Coram BAAF

22/07/2026

Bring our bookstall to your event!

If you’re running an event for parents, adopters, carers or social workers we’ll bring our bookstall to your event free of charge along with a curated list of relevant books, catalogues and bundles.

“It was brilliant having CoramBAAF at our World Social Work Day event in March. They have so many great books for children, social workers, carers and guidance papers too.
It really felt good to have our national organisation celebrating with us and feedback from attendees was very positive”

Get in touch with our publications team to find out more at [email protected]

21/07/2026

Free in person event: Child and adolescent mental health services referrals and outcomes for adolescents and children with social workers (COACHES) study

📌 Sidney Sussex College - Cambridge
📅 Wednesday 2 September
⌚ 10am - 3pm | In-person

The Child Health and Research Development Group would like to invite you to join us on the 2nd of September 2026 at the University of Cambridge to celebrate the journey, people, and impact of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Referrals and Outcomes for Adolescents and Children with Social Workers (COACHES) study.

The COACHES study, funded by NIHR and Foundations, is a four-year collaboration between the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge, Kingston University, King’s College London, the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and the Care Leavers Association.

Our one-day event, which is free to attend, will bring together collaborators, practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders to reflect on the findings of the COACHES study and its contributions to improving mental health services for children and young people. You’ll also hear from lived experience researchers, and speakers from the Care Leavers Association and the National Children’s Bureau, and have the opportunity to network with colleagues.

For more information about the day and to register to attend, follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/improving-mental-health-support-for-young-people-with-a-social-worker-tickets-1984559376518?aff=oddtdtcreator

20/07/2026

📣 Expressions of interest now open for the Kinship Conference 2026

We are inviting expressions of interest for our ‘Pitching Good Practice’ spots at the Kinship Conference on 12 October 2026. We would like to give local authorities the opportunity to share practice and development work relating to their Kinship Local Offer that they feel proud of and think other local authorities would like to learn about.

You will be able to share your practice or development work at break and lunch times, in a room off the main conference hall, with a poster or table, giving conference delegates the chance to network with you and ask questions about what you offer. You could share practice about anything kinship local offer related, for example resources such as leaflets or flyers, digital resources, practice tools, co-production ideas, innovative support offers, consultation successes….to name just a few and the examples are many! It’s an exciting opportunity for local authorities to showcase some of the promising practice so many of our members work hard to achieve.

In exchange for your time and commitment, you will be given a 50% reduction on up to 2 conference tickets. Our kinship consultants will shortlist the expressions of interest, to ensure there is a diverse geographical and type of local authority represented as well as a broad range of practice examples.

All you need to do is click the link below, state who you are, your local authority, how your team/service is structured, the practice you would like to share, and the impact.

There are up to 3 ‘Pitching Good Practice’ spots available. Submissions will close on the 31 July. We look forward to hearing from you!

Share your practice 👉https://corambaaf.org.uk/events/kinship-care-conference-2026-pitching-good-practice

09/07/2026

⏰ 7 days to go - Briefing: Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 16 July | 12:00pm - 1:30pm | Online via Zoom

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act has now received Royal Assent, bringing significant changes for child protection, fostering, and kinship care.

Join our practice briefing to understand what these changes mean for your practice, your service, and the children and families you support: https://corambaaf.org.uk/events/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-act

This session is ideal for CoramBAAF members working in fostering and kinship care, and will also be valuable for legal professionals, health professionals, researchers, and anyone affected by the new legislation.

We'll explore:
🔹 The new duty for local authorities to publish a Local Kinship Offer
🔹 Family Group Decision-Making meetings at the pre-proceedings stage
🔹 New duties to prioritise and promote sibling relationships for children in care
🔹 Enhanced support for young people leaving care
🔹 New powers relating to children's homes and fostering agencies
🔹 The new provider oversight regime
🔹 Corporate parenting responsibilities for relevant authorities
🔹 Regional co-operation arrangements and what they could mean for services

Come along to get up to speed on the new duties, implementation timescales, and the practical actions your service may need to take.

📅 Register now and join us in just one week's time!

07/07/2026

📣 Our Kinship Conference is launching next Monday!

Our theme for this year is Delivering better support for kinship families: research and policy in action.

“The conference was timely and highly informative, helping me as a frontline manager of a kinship care team to clearly prioritise key issues and develop an achievable action plan. I felt very positive and empowered by this Conference thank you so much” Conference attendee 2025

To stay informed register your interest using the below link: https://corambaaf.org.uk/events/save-date-annual-kinship-conference-2026

18/02/2026

CoramBAAF Fostering Conference 2026: Fostering reform - The opportunities, challenges and realities

2 March 2026 | Coram Campus, London | 9:30am – 4:30pm

Linda Briheim-Crookall, Head of Policy and Practice Development, Coram Voice

From Surviving to Thriving, covers the seven key drivers of well-being for children in care and care leavers. These drivers are taken from a pool of 27,000 responses from across 70 local authorities and allow practitioners to use the voices of care-experienced children and young people to inform their service development. We are excited to hear from Linda on the latest findings from the Bright Spots programme and how these findings can be applied in practice.

Sign up here: https://corambaaf.org.uk/events/corambaaf-fostering-conference-2026-fostering-reform-opportunities-challenges-and-realities

13/02/2026

The Reflective Fostering Programme – Improving the wellbeing of children in care through a group intervention for foster carers: A randomised controlled trial

We have published an article in our Adoption & Fostering journal presenting the results of a large-scale randomised controlled trial on the Reflective Fostering Programme - an intervention for foster carers. The study showed significant benefits for foster carers in terms of reducing burnout and stress and demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of the programme.

Read the Adoption & Fostering article here: https://corambaaf.org.uk/resources/adoption-fostering-journal

Its implications for UK policy and the support offered to foster carers by independent fostering agencies and local authorities are particularly timely given the government announcement last week on fostering reforms.

Read more here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewing-fostering-homes-for-10000-more-children

12/02/2026

CoramBAAF Fostering Conference 2026: Fostering reform - The opportunities, challenges and realities

2 March 2026 | Coram Campus, London | 9:30am – 4:30pm

Helen Hayes MP, Chair of the Education Commitee

Helen is Chair of the Education Committee, a parliamentary select committee that scrutinises the work of the Department for Education, covering children’s social care, schools, colleges, the early years and higher education. In 2025, Helen led the inquiry into the state of children's social care, calling for a national fostering strategy - a topic central to this year's conference discussions. We are delighted to welcome her and look forward to hearing her perspective on fostering reform.

Sign up here: https://corambaaf.org.uk/events/corambaaf-fostering-conference-2026-fostering-reform-opportunities-challenges-and-realities

12/02/2026

🌟 Foster carers — the DfE want to hear from you!

The Department for Education is looking for foster carers approved within the last 2 years to take part in a 60‑minute online research interview. This will be about your experience of applying to become a foster carer.

📅 Sessions run 9 to 12 March
💻 60 minutes on Microsoft TEAMS
📝 Share your experience of applying to become a foster carer and help improve the journey for future foster carers

👉 Register your interest to take part and indicate your availability: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=yXfS-grGoU2187O4s0qC-fLgHrJzzX5Jt33JfvNWB4JUREJPQTZWSVJETDBGUzJOUTZLUkdJSkFYQS4u

If you’re eligible to take part, a representative from the DfE will get in touch to confirm your session.

10/02/2026

CoramBAAF welcomes the government announcement today confirming that funding will be in place for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund until March 2028 alongside a formal consultation on the future of the fund.

The announcement about the funding being in place for the next two years, including an increase to £55 million for the next financial year, is something that CoramBAAF and partners (Adoption UK, CVAA, Kinship, FRG and ASGSF campaign) have been calling for.

Read our full statement here:

CoramBAAF welcomes the government announcement today confirming that funding will be in place for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund until March 2028 alongside a formal consultation on the future of the fund.