The Relational Social Work Podcast

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It’s the final episode of Series 2! In this episode Hannah and Matt are joined by Laurie Kilby, Co-Founder and Practice Lead at the charity Now Foster. This episode explores Weekenders, an innovative approach to foster care, based on wrapping love and support around young people, building life long relationships and connection, and taking on the role of a foster aunt or uncle, rather than foster parent. This scheme enables people to step into fostering who might not otherwise have fostered, staying with children throughout their lives, & providing opportunities and experiences based around the needs of the young person.

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This episode was recorded at Compass Jobs Fair in Birmingham with a live studio audience. First Matt and Hannah speak with Kellie Doubtfire (Publishing and Events Director at Compass) about Compass and Social Work Today, before speaking with a panel of guests: Beverley Barnett-Jones (Associate Director at Nuffield Family Justice Observatory), Rich Devine, (Consultant Social Worker), Hannah McCowen (National Leaving Care Bench Marking Forum Manager at Catch 22) and Tim Fisher (Practice Lead at the charity, Kinship). This episode explores how Children’s Services navigates its role within society where there is division, inequality, uncertainty and hatred, and how social work can work alongside children, young people and families, acting with love and finding hope.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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This week’s episode was recorded at the Family Justice Council Conference in Birmingham. Hannah and Matt are joined first by Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, Head of Family Justice and Chair of the Family Justice Council, to discuss the role of the Family Justice Council before sharing some key messages for social workers about working in proceedings. Jenny Beck KC, Solicitor, Private Law representative on the Family Justice Council and Chair of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Board then speaks with Matt and Hannah about supporting neurodivergent children and families in the Family Justice system. Hannah also speaks with a number of delegates at the conference about their key takeaways from the day.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Hannah and Matt chat with Ryan O’Donnell, Co-Founder and CEO of Sunlight and previous foster carer in America, about his experience of fostering a young boy who had “no family” and how a chance encounter found his father. This episode explores a journey of reunification which saw many injustices for a black father and his son, the friendship that developed between Ryan and this father, and how Ryan and his wife advocated throughout for the little boy, his father and paternal family to bring them together.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode, Matt and Hannah speak with Yvette Stanley, National Director of Social Care at Ofsted about inspection and regulation. The episode explores how Ofsted captures relationships, love and care in their reports, and how they have embraced relational practice. Yvette talks about the changes that are coming to the ILACS (Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services) framework, how this fits with social care reforms, how Ofsted views practice approaches, and how they are embedded in Local Authorities. 

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Matt and Hannah chat with Sue Hammersley, Director at National House Project, and Chloe, Care Leavers National Movement Champion, about the work of the National House Project and changing the narrative in relation to young people with care experience. The episode explores the importance of relationships, and how these relationships support young people leaving care moving into their own homes. 

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Dez Holmes, Director of Research in Practice and Strategic Director of the National Children’s Bureau, talks with Matt and Hannah about evidence informed practice, the complexities of relational practice and how practice is a by-product of systems, leadership and infrastructure.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Hannah and Matt are joined from New Zealand by Tony Stanley, National Practice Advisor at Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children. The episode explores child protection practice in both New Zealand and the UK and the importance of practice frameworks as a scaffold for social work practice. Tony talks with Matt and Hannah about Family Group Conferences and provides a critique on the term ‘family-led’ in social work.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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This episode starts with Matt and Hannah’s reflections on the discussion they with Josh MacAlister last week. Hannah and Matt are then joined by Anna Glinski, Deputy Director of the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse. The episode explores some of the recommendations of The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s report into protecting and responding to child sexual abuse within the family environment, and the importance of practitioners feeling confident to talk about sexual abuse. Anna shares tips and insights into working with children and families where there has been sexual abuse, or suspected sexual abuse, and how practice in this area is hopeful. 

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Matt and Hannah chat with Josh MacAlister, Labour MP, former teacher, founder of Frontline and Chair of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. The episode explores the progress of social care reforms since the review was published, how it has informed the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and his hopes for the future of social work with children and their families.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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It’s Blue Monday, so this episode starts with Matt and Hannah sharing some of their own struggles with their mental health and wellbeing. They are then joined by Emily Frith, CEO of Adoption UK, exploring the importance of relationships and support in adoption, open adoption and what this means for children, birth families and adoptive families, and the importance of the right support being in place for all involved.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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It’s the first episode of Series 2, and Hannah, Matt and Producer Arin are delighted to be back in the studio. In this episode Matt and Hannah chat with Katrin and John about their book, ‘Social Work, Parents and the Child Protection Process’. This episode includes an exploration of some of the representations of parents which Katrin and John have identified through their research, and what this can mean for how social workers work with parents, and the notion of parents as citizens

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In the final episode of series 1, Hannah, Matt and Producer Arin talk about previous episodes, sharing their reflections of the series as a whole. Matt and Hannah then chat with Jessie Ben-Ami and Frances Flaxington from The Innovation Unit about the work they do, with a particular focus on Always Hope, a project which has brought prison, probation and Children’s Social Care together, to provide a more joined up and impactful approach to working with care experienced young adults leaving custody. Make sure you listen to the end, where Coventry City Council choir sing us out with what is sure to become a Christmas classic!

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Matt and Hannah speak with Sukriti Sen, the Director of Coventry City Council’s Children’s and Education Services. Sukriti shares her experiences of growing up as a person of colour, her experiences of racism, her sense of fairness, and the importance of Children’s Services representing the communities that they serve, and how this led her into social worker. Discussions include the importance of relationships, the financial challenges faced by Local Authorities, the ethical issues in relation to AI in social worker, and her hope for the future of social work.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Matt and Hannah chat with Beth Vecchione, founder and Director of Care to Dance, about the impact that dance can have on the lives of care experienced young people. The episode explores the importance of access to the arts, trauma informed approaches, and how social work can be brought into a creative space to support young people to thrive.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this week’s episode Hannah and Matt speak with Michele Simmons, Simon Howarth and Natasha Phillips, authors of ‘Eroding the Right to Family Life: Human Rights violations in Britain’s child protection systems’. This episode explores the findings of this report, developed through the voices of over 600 parents and young people who have experienced child protection and care proceedings, exploring the harm the system can cause, as well as recommendations of how the system can work better ‘with’ children and their families. For social workers and others working in the child protection system, this episode may be difficult to listen to, but often it is the voices which are difficult to hear, that we need to listen to and can learn the most from.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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To mark World Children’s Day which takes place on 20th November, in this episode Matt, Hannah and producer Arin, will share stories from their childhoods, reflect on how these experiences have shaped them, and reminisce about their favourite TV programmes and childhood foods. This episode explores identity, loss, shame, strength and the importance of wider family in children’s lives.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Professor Richard Rose speaks with Matt and Hannah about therapeutic life story work and the importance of helping children and young people make sense of their stories, and how this can support healing from trauma.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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In this episode Matt and Hannah chat with Tim and Rich about the meaning of relational activism, what this looks like in the context of child protection practice, and how family group conferences, connecting with the community, and parents participation and peer advocacy are key to relational practice.

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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To mark National Care Leavers Week 2024, in this episode Matt and Hannah chat with Hannah McCowen, National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum Manager at Catch 22 about some of the challenges that care leavers face in the UK, some amazing work which is happening with care leavers across the country, and how as a society we need to do more, to support care leavers to flourish. 

Thank you for listening to The Relational Social Work Podcast. We are always interested to learn what you thought of the episode and welcome your feedback, suggestions, or ideas for future topics. Stay connected and join the conversation on our social media channels!
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