Books, booklets & multimedia

Ten Top Tips for Finding Families

	Price: £7.95	BAAF December 2007 ISBN 978 1 905664 28 3

Recent research by Bristol University revealed that over one quarter of 3-11 year olds for whom adoption was in principle agreed were never placed with an adoptive family. Social workers and managers need effective and imaginative family-finding services in order to help all children who wait to find permanent “forever” families which endure through childhood and beyond.

Ten Top Tips for Finding Families explores the important issue of recruiting new carers and welcoming a wide range of permanent families. Each of the ten chapters explores a key theme in an accessible, straightforward and highly readable style, such as recruiting widely, preparing and assessing applicants thoroughly, producing high quality material about children and featuring them in a variety of ways. It also looks at new methods of family-finding, including exchange days and DVD/video profiling events aimed at linking children with prospective carers. Throughout, issues are discussed and pragmatic suggestions are made about improving the effectiveness of family-finding. Each chapter contains a summary of the tips for easy reference.

Ten Top Tips for Finding Families contains a breadth of information that will be particularly useful for newly qualified social workers, or social workers new to working in the UK. Established practitioners will be able to use the book to reinforce their practice, for quick reference and to source fresh ideas for recruitment strategies.