Being A Family – A support programme for adoptive parents

To care for a child who has experienced trauma, parents need to have an understanding of how poor parenting, abuse and neglect in early childhood affect a child’s development.

When a child is developmentally traumatised, their behaviour is often stuck at what we call the primitive brain level of functioning. This will prevent a child from developing emotional attachments. They’ll also struggle to interpret the world around them and reflect on day-to-day situations. This is why we say developmentally traumatised children need parenting from back-to-front.

Being A Family is a London-wide parenting support programme, co-produced and co-delivered by Family Futures and We Are Family. Aimed at the early stages of life as a family, the programme runs for 11 days spread over a 9-month period.
It offers peer-to-peer and professional support augmented by parent education workshops and consultation groups. The professional part of the programme is run and administered by Family Futures, while the informal peer-to-peer adoption community is facilitated by We Are Family.

The course is eligible for funding from the Adoption Support Fund under Therapeutic Parenting Training. It is also compatible with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on interventions for children with attachment difficulties.
You need to make an application through your local authority adoption support service. The cost of this course is per family.

Course objectives
This parenting programme has been devised for parents and carers based on Family Futures’ Neuro Physiological Psychotherapy treatment model. It is used as a complementary strand to intensive treatment at Family Futures, but can also be used as a standalone parent education programme.

Day 1: 1 March 2018 — Trauma and Attachment
Day 2: 13 March 2018 — Making Sense of Your Child — A Day on Sensory Integration
Day 3: 11 April 2018 — Parenting with Theraplay, Somatic Experience and DDP principles of PACE
Days 4, 5 and 6: 8, 9 and 22 May 2018 — The Great Behaviour Breakdown
Day 7: 5 June 2018 — Supporting Looked After and Adopted Children in School
Day 8: 11 July 2018 — Adult Attachment Styles
Day 9: 6 September 2018 — Relationships and Networks
Day 10: 11 October 2018 – Sensory Integration follow up
Day 11: 21 November 2018 – Bringing it all together

What skills will you take away?
An understanding of how trauma in early childhood affects a child’s developmet
An understanding of how trauma affects the sensory system and practical suggestions to regulate your child’s sensory integration system
Strategies and tools to support your child to make sense of the world and those around them
Tips for managing and responding to difficult behaviour
An understanding of how to manage and prevent violent outbursts

Who should attend?
Any adoptive parent, WAF member, foster carer or special guardian whether you are a new parent or have parented for some time.