Fostering: Understanding the lives of children in careJoin foster carers, care-experienced people, fostering agency staff, social workers, teachers, and others for an online event designed to share insight, practical tools, and lived experience to help you in your role supporting children in care.
👉 What you'll gain from attending:
- Fresh perspectives on the challenges children in care face - and what that means for carers and professionals
- Practical strategies for improving communication, trust, and stability in care placements
- The chance to share experiences and learn from others across the fostering community and sector
- Direct insight from people with lived experience of being in care
🎞️ Film screening – Be-Longing
As part of the event, we’ll also show the award-winning short film Be-Longing, which powerfully portrays a child’s journey through trauma, trust, and identity in foster care. Even if you’ve seen it before, the screening offers a springboard for deeper discussion and reflection, led by the film’s director, Michael McKenzie.
💬 Live discussion & special guest
- Q&A with director Michael McKenzie
- Special guest speaker (to be announced) - sharing professional and lived expertise
- Space to connect with foster carers, agency staff, adoptive parents, kinship carers, social workers, teachers, and care-experienced individuals
🔑 Key discussion topics
- Collaboration matters - how carers, agency staff, social workers, parents and teachers can work together to support children
- Bridging the gaps - tackling the impact of poor communication in the care system
- Solutions that work - practical ideas you can take away and use in your own role
- Diverse voices - hearing from a wide range of experiences in fostering and adoption
📌 Who should attend?
- Foster and adoptive parents
- Kinship carers
- Care-experienced individuals
- Fostering agency staff and managers
- Social workers, teachers and support workers
- Campaigners, policymakers, and anyone passionate about improving outcomes for children in care
- Filmmakers and creatives interested in portraying care-experienced issues through film
💡 Why attend?
This is a chance to gain real, usable insight and tools, connect with others who share your challenges, and be part of a collaborative conversation about improving the lives of children in care.
📍 Event details
Date: Wednesday 24 September 2025
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 pm BST
Location: Online (best viewed on desktop/laptop)
This session will be recorded.
