TURNING GOOD INTENTIONS INTO GOOD PRACTICE

Children thrive in safe families

If this brochure has found it’s way into your hands, chances are you’ve found yourself part of the challenging adventure that is caring for vulnerable children. Perhaps this isn’t what you trained for or maybe you just have some questions. SFAC is here to help.

We’re a children’s charity that works for children rather than with them. We are working to create a world where every child has the chance to thrive. To acheive this we want to work with you.

We will support you by equipping your organisation with the knowledge, skills and resources you need to provide high levels of care for the children your organisation supports. We have a team of qualified and experienced professionals ready to help.

Since 2002, SFAC has worked with hundreds of organisations from small grassroots NGOs to multinational charities, governments and judiciary in over 30 countries.

Our project is your project: to give children the best care possible.

OUR PROJECT IS YOUR PROJECT

30+100s1000s

OF ORGANISATIONS

OF CHILDREN

given the chance to thrive

COUNTRIES

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Working with children and families is complex. It involves assessment, analysis and decision-making skills. This helps us work out whether a child or family needs our help, what help is required, and how we can provide it. Our team of qualified and experienced social workers can help train and support your organisation in all of these skills and much more.

SOCIAL WORK

WE OFFER

THERAPEUTIC CAREProviding therapeutic care for the children and families you work with is all about developing resilience and creating safe places and relationships where healing can begin. Our team of psychologists and therapists have extensive experience in working with both adults and children and will assist your organisation to do just that.

LEGAL SYSTEMSEvery country needs good quality judicial systems that put children’s best interests at the heart of the national childcare system. Our team of lawyers and judges can provide training and advice to peers and national governments in how the English Court system acheives this.

POLICIES, PROCEDURES & PROCESSESOur team can also provide advice about your organisation’s policies, procedures and processes in areas such as setting up fostering or adoption programmes, trasitioning from orphanage based care to family based care and how to work in the community.

Training, advice consultancy and mentoring in several areas of practice.

Every Child Deserves a Chance to Thrive

SFAC was established as a result of founder, Mick Pease’s, experiences volunteering in an orphanage in Brazil in the late 1990s. As he went about his duties, his social work training led him to question why the children in the orphanage weren’t being cared for in families. Mick began advocating for children’s right to live in a family.

SFAC was born. Initially named Substitute Families for Abandoned Children (SFAC), our work focussed on promoting the concept of foster care as an alternative to orphanages and children’s homes. It wasn’t long before SFAC realised this was not enough. We began educating people about the many different ways vulnerable children can be cared for. This meant providing training and supervision to organisations on how to safely reunite children with their parents, how to support parents in the community, and how to improve the standard of care provided in children’s homes. We’ve also began equipping organisations to set up (or connect with) kinship care, foster care and domestic adoption programmes. A small adjustment to our name reflected this expansion in our work – Strengthening Families for Abandoned Children.

Today, SFAC does all of this and more, including training in therapeutic and legal work. Our aim is to ensure all children are safe and their needs provided for, whatever their living situation.

Together we can strengthen your practice to give children the best chance to thrive.

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A gentle introduction to raising awareness about how children thrive in safe families but globally around 8 million children are living in orphanages and institutions. We discuss why this is a problem and how children in institutions can be vulnerable and why change is needed.

AWARENESS

Access to mentoring, refresher courses, advanced training and resources to maintain good practice. We also offer sessions for staff to develop their own self-care strategies or debrief as we recognise the work can be emotionally difficult.

SUPPORT

A more in-depth look at how we can care for children. It looks at advantages and disadvantages of care options and why safe family care is preferable for children and the issues around institutional care. We also look at how we can support and acheive change,

ADVOCACY

SFAC can audit, inspect and review your organisation’s practice and make recommendations for improvements. This can be completed for organisations with children’s homes and/or family based care programmes.

REVIEWS

Providing the theory and research behind providing safe care for children in a clear, jargon free manner. Topics include deciding who needs our help and who doesn’t, how to assess a child and/or familiy’s needs, how to plan for a child’s care and understanding children’s emotions and behaviour.

KNOWLEDGE

Training staff in how to apply their knowledge into every day practice. Examples include how to analyse information, how to write a care plan for a child or family, how to implement strategies to help children manage their feelings.

SKILLS

01Before we prepare any work for your organisation we take into account the cultural, professional and legal context you work in, the educational background and literacy levels of training participants and language needs.

We have worked with people from all walks of life, from government officials to carers in children’s homes, judges, lawyers, social workers, teachers, case workers and people who aren’t quite sure how to describe their role or job title!.

• IS TAILORED TO YOU

02SFAC can deliver training, conduct reviews and provide mentoring in a variety of ways.

We have presented to hundreds in conference settings, given lectures to smaller groups, run practical workshops, advised on cases in small team meetings whilst seated on the floor as well as conducting training sessions in the remote hill regions of Myanmar and villages in rural Zimbabwe where there were no facilities.

We also do a lot of work online through email, online chat programmes and video calls. We are working to make more online training and supervision available through the development of e-courses, webinars, online forums and pre-recorded video sessions.

• IS FLEXIBLE IN ITS DELIVERY

WE COVER OUR WORK

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CALM AFRICA is a very small Ugandan NGO with minimal funding. They were keen to develop family-based care but were sceptical about its potential for success in rural and poor areas of Uganda. SFAC began working with CALM AFRICA in 2011 with initial visits involving running workshops with staff. These sessions looked at the advantages and disadvantages of institutional and family based care, discussed what family based care is and what culturally relevant and economically sustainable options they had available to them. A couple of years later SFAC’s work with CALM AFRICA progressed to helping staff develop their knowledge and skills as CALM AFRICA began to implement their own community-based foster care programme. Our training had a practical focus, looking at topics such as: how to deliver a safe foster care programme, how to complete assessments and how to implement care planning processes.

We continue to provide online support through online chat services, video calls and email, as well as supporting a visit to the UK by members of the CALM AFRICA staff. This mentoring has included support to develop clear policies and processes, talking through cases and offering therapeutic/social work advice. Since 2013 CALM AFRICA has continued to develop their community based foster care programme and added another specifically designed to meet the needs of child headed households . Both programmes utilise concepts from SFAC’s training that have been adapted by the CALM AFRICA team to fit the Ugandan context and budget ensuring a safe, sustainable and effective programme. CALM AFRICA now has 33 children in foster care and has trained 77 foster carers. No longer sceptics when it comes to family based care, CALM AFRICA now lead local efforts to promote family based care alternatives for children.

OUR TRAINERS

A deputy district judge and lawyer who specialises in children and family matters, Ranjit, was awarded Advocate of the Year in 2016. He has been on a number of trips to Brazil with SFAC and regularly trains in Uganda with Huddersfield-Uganda Law Society. Ranjit is a Liverpool fan and marathon runner.

RANJIT UPPALLEGAL TEAM

Walter is SFAC’s longest serving volunteer and tallest staff member! He formed his own not-for-profit foster care organisation - Team Fostering. Walter has worked with SFAC in the UK, Morocco, Romania, Iraq and Myanmar. It has been suggested he has the largest collection of music known to mankind!

WALTER YOUNG SOCIAL WORK TEAM

Dan has over 15 years experience working as a qualified social worker. He worked in child protection and court teams where he represented children in family cases. He is an award-winning practice trainer and has worked with SFAC since 2009 - he even met his wife, Caitlin, on an SFAC training trip!. Dan is a Northampton Town (who?) fan. He drinks lots of milk!

DAN HOPEHEAD OF TRAINING & SOCIAL WORK

A qualified social worker with over thirty years experience, Mick has worked in child protection, fostering and adoption. The former coal miner spent a year in Brazil working in an orphanage, an experience which led to the establishment of SFAC, He’s also worked in a children’s home in the UK. He is a Leeds Utd football fan – we all have a downside!

Caitlin trained as a clinical psychologist and has worked in Australia, India and Kenya. She is also a qualified trainer and has almost completed her acreditation as a Protective Behaviours trainer. Caitlin met Dan on a SFAC visit to India and has the best hand-writing of anyone in the team! She is also a trained barista but doesn’t like coffee!

Tory is a therapeutic worker with particular focus on attachment, trauma, and life-story work. She has worked and lived in Cambodia and the UK with looked-after children. She is a current foster carer and adoptive parent.

MICK PEASE

DR CAITLIN LANCE HOPE TORY BARROW

FOUNDER & DIRECTOR

THERAPEUTIC TEAM MANAGER

THERAPEUTIC TEAM

One aspect of SFAC’s work in Brazil has been working with the courts and judiciary. SFAC began working in Brazil in 2002 with NGO’s and universities introducing the idea of family based care and foster care. Early on we provided training and support to ABBA who developed the first foster care programme in Sao Paulo. In 2015 the partnership with ABBA led to SFAC providing training to the courts. SFAC has been speaking to groups of lawyers and judges about how English family courts work and how they support the aims of family based care for children.

Through lectures, workshops and presentations we have demonstrated how judges, lawyers and social workers work to support children living with their families or in alternative family-based care. Working with NGOs and the courts is critical if systemic change is to occur. Everyone needs to be working towards the same goals. SFAC is able to provide this joint training and support NGOs, governments and courts to change together.

CASE STUDY: BRAZIL

CASE STUDY: UGANDA

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SFAC is developing new ways of working with organisations through the provision of more online services. Conducting training and supervision online is more cost and time effective than in country training and means we can reach more people. While one off training sessions in country are still extremely valuable, regular online mentoring sessions can: provide training in smaller chunks which allows time for new concepts to sink in, help reinforce what’s been learnt during in country training, and allow for questions to be asked and addressed as they arise.

Reviews can be completed online or through an in country visit. The review can cover all areas of practice within an organisation or focus on a specific area. SFAC will identify staff suited to the scope of the review and will offer advice and training where appropriate.

One to One SupportAdvice, supervision, mentoring and training sessions delivered by email or video call between SFAC staff and your organisation.

Group SupportSFAC staff providing advice, mentoring and training by video call to two or three organisations at once. This includes opportunities for case discussion and learning from the experiences of others working in similar areas.

Membership GroupsAn online forum including live training sessions, links to resources, discussions topics and a chance to ask for advice and/or discuss cases with SFAC staff and others providing care for vulnerable children or working to strengthen families.

Online Courses

Training can also be provided through in country visits. Visits normally involve two SFAC team members travelling to your country for one to two weeks. We can deliver training through workshops, lectures, conferences, seminars and will attend meetings with key personnel where required.

In country visits need to be organised at least 6 months in advance. SFAC strongly advises that any in-country training is consolidated with further mentoring/supervision online to help practitioners put their learning into practice. Implementing new ideas can be challenging and needs support, guidance and advice. Our online support programmes are designed for this purpose.

IN COUNTRY VISITS

ONLINE TRAINING

The SFAC team is currently developing a number of courses that will make use of email, webinars and online forums to provide training that has previously only been accessible by in-country visits.

REVIEWS

Representatives of governments, courts and NGOs can visit the UK to observe and witness practice in the UK (visa permitting). SFAC can arrange vists to the courts, government agencies, foster care providers, and other organisations.

We can also provide training in the UK to those that wish to attend.

PARTNER VISITS TO THE UK SFAC’s support and work cannot be overstated. They have been instrumental in helping our organisation learn about the issues of institutional care and how we can de-institutionalise. SFAC now train our social workers and provide ad-vice on how to make safe decisions for our children. The training is invaluable to our social workers and is enabling them to be-come more confident and able practitioners.

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”PHILLIP BARKER

KINNECTED MYANMAR

WE CAN SUPPORT YOU

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YOUR INVESTMENTOur aim is to make our training available to all and we will do our best to tailor a programme to your budget and resources. We offer subsidies and grants to organisations to help access our training if our full UK rates make working with us impossible.

SFAC encourages the organisations we partner with to invest in training and to budget accordingly as developing knowledge and skills is critical to providing safe and good quality care. We also recognise, however, that accessing funds are sometimes limited and developing a training budget takes time, so if you have any concerns in this area please contact us to discuss whether your organisation qualifies for a partial or full subsidy.

AWARENESS & ADVOCACY TRAININGTravel costs only. Donations above these costs are accepted and appreciated but not expected.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS TRAINING, SUPPORT & REVIEWS£400 per day for each trainer plus travel expenses. Partial or full financial assistance may be available to those who meet our criteria. Please contact us for further information.

+ IN COUNTRY TRAINING +

Online training and support is avaliable in a number of formats. Costs are calculated based on a rate of £50 per hour for one to one support with subsides available. For group consultations the cost is divided between the organisations and/or participants involved. *If laptop or internet access is a problem then please talk to us to see

how this maybe overcome.

+ ONLINE TRAINING +

An SFAC team member will speak with you to find out more about your organisation’s aims, objectives and current practice in order to identify and prioritise areas for training. We will also discuss your organisation’s ability to fund training.

SFAC will propose a carefully tailored package of training and support to meet your organisation’s specific requirements. Proposals are usually developed to cover a six to twelve month period.

SFAC will provide a full costing for the proposal. Should the total exceed your organisation’s training budget, we will work with you explore what subsidies we can offer or what outside grants might be available. Our aim is to ensure our training is accessible to everyone regardless of budget and we will work with you to find solutions.

OUR FAVOURITE PART - IT’S GO TIME!

Your training and support programme begins!

Once the propsal and costings have been mutually agreed, a formal plan, with an agreed timeframe is prepared and signed off by the appropriate representatives from both SFAC and your orgaisation.

ASSESS

PROPOSE

BUDGET

PLAN

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CONTACT US?

ACTION

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JOSEPH LUGANDACALM AFRICA,

UGANDA

“SFAC coming to Uganda in 2011 was the turning point. They showed how foster care, community work and child protection could happen without the need for institutions. They provide continuous support, encouragement and advice. They do not tell us what to do. They give us ideas that we have made work for Uganda.”

THOMAS SMOAKABBA, BRAZIL

“Mick will likely be remembered as the father of foster care in Brazil. His trainings have helped all of us at ABBA learn how hard and rewarding and right it is to help families and kids live together.”

LALITA PRASADOFFSPRING, INDIA

SFAC provided essential and p r o f e s s i o n a l training on trauma, assessments, family support work and helped with our case management systems. The SFAC team has always been on hand for advice and dealing with more complex cases. Having this expertise on call means that a small organisation such as ours can still deliver world class care.

JOSHUA & BELINDA GROVESSEPHEO, LESOTHO

These two days training helped me very much. Due to this training we have some solutions to the problems. This two day teaching has helped me grow confident and given me new tools to do the work. It was fun, informative and very useful. In particular the focus on assessment process and care planning.

I would like to suggest we have this training every semester! You have a modern style of training. The training taught me about thinking of the child’s needs before anything else, understanding best interest decisions, and about recording i n f o r m a t i o n concerning a child and preparation of life story work.

TRAINING PARTICPANTWORKSHOP PARTICIPANTPAN ASIA CONFERENCE MORROCO CHILDREN’S TRUST

“The training was very helpful and I learnt so much about trauma and how it impacts emotional wellbeing and behaviour of those abused. The training was also fun and easy to understand. It has helped me change my responses and how I support the girls I work with. It has helped me grow as a person and as a support worker. I have learnt great skills especially about the need to feel safe and secure.”

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING...

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ADDRESS:SFAC PO BOX 237LeedsLS12 9DR

Email:info@sfac.org.ukWebsite:www.sfac.org.uk

Charity Registration Number:1095091