KCASS take a holistic approach to training and welcome practitioners who are working with Kinship Carers or have an interest in kinship Care. In this section you will find out about our up and coming workshops for practitioners and how to get involved in future events. Relevant training being offered by AFKA and AUK will also be included on this page
AFKA run 2 Postgraduate Courses which may be of interest to Kinship Practitioners – Securing Children’s Futures and Relative Matters. For more information on these courses, please visit the AFKA Scotland webpage or email info@afkascotland.org
27th November 2025 – 9:45am – 2:00pm – Assessing Kinship Carers.
27th January 2026 – 9:45am – 2:00pm – The Role of the Kinship Care Worker
This is the Adoption UK leaflet for practitioners: Online training & workshop programme Jan 2022 (adoptionuk.org).
This is the link to AFKA’s training page: Events from August 8 – September 11 : Association for Fostering, Kinship & Adoption Scotland (afkascotland.org)
Kinship Care Week ran from 17th March 2025 – 21st March 2025, celebrating all of Scotland’s kinship carers and raising awareness of the challenges they face.
As part of the programme for the week, an in-person practitioners forum was held on 19 March 2025. This was a full day, in person event at the Barracks in Stirling. The focus of the day was around permanence for children living with kinship carers.
The morning comprised of short presentations about the Good Practice in Permanence Guides which are currently being developed by AFKA Scotland on behalf of Scottish Government. The purpose of these presentations was to introduce the topics of the guides – Keeping in Touch, Supporting Birth Families in Permanence and Supporting Families in Permanence – and to give practitioners a progress update in relation to each guide. The topics of each guide formed the foundation for small group discussions and practitioners were encouraged to discuss practice in their agencies surrounding each of these areas.
The afternoon benefitted from a presentation from Dr Helen Whincup, Senior Lecturer at University of Stirling and Principal Investigator for Stage 1 and 2 of the Permanently Progressing study. Helen provided an overview of the findings of stage 2 of the study, highlighting findings which were particularly relevant to kinship care.
The forum benefitted from excellent attendance and was a space where practitioners could reflect on their practice. Discussions were rich, honest and practitioners shared lots of positive feedback. Overall, practitioners noted they enjoyed the opportunity to network with other practitioners and to hear what is happening in other areas of the country.
To read about Kinship Care Week, go to our page: Kinship Care Week 2024 – Kinship.scot
To read about Kinship Care week, go to our Kinship Care Week 2023 – Kinship.scot
Annual Children and Families gathering for Social Workers 19th May 2025
This free two-day gathering provides an opportunity to celebrate front line social work practice in Children and Families Local Authority settings across Scotland. It allows practitioners to hear from each other about a more engaged and relationship-based way of working with children and their families. It is organised by Pride in Practice- Social Work WITH Families, an initiative by a small group of Scottish Social Work practitioners whose vision is to strengthen pride and confidence in practice – Pride in Practice, Annual Children & Families Gathering for Social Workers Tickets, Mon 19 May 2025 at 09:00 | Eventbrite
The forum was set up in Feb 2021 and has a wide range of professionals that attend mostly those working with kinship families in a local authority or voluntary setting.
Due to its popularity and volume of participants throughout Scotland, we ask that only one participant attends per organisation. If you are interested in attending or would like more information about the forum contact: supportline@childrenfirst.org.uk
19 November 2025 10.00am – 12.00 noon online
For joining instructions please email: supportline@childrenfirst.org.uk
