Past events

4Children are delighted to announce that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP and Louise Casey, Head of the Troubled Families Team at the Department for Communities and Local Government are confirmed keynote speakers for their Annual Conference to be held in Westminster on 25th April 2012.

The conference will address the challenges facing children and families in the current economic climate and look at how the children and families services sector is evolving to ensure the best outcomes for children and families.

The After Adoption 2012 conference will focus on the issue of attachment in adoption, looking at research that informs practical parenting and attachment theory. The conference will be of interest to those working in the fields of adoption, fostering, childcare, youth work, mental health, CAMHS, play therapists, academics and psychologists.

Keynote speakers: John Timpson, Chairman of Timpson, adoptive parent and former foster carer; Louise Bomber, Attachment Support Teacher Therapist; Jill Hodges, Joint Head of Psychotherapy at the Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Louis Sydney, Child and Adult Psychotherapist.

Carefree Kids invites you to a meeting on Saturday 31 March, 9.45am for 10am – 12 noon in Leytonstone to discuss a new project. They are planning a school-based course for teenaged boys and girls called 'Meeting the emotional needs of your future babies, children and yourselves as parents'.

Following a pilot project in Walthamstow, this meeting is part of a plan to:

• build on experience and plan a comprehensive ‘syllabus’ very carefully
• find the right school to try a new pilot
• evaluate the results
• go national

If you would like to attemd, please register your place by email, post or telephone 0208 558 7799, preferably by 15 March. Attendance does not imply commitment to join the Steering Group. At this early stage, all ideas and contributions will be welcomed.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, Peter Doran is currently chairing a review of how best to provide education for Scottish children and young people with the most complex learning needs. The Doran Review will be providing recommendations to the Scottish Government in June 2012 on how the system can be improved.

These consultation events are to gather the views of both families and parent support groups on the key issues, which will be submitted to the Review.

Organised by the Social Research Unit at Dartington, the Institute for Effective Education at York University, and the Coalition for Evidence-based Education (CEBE), this half-day seminar and round-table event will take place on Monday 26th March from 12.45pm for a 1.15 start, finishing at 5.30pm.

This one day conference will focus on the implications for children, young people and their families of developments in social services including the Social Services (Wales) Bill. It will also consider the implications for professionals from all disciplines and sectors who work with children and families involved with social services.