the field. Temporary changes to 10 regulations relating to the safeguarding, care and protection of vulnerable children and young people have been introduced by the government as part of its response to Covid-19.

    The changes – currently planned to be in force until September 2020 – ease some legal protections and remove others.

    Among the changes – reported by Community Care – are:

    • Visits to children-in-care: The requirement for social workers to visit children in care a week after they start a placement – and then at six-week intervals – has been removed. In its place is an instruction that, if these visits can’t take place in line with these timescales, they should take place ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’. These ‘visits’ can take place by telephone, video or electronically.
    • Children’s care reviews: Reviews of looked-after children’s care – following the first two reviews – can now take place when ‘reasonably practicable’. These subsequent reviews were previously required to take place at least every six months.
    • Emergency foster care placements: The maximum length of these is now 24 weeks – extended from 16. The requirement for temporary foster carers to have a connection with the child has been removed.
    • Fostering panel assessment: The requirement for fostering panels to assess prospective carers is now optional. Instead, fostering providers are empowered to take decisions based on their own assessment.
    • Adoption panel assessment: Also removed is the requirement that adoption agencies establish panels that assess applications and issue advice around the suitability of prospective parents. Other checks on prospective parents have also been relaxed.

    Of these changes it’s the last two that may be the most relevant to LGBT+ potential parents. Our community carries with it a historical expectation of discrimination – YouGov polling in 2013 found that 8 in 10 lesbian, gay and bisexual people expect to encounter barriers to become foster carers because of their sexual orientation. If the need for a broader voice to inform recommendations of adoption or fostering assessment approval is removed, how can agencies reassure LGBT+ applicants that they won’t be discriminated against?

    In 2019 a number of adoption agencies consulted New Family Social, concerned that key decision-makers on their adoption panels were falling short in their legal duties to fairly assess LGBT+ prospective parents. By removing the requirement to establish and hold panels, there’s a clear risk this prejudice will go unchecked, ultimately meaning that children-in-care will be denied parents from the widest possible pool. New Family Social strongly urges agencies to seek out technological solutions that allow the retention of panel assessments involving voices from across the community the agency serves.

     


  • 9 Jun 2020 14:16 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ members go through.

    The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio

    In the latest ep of the podcast Mark shares his experiences of meeting his adopted son's birth mother.


  • 5 Jun 2020 10:02 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Welcome aboard to LGBT+ adopters who adopted through Herefordshire County Council - the adoption services there have moved into Adoption Central England, so now provide free memberships to New Family Social.

    It's also a huge welcome to the LGBT+ adopters in the north of London as Adopt London [North] has also joined New Family Social as a member agency.

    If you identify as LGBT+ and adopted with Herfordshire Council, or with any of the agencies that form Adopt London [North]  (which are Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington councils) please complete this online form to start the ball rolling to securing a free Gold membership with us

  • 3 Jun 2020 16:05 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ members go through.

    The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio

    In the latest ep of the podcast Andrew and Brian share their experiences of adopting a second sibling.


  • 27 May 2020 16:13 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Adoption, Fostering & Tea is New Family Social's podcast, covering all things in these parenting routes that our LGBT+ member go through.

    The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio

    In the latest ep of the podcast Ruby - a lesbian  - shares her experiences of sitting on adoption and fostering panels as a member.


    Our LGBT+ Bronze, Silver & Gold members can also access the full range of back episodes. You can register as a Bronze member for free now, just to do that. 


  • 27 May 2020 09:26 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
    • As the lockdown starts to be eased, from 1 June some young people in England will return to school for the first time in weeks. For all concerned this is an untested time – lockdown meant that children and their parents had little choice but to adapt to home schooling. Now further adaptation is required – as children and teachers adjust to social distancing measures in the classroom and the playground.

      However, for some adopted and foster children just setting off for the return to school will take immense energy. Our members report that one unforeseen side-effect of lockdown and homeschooling is that for those families with an autistic child have found the past weeks less stressful than usual – with the usual daily environmental triggers removed, some of our children are finding home schooling very productive.

      Given the unusual circumstances, it’s worth considering how it’s best for your child to return to school. We’d strongly advise talking it through with your child’s teacher and/or the school’s special educational needs coordinator (SENCO). If both are fully aware of your child’s needs they should be happy to tailor the first days and weeks of return to make it as smooth as it can be for your child. Among the measures you might like to consider are:

      • Is there safety in numbers? Some children find the journey into school challenging, so may benefit from arriving earlier or later over the first few days. Others will prefer to journey in with their friends and be part of the school run.

      • Phasing in a return to the classroom – starting in the classroom on the first day back may be hard for some children. Could they spend the first days in a library or quiet learning area instead?


      • Accept an entire class may be overwhelming – Readjusting to the rhythms and requirements of a lesson may be difficult if your child’s grown accustomed to homeschooling. Instead of focusing on the length of time your child can sit through a lesson, praise them for what they achieve while they’re in it.


      • Care needs to be taken not to overwhelm a child if they fell behind while learning from home. Not all work can be caught up on in the limited time before the summer break and working with your child’s school can help both your family and the school construct a realistic workload to achieve the most possible.


      • Develop a practical way for your child to apply social distancing when they are by themselves. Some of our children struggle with understanding others’ personal space – so using a simple phrase to apply to social distancing will help them to remember to apply it.

  • 22 May 2020 08:03 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Susan and Jane  - a same-sex couple - discuss adopting while serving in the military and their fertility treatment journey, in the third episode of Adoption, Fostering & Tea.

    The podcast is brought to you by New Family Social - the UK's peer support network for LGBT+ adopters and foster carers - with kind support from Little Radio

    New Family Social's LGBT+ Bronze, Silver and Gold members can also access the full episode list


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