Today we celebrate 13 years since AFA was set up by directors Nigel and Graeme, and here they share about the agency's evolution and progress over the years... Asked about what inspired them both to start a fostering agency, Graeme said: “It wasn't so much an...
Happy Mother's Day to all foster mothers out there! Did you know that the origin of Mother's Day in the UK can be traced back to the 16th century? It was originally known as Mothering Sunday and was a day when people would return to their "mother church" and spend...
All at AFA abhor racism and all forms of discrimination. This article is not an attempt to promote AFA on the back of Black Lives Matter. We do, however, recognise the importance of continually pushing to change and that change has been needed for very many years. We...
As a business we feel quite fortunate in the current crisis that we are an essential service delivering to the public sector and are able to continue to operate without disruption, something many businesses have not been able to do. Children in Local Authority Care...
You will no doubt have found a lot of information on the internet on this subject, but here are some key links which will give you information and help: General Advice on Covid-19 Government guidance about coronavirus (COVID-19) for health professionals and other...
On 27 August, BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ran an in-depth article on the effect of Private Equity investors buying up small Independent Fostering Agencies, in the process creating three very large organisations which between them dominate the fostering market. We at...
We regularly identify current research, events or developments which we feel may interest you. This month I want to let you know about a free conference I attended in June 2019, which was organised by the British Red Cross, UpRising and the Refugee Council. The study...
We spend a great deal of time thinking about how we can make AFA Fostering the very best fostering agency it can be. By “the best”, we mean the agency which gives children in need the most positive experience, that gives foster carers the best support and ultimately...
The National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day aims to highlight the issues surrounding CSE, encouraging everyone to think, stop and speak out about abuse, and adopt a zero tolerance approach to adults developing inappropriate relationships with children or...
Over the last 18 months AFA have been involved in a national research project commissioned by the Dept of Education, looking at different models of supporting long-term foster care placements. The research report was undertaken by Mark Beek, Gillian Schofield and...