The next issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal comes in peace on June 15th, 2014, even though this date falls just a week short of the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn and in the midst of the propaganda battle going on over September’s forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence. Nevertheless, one of the principal themes of this issue will be a consideration of different aspects of a childhood in Scotland but their will also be articles of a wider nature too. We hope readers will find that discussion of the way children from different backgrounds have been and are being brought up in Scotland will be of general interest. Articles which are already promised for this issue have been written by David Divine, Ni Holmes, Laura Steckley, Jeremy Millar, Mark Smith, Calum Strathie, George Muir, Cynthia Cross, John Stein, Noel Howard, Kevin Ball, Jane Kenny, Charles Sharpe, Adrian Ward, A.S.Neill and Robert Louis Stevenson have already been promised and more may be on their way. Submissions of articles for this issue are still being welcomed

The SIRCC National Conference, 2014 will be held on Wednesday and Thursday June 10th and 11th at the Hilton Grosvenor in Edinburgh EH12 3EF.

The theme of the conference is Aspirations and Ambitions, Changing lives through learning and the keynote speaker is Kriss Akabusi MBE

SIRCC writes ,”As a sector we are familiar with lifelong learning, which recognises the ability for us to learn and grow, even after the institutions of school and higher education. However, children and young people in residential child care are often affected by a disrupted educational experience throughout these important years. How can we as a sector use Curriculum for Excellence as well as other opportunities to further contribute to their learning, play, and conversation, and nurture creative pursuits in their day-to-day lives? Conference delegates will join speakers, participate in workshops and enjoy a range of networking opportunities. The conference will provide a venue to discuss and debate important local, national and international perspectives on some of the most creative and exciting aspects of residential child care practice.”

The cost for delegates is :

Two-day conference, including awards and conference dinner £275.00

Two-day conference fee to attend on Tue & Wed £240.00

One-day conference fee to attend on Tue £135.00

One-day conference fee to attend on Wed £135.00

Method of payment :

For invoice and PO payments: book through our online booking service

For Credit/Debit card payments:: book through Strathclyde secure online shop

If you’d like more information about the conference programme please go to :

celcis.org

The Social Care Ireland national conference takes place on April 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the Silver Springs Moran Hotel, Tivoli, Cork.

The theme of the conference is Diversity in Practice.

The main speakers include Kathleen Lynch, Paddy Doyle, Gordon Jeyes, Denise Lyons,, Catherine Byrne,   Janet Rich, Colin McGinn, Rachel Moran, Kieran McGrath, and Frieda Finlay.

For further information and to register for the conference go to http://www.socialcareireland

The Separation & Reunion Forum cordially invites you to their 14th annual conference :

Attachment Issues: Children’s Rights
Date: Friday 29th. November 2013

Venue: London Voluntary Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA

Time: 9.30am to 4.30 pm

The Conference will explore, the relationship between Attachment and the Rights of the Child; how these are reflected in the approaches of policy makers and practitioners in the provision of services for children and families. Participants will be able to select from a wide range of practical workshops which address various issues affecting children. Example, Education, Health, Adoption, Child Abuse, Migrant Children and Children in the Justice System .

Key Note Speakers:

• Dr Simon Hoffman, School of Law; Wales Observatory on Human Rights of Children and Young People, Swansea University. “Attachment and Children’s Rights: Exploring the Relationships.”
• Dr Antonia Bifulco, Professor of Psychology, Middlesex University. “Understanding Adult Attachment in Family Relationships: Impacting on Children’s Needs.”
• Dr Linda Ince, Researcher, Freelance Life Coaching, Social Work Trainer and consultant.
• Dr Tirril Harris, International Attachment Network. Chair of Panel ”Question Time.”

Conference Fees: £65.00 for non-members £50.00 for members and £35.00 for Concessions: students, retired, unemployed.

A booking form for the event can be found at SRF

Payment can also be made by cheque to SRF, Room 003, 250 York Road, SW11 3SJ.

Venue: Voluntary Sector Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PA

For further information on this event, please, email: serefo or ring 020 7801 0135.

As luck would have it Issue 13 of the goodenoughcaring Journal is now online. We are fortunate in the array of outstanding articles for you to read. We hope they will be of interest to you. In this issue : Julieann Arthur, Alex Horne, Alastair Jamieson, Murray Mckinnon and Jeremy Millar have given us an early glimpse of their textual and photographic research piece Candles and Care which takes a snapshot of resources available to care leavers in Denmark ;John Burton in a memoir of his relationship with a young woman from her adolescence to her adulthood shows why social care is Not Just a Job ; Darren Coyne portrays in Care Leavers and the Criminal Justice System : a sorry state of affairs the hostile territory encountered by an inordinate number of care leavers who enter our justice system ; Jane Dalgleish writes about work in progress towards Providing a nurturing environment for young people in a residential setting ; Moira Devlin recollects her time teaching girls and young women in a Community Home with Education in Beyond the mainstream, what difference have we made? ; Roger Lewis navigates us through the vicissitudes of the extraordinary and the ordinary life of a London boy in The influence of Chance and Luck in Childhood ; George Orwell, in his essay Such, Such Were The Joys contemplates his fortune or lack of it in a childhood spent in a different kind of residential care and education ; Joan Pritchard re-examines the strategies she and her colleagues developed and used to help the children in their care – assessed as having social, emotional behavioural difficulties – to achieve their full potential in Helping children experiencing SEBD to understand and manage their own feelings : the experiences of a head teacher of a day school for such children; Charles Sharpe reviews Residential child care in practice Making a difference by Mark Smith, Leon Fulcher and Peter Doran ; John Stein gives a personal analysis of how the experience of childhood nowadays is so different from when he was a boy in Then and Now and Werner van der Westhuizen considers the significance of Context in the provision of therapeutic care.

Past issues of the Journal can be accessed by clicking on “Journal” at the top of this page.

In this new issue Tracey Jarvis gives an account of her experience of being a key worker in a residential child care setting; in her article Access All Areas – a developmental perspective Janet Rich stresses the importance of assuring that care leavers have ready access to support resources; Cynthia Cross provides us with an the opportunity to consider the balance between the personal and professional in the care of children and young people; Noel Howard offers us a review of The Boy at the Gate, the memoirs of Danny Ellis ; a poem from Michael Mallows ,The Casual Cruelty of Positive Intent considers the consequences of moral imperatives and verbal chastisement ; John Whitwell provides his reflections on the Cotswold Community following its closure ; John Stein presents a tale about the influence peers have through childhood and adulthood; Mark Smith shares his thoughts about what lies behind the contagion of moral panic that follows in the aftermath of the exposure of child abuse; Tuhinul Islam writes about the key findings of his doctoral research which looks at the experience of young people leaving residential child care in Bangladesh; Mary Winters furnishes us with an essay which discusses her concerns about the issues relating to child care placements, ethnicity and cultural background.