Better Me Better Us

11/09/2026

What a blooming lovely end to the week 🌟

We got to spend today with the senior management at NEST, carrying out an external audit - looking at the work they do through an independent lens.

The transparency, the openness, the level of care and consideration they show their young people and staff was everywhere in how they work, and how they talk about their work. And on top of all that, the humour. You can tell a team is doing well when they can still laugh together in the middle of hard, important work.

We are grateful to have been trusted with this, and to see it up close.

08/09/2026

NEW PODCAST NOW OUT 🎙️

Episode 40 - Advocacy

This month we’re talking about advocacy - what it means, how our sense of safety shapes our ability to speak up, and the ripple effect that comes from using our voice.

This episode looks at that through the lens of back to school: advocating for yourself and your child, finding the bravery to do it, and the often-messy question of how a child’s history actually reaches a new school or teacher.

🎧 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-adoption-and-fostering-podcast/id1164600703?i=1000788406720

Let us know your thoughts, views and opinions!

07/09/2026

Don’t expect “you” from others.

We all show up shaped by different experiences, attachment patterns, values, and beliefs. No two people process love, conflict, or connection the same way.

Growth isn’t about finding someone who mirrors you perfectly. It’s about understanding each other’s wiring with compassion instead of comparison.

02/09/2026

KCSIE 2026 has been published, with the new statutory guidance coming into force on 1 September 2026.

From all staff reading Part One in full to updates on mobile phones, online harm, safeguarding records and volunteer checks, there is plenty for schools and education professionals to be aware of.

Our latest guide highlights 10 key changes, including:
• Part One reading expectations for all staff
• Mobile phone-free guidance
• Online harm, deepfakes and sextortion
• Misogyny and escalation risks
• Mental health warning signs
• Gender-questioning children
• Volunteer checks
• Family Help and joined-up support
• Stronger safeguarding records

It also flags wider updates around Operation Encompass, filtering and monitoring, cyber security and child protection files.

Read the guide here: https://vist.ly/5gxzz

31/08/2026

This free workshop will give you helpful information about managing challenging behavior and how to deal with it sensitively.

28/08/2026

DDP resources for back to school transition series!

And finally we want to re-share the "The Moffles: When transistions are hard infographic" by Mikenda Plant with you.

"The beginning of the school year can be a tricky time for lots of children who struggle with transitions & new routines. For children who have experienced many changes & losses in the past & who are living with developmental trauma, it can be particularly scary & difficult."

Visit The Moffles website to find out more: https://buff.ly/ZU7yZvD

Image copyright Mikenda Plant, The Moffles (CC BY-SA 4.0)

28/08/2026

Today’s report into early deaths of care leavers makes for painfully distressing reading.

For too long, we’ve known that young people leaving care are being failed. Whether it’s housing, employment, education, income, health, social connections, or a combination of them all. The care leaving cliff edge is shattering young people’s lives, with often heartbreaking outcomes.

There is no other option – this review must represent a turning point whereby young people leaving care are better protected, supported, listened to and heard.

As a minimum, BASW is calling for the review to raise the age limit of full statutory support for care leavers to 21 and to recognise 16-year-old care leavers as older children rather than young adults.

Our recent episode of Let’s Talk Social Work examines the care leaving cliff edge in more detail, alongside Shared Lives Plus exploring many of the issues mentioned in the report and the solutions we want to see implemented by national governments.

👉 Guardian Article: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/25/care-leaver-deaths-isolation-drop-off-support-review

👉 Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/lets-talk-social-work/episodes/ending-the-cliff-edge-for-care-leavers

26/08/2026

"He was left on his own."

That's a line from a new Guardian investigation that should stop every safeguarding professional in their tracks.

A review into care leaver deaths led by Clare Chamberlain and Ashley John-Baptiste examined 112 care leavers aged 18–24 who died in 2025 (that’s 112 too many!)

What it found is a devastating picture of what happens when statutory involvement ends and almost nothing steps in to replace it.

One young man was moved through more than 10 foster placements before he turned 18. He was then placed into semi-independent accommodation alone, reported missing repeatedly, and began using drugs. He was sent to an adult prison at 18 and took his own life just two weeks later.

Another young man had relied on a children's diabetes nurse to manage his type 1 diabetes since he was 14. That support ended the moment he turned 19. His personal adviser moved away. The care leavers' hub he relied on for connection closed for refurbishment. He died from a lack of insulin, alone.

The review found the death rate among care leavers is three to four times higher than the general population and su***de rates among young women who've left care may be up to 15 times higher.

This is exactly why transitional safeguarding matters: risk doesn't disappear on an 18th birthday. A young person's trauma history, attachment needs, and medical vulnerabilities are the same the day after they turn 18 as the day before. Yet children's services and adult services often operate on entirely different thresholds, different definitions of risk, and different assumptions about who qualifies for support.

The result is a cliff-edge, not a transition. Key relationships don’t just reduce, sometimes they end all at the same time.

Every 18 year old, care experienced or not, still needs a network of people around them.

This article is worth a read and taking the time to reflect on what part we all have during this transitional period.

🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/25/he-was-left-on-his-own-the-care-leaver-lives-lost-to-a-system-that-abandons-them-at-18

One-fifth of deaths of those in care occur at 18, in what experts call a ‘care cliff’, as vital support is lost

26/08/2026

That first school drop-off after the holidays can feel bigger than expected — even when a child usually enjoys school.

After days or weeks of slower mornings, familiar routines and more time together, returning to school brings a sudden change: separation, expectations, noise, social demands and independence all arrive at once.

Some children may cling more tightly, become tearful, complain of tummy aches or suddenly say they don’t want to go.

That doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong at school. Sometimes it is simply their nervous system adjusting to the change.

A calm, warm and confident goodbye can help communicate:

“I know this feels hard — and I know you can manage it.”

The first drop-off doesn’t have to be perfect. Give the transition time to settle.

22/08/2026

It's the last one of the summer holidays.


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