Sunday 8th November

1700 - 1900 Welcome Reception

Monday 9th November

0730 - 0845 Registration

0900 – 0930 Opening Ceremony

0930-1000 Opening Keynote Speaker

Foster Care ROI… Kevin Brown (USA)Child welfare professionals and foster/adoptive parents have big hearts and they work tirelessly to be a conduit for youth to live their dreams and create the lives that they desire after care. During the uphill battle of positively molding a youth to be all that they can be fatigue sometimes sets in and causes both professionals and parents to ask themselves “Am I doing the right thing? Am I really making a difference?

10-10.30 Morning Tea

10.30-11.30 An international perspective…

1030-1100 Same but different - Estella Abraham (UK)Foster care is organized and provided differently across the world however the carers voice, and their needs are the same the world over, but whose listening?

1100-1125 Foster care overview from around the world.11.25-1300 A foster child's perspective

1125-1130 Video introduction - Neil McFarlane(AUS) 1130-1145 Role Model of Resilience - Luke Rogers (UK)1145-1200 Engaging with children and young people in care - What they want you to know Tracey Shipton - (NZ)1200-1230 Me, Myself and I - Danielle Douglas (Ireland)

This presentation will explore ideas of multiple identities, agency and voice from the perspective of a care leaver, focusing specifically on the role of interactions in children's lives

1230-1300 Improving the outcomes of children and young people in care - Marilyn Chilvers (AUS)First findings from interviews with children and caregivers, an overview of the Pathways Of Care Longitudinal Study with latest wave published by November

1300-1400 Lunch

1400-1410 Welcome back - MC1410-1545 It's all about the connections...

1410-1425 Connecting with laughter - Steven Bloom (AUD)1425-1455 Life without Barriers… Claire Robbs (AUD)1455-1530 Successfully fostering 21st century kids - Maggie Hamilton(AUS)

In this powerful presentation foster parents and professionals will be given a series of take-home tips on how best to capture the attention of their boys and girls, how to stretch and encourage, and empower them, and help keep them safe.

1530-1600 Afternoon Tea

1600-1700 Understanding the teen years…

1600-1630 The Teenage Brain - closed for renovations… Nathan Wallis (NZ)This keynote address explores and explains the latest understandings of the adolescent brain and the changes that are taking place. An understanding of these changes allows us to be innovative in our approach to young people.

1630-1700 The Digital World - Nina Funnell (AUD)1700-1800 IFCO Annual General Meeting and Book Launch1800> Free night for delegates

Tuesday 10th November0730 - 0830 Registration

8.00-10.00 1A Knowledge is power : Training and support for carers Chair: Robbi Mack

1B Voices of Diversity In CareChair: ABSEC repesentative

15 mins

Issues and challenges in the provision of therapeutic foster care in Australia - Marilyn McHugh and Anita Pell (AUS)

Indigenous Care and Education with Kentish - Dale Austin (AUS)

15 mins Caring is a Brain Thing - Noel McNamanara (AUS)

Aboriginal Kinship Care: Culturally safe care for children or a cheap alternative to foster care- Julian Pocock (AUS)

15 minsSelf Care - what is working for carers? Bobbie Zanloren (AUS) Culture is Healing: Journies to belonging and identity -

Sarah Diplock (AUS)

15 mins Promoting attachment in foster carers - Karleen Gribble (AUS)

Aboriginal Cultural Connections: Everyone's responsibility -Lauren Murray (AUS)

15 mins

Engaging with foster carers in the development of supports and training based on their needs: what do they say? - Sarah McLean(AUS)

Engaging CALD Foster and Kinship Carers: Transition, connection and collaboration - Catherine Martin (AUS)

15 mins Voice of the Child- Dina Dasic (AUS)The Voices of Aboriginal Kids in Care - Julie Welsh(AUS)

15 minsSupporting infant's who have had life stressors, find sleep. - Helen Stevens(AUS) Ensuring Inclusion of Children from Marginalised

Communities in India - Malay Dewanji (India)

15 mins

From IRC to IFC an alternative Care ModelThe possibilities, probabilities and challenges - Vanessa Smith (Ireland)

Transforming Carer Assessments Practice: Introducing Winangay Resources across Australia - Aunty Sue Blacklock (AUS)

10-10.30 Morning Tea

10.30-1200 2A Permanency planning: Stable life journeysChair: Robbi Mack

2B Changing face of foster care: Recruiting and keeping carers.Chair: Key Assets

15 mins

Adoption from care after traumatic abuse and neglect: A 30 years study of open adoption in Australia - Susan Tregeagle/Lynn Moggach -(AUS)

Key Developmental Assets: evidence based recording of children's progress in foster care - Judith Wilkinson (AUS)

15 minsLong term outcomes of the Australian Care Leavers- Elizabeth Fernandez (AUS) When Family Care - Peeling back the layers -

Hayley Robinette(AUS)

15 mins

Achievements and challenges in De-institutionalisation programs globally with special focus on Europe - Maria Herczog (Hungary)

No more apologies: the experience of siblings separated in Australian out of home care. -Trish McCluskey (AUS)

15 mins Does lack of truth-telling destabilise a child's life journey? Helen Oakwater (UK)

Professionalising foster care - qualifications or capabilities?- Linda Watson (AUS)

15 minsSafe home for life: Innovation & change - Simone Walker(AUS)

Developing a therapeutic care outcomes pilot project for non-government out of home care service providers in NSW - Robert Urquart/Wendy Foote (AUS)

15 mins Restoration in the context of carers with a contemporary lens - Maree Connolly (AUS)

Case work and services for foster carers: What does the research tell us? - Ilan Katz(AUS)

Question and Answer Time Question and Answer Time

1200-1300 Lunch

1300-1430

3A Carers' rights and resonsbilities :Handling allegations, complaints and problems what does it mean for everyone?Chair: Connecting Carers

3B Understanding and responding to mental illnessChair: Robbi Mack

15 mins Managing Abuse Allegations in KInship Care - Jill Worrell (NZ)/ Rosemarie Carbino (USA)

Understanding and responding to difficult behaviour: co-designing and co-developing relevant supports together with foster carers. - Sara McLean (AUS)

15 minsEvidence- based skills training for foster carers: The experience of the KEEP programme in England - Helen Jones(UK)

Foster carers and the mental health of children in their care - a scoping review - Josh Fergeus (AUS)

15 mins The intersection between children's voices and child safety- Melinda Clarke (AUS) Reconceptualising Care -Nicola Atwool (NZ)

15 mins Walking the Talk Together - Leigh Hillman (AUS) The critical importance of supporting the shift from child to healthy adult psychology Arne Rubinstein (AUS)

15 minsSupporting foster carers: Exploring the benefits of the carer and worker 'match' through case studies Melanie Barclay (AUS)

Question and Answer Time Question and Answer Time

1430-1500 Afternoon Tea

1500-1630 4A It takes a family to foster…Chair: Claire Robbs

4B Transitioning to Independence. Chair: FACS to chair

15 minsI Care 2' & 'Hold my Hand' - training and support resources for sons and daughters of carers - Deb Collard and Gail Walton(AUS)

A therapeutic approach to transitioning children between placements in out-of-home care - Andrew Browning (AUS)

15 mins Involving the fosterparents' own children - Tone Nordby & Dag Lund - Fallingen (Norway)

CareLeavers Unite: The Power of Young People from Care - Lacey McKendrick(USA)

15 mins Many kinship carers are grandparents, but who are the others? - Meredith Kiraly (AUS)

Living with strangers - learning from reflections on care experience - Sarah Milan (UK)

15 mins

Keeping up appearances: The role of visual similarities in the formation of permanent and foster care families in Australia -Damien Riggs (AUS)

After Care: a new approach to young people leaving care in Queensland - Brad Swan (AUS)

15 mins Supporting Foster Carers at Critical Times - Linda Watson (AUS) TBC

By care leavers, for care leavers: mobilising and developing adult care leavers' expertise on leaving care in the GOAL project - Carrie Wilson (UK)

15 minsUnderstanding children's contact and relationships with family in out-of-home care - Judy Cashmore (AUS)

I'm not just leaving care, I'm leaving home - Angie Adams (AUS)

15 minsMaking it happen - How changing the conversation ultimately changed the game -Stephanie Delaklakis (AUS)

Question and Answer Time Question and Answer Time

7.00> Gala Event - included in registration

Tuesday 10th November

Wednesday 11th November0830-1030 Protecting our children: Knowledge and know-how

830-0900

Gregory Nicolau - Mad, Bad or Sad?It's conclusive - childhood trauma caused by sexual, physical, emotional abuse or neglect 'changes the brain' in ways that impact a child's ability to form strong relationships and be the 'boss of their feelings'. This engaging topic reveals the impact of trauma on the developing brain and illuminates the pathway of how to best work with and care for infants, children, young people and adults who have experienced trauma and abuse.

0900-0930

Handling disclosures of abuse from chidren in care - Joint Investigation & Response Team NSW (JIRT -FACs, Health & Police)Insights and practice: Better handling and responding to allegations of abuse in care

0930- 1000

Online safety: Protecting and supporting our kids online - Esafety Commissioner, Alistair MacGibbon(AUS)

Alastair MacGibbon heads up the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commission which leads online safety education for the Australian Government and protects Australian children when they experience cyberbullying by administering a complaints scheme. The Office also deals with complaints about prohibited online content. Learn more about online safety through this presentation.

10.00-10.30 Morning Tea

1030-1215 Safe journeys for children in care…

1030-1100

Policy Development in the UK - Staying Put, Going the Extra Mile and When I am Ready - Sarah Milan - Rees Foundation (UK)‘Staying Put’, ‘Going the Extra Mile’ and ‘When I am Ready’ have been widely recognised as steps in the right direction for care leavers in the UK, however, responses also highlight the issues we face to implement new legislation and policy in times of austerity and in such a way that genuinely makes a difference to young people leaving care. We are able to reflect on the different approaches taken across the UK, in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales considering the dilemmas faced and lessons learnt as changes take place offering the IFCO audience opportunity to reflect on their own practice.

1100-1145Panel discussion - safe journeys for children in care - everyone you wanted to ask about foster care/adoption

1145-1215 Final Keynote Speaker - To be confirmed1215- 1300 Closing ceremony - Including President of IFCO and announcement of IFCO 2017 and CREATE Program