The Irish Foster Care Association seminar 2013 will be hosted by the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown ITB on May 17th. The seminar is entitled ’Foster Care in the 21st Century’ and will focus on the themes of gender and sexuality in adolescence, bullying in school, childhood neglect, and kinship and relative care.
There will be many speakers at the seminar including Dr. Valerie O’Brien, UCD academic and associate of the Clanwilliam Institute. Dr O’Brien is a social worker and systemic family therapist. Mr Michael Corcoran of the Aislinn Adolescent Addiction Centre. Michael has a background in residential care and is a member of the International Association of Forensic Psychotherapy, Dr Karen McAuley of the Ombudsman for Children Office and Suzanne Walshe of Waterford Institute of Technology.
In addition to keynote addresses a series of workshops will be held and facilitated by ITB and HSE staff focusing on managing challenging behaviour, teenagers in crisis, mental health needs of children in care, sibling support, and stress management.
This is another in a series of seminars which focuses on offering support and advice to foster parents with their interactions with the most vulnerable children. Foster parents are proud of the work that they do and rightly so. They open their hearts and their homes to children in need of support and give selflessly for their benefit.
The conference will be opened by Nora Gibbons, Chairwoman designate of the Child and Family Agency.
