Books, booklets & multimedia

Linking and Introductions: Helping Children Join Adoptive Families
A BAAF Good Practice Guide

	Price: £6.50 32 pages A4	BAAF, December 2000 ISBN 978-1-873868-94-2

There are a number of key stages in placing children for adoption, each of which has its own particular challenges. Planning, working with both child and birth family, preparing and assessing applicants, are all areas that demand intensive, skilled and focused. work. However, the vital phase of linking children with new families and introducing them to each other prior to placement has received little attention within social work literature and this guide fills the gap.

The guide provides a child-centred framework for thinking through the major stages of linking and introducing. Issues related to linking children with potential families are considered and the challenge of assessing needs and strengths as well as balancing and minimising risk is explored. It looks at the period of preparation prior to the first meeting and the different stages which build on each other to create a firm foundation for a placement, including managing the move and contact issues.

• Linking children with families
• Preparing the child and involving the family
• Planning introductions and supporting the child and family
• Managing the move and considering contact issues
• Practice tools that will help.

Essential reading for children's social workers, family placement workers, social work managers and those involved in direct work with children needing permanent placements.