Useful resources

BAAF publications
Organisations and useful links
Be My Parent information pack

BAAF publications

BAAF publish a range of books for professionals involved in adoption and fostering, including:

• A child's journey through placement
• Adoption now: Law, regulations, guidance and standards
• Child care law: A summary of the law in England and Wales
• Child care law: A summary of the law in Scotland
• Children Exposed to Parental Substance Misuse: Implications for family placement
• Every child is special: Placing disabled children for permanence
• Fostering now: Current law including regulations, guidance and standards
• Life story work: What it is and what it means
• Models of Adoption Support: What works and what doesn’t
• Preparing children for permanence: A guide to undertaking direct work for social workers, foster carers and adoptive parents
• “Race” and Ethnicity: A consideration of issues for black, minority ethnic and white children in family placement
• Recruiting black and minority ethnic adopters and foster carers
• Recruiting, assessing and supporting lesbian and gay carers and adopters
• Right from the Start: Best practice in adoption planning for babies and other children
• Ten top tips for finding families
• Ten top tips on managing contact
• Ten top tips for placing children in permanent families
• The Role of Concurrent Planning: Making permanent placements for young children
• Together or Apart? Assessing brothers and sisters for permanent placement
• Trauma and recovery: A training programme

Find out more and order BAAF publications.

BAAF also publish Practice Notes, short guides for social work practitioners, including:

• Assessing Lesbian and Gay Foster Carers and Adopters
• Children and Smoking Stresses
• Profiling Children Sets out the principles and practice of how to feature children in the media
• Featuring children in the mainstream media
• Placing children with dog-owning families
• The Placement of Children with Disabilities

BAAF publishes a quarterly journal Adoption & Fostering which contains information about new developments in child care practice, policy and law and is free to BAAF members, as well as practice notes, advice notes, and a range of books for adopters and foster carers such as The Adopter’s Handbook and Fostering a child, and books for children such as the Nutmeg series, the My Story series and the Getting Sorted books. Find out more and order BAAF publications.

BAAF also provides training and holds workshops, seminars and conferences.

Social workers referring children to Be My Parent may find the following useful:

• 'Preparing children for being featured on the internet' by Shelagh Beckett, Child Care Consultancy presented at the Be My Parent online launch conference 'Reclaiming the internet' on 29 June 2007.
• Statement on ethnic testing from BAAF and BSHG Statement on the use of DNA testing to determine racial background.

Organisations and useful links

Adoption and fostering

British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF)
British Association of Social Workers
Community Care the website for social work and social care professionals.
Adoption Register (England and Wales) 0870 750 2173
Independent Review Mechanism (England)
The Fostering Network The UK's leading charity for everyone with a personal or professional involvement in fostering.
Every Child Matters (Adoption) Government resource about adoption.
Every Child Matters (Fostering) Government resource about fostering.

Statistics and other information

BAAF legal information
BAAF statistics
Looked after children: research and statistics (Every Child Matters)
DfES Adoption training FAQs
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Details about adoption leave and pay.

For birth families, children and young people

Family Rights Group Independent advice and support for families involved with social services.
CAFCASS Children and Family Court Advisory and support service.
After Adoption Support for adopted people, adoptive families and birth relatives.
NORCAP For adults affected by adoption.
Natural Parents Network and 0845 456 5031 M-F 9.30-11.30

For those tracing birth relatives

Adopted Children Register (England and Wales) A record of all adoptions granted by courts in England and Wales since 1927.
Adoption Search and Reunion The first port of call for anyone thinking about searching for or making contact with birth and adopted relatives.
Birthlink Adoption Contact Register for Scotland (for adopted adults only)
General Register Office Scotland
General Register Office Northern Ireland

Be My Parent information pack

The Be My Parent info pack contains several leaflets which provide basic information on adoption and fostering such as 'Could you adopt or foster?' and 'The 10 steps to adoption', and a list of UK adoption and fostering agencies and other useful organisations. You might like to download the pack for a family or families you are working with. Download the info pack

Last updated: 20 March 08

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