This month Connecting Families trainers, Rebecca Shiels-Earl, Kelly-Lee Goodchild, and Errin Schumann were excited to train 20 Allambi Care staff. The four-day training is highly interactive, assisting practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of the adapted version of Kevin Campbells Family Finding, Family Seeing model, and how to implement family finding in their everyday casework. The models focus on building a child in care’s ‘free and forever network’ an important element of ensuring the child has people who care about them well after their time in care. 
Family Finding training highlights and creates urgency by working in live casework throughout the duration of the training. Participants often see during the training and live case work, that family is critical in the lives of children who live in care, and that children’s wellbeing is significantly increased when we do so – in addition to those valuable carers in foster or Intensive Therapeutic Care. 
The training gives practitioners strategies and skills to work with the Child's network and encourages us to look inward at ourselves as practitioners – seeing if we are in the best position to be effective in our work. By building a free and forever network, practitioners can promote a stronger sense of identity, relational safety, and belonging for the children Allambi cares for, well beyond their time in care.
