Culture, Diversity & Culture in Care - a live course for Social Workers, Foster Carers, and Residential Workers

Supporting looked-after children and young people to know who they are, where they come from, and why that matters.

When children move through the care system, placement moves, community shifts, and new routines can leave them feeling rootless and detached from their heritage. Yet research and evidence are clear: when a child's cultural identity is respected, understood, and actively celebrated, placement stability and overall well-being improve significantly.

This essential training equips foster carers, adopters, social workers, and residential practitioners with the practical skills, legal knowledge, and theoretical frameworks needed to build a secure sense of self, self-worth, and cultural pride in care-experienced children.

Key Learning Highlights

• The Foundations & Stages of Identity: Explore how personal, relational, cultural, and social identities develop across childhood and adolescence—drawing on developmental theories by Erikson, Marcia, and Gilligan.
• Understanding Care System Disruption: Identify how repeated placement moves, lost memory items, and neglect of cultural background lead to rootlessness, identity confusion, or internalised shame.
• Life Story Work & Coherent Narratives: Learn to use memory-making tools, books, and therapeutic life-story work to help children make sense of their history, present, and future.
• Promoting Cultural & Religious Identity: Implement practical, day-to-day strategies around food, festivals, language, and community connections to fulfill legal duties under the Children Act 1989 and UNCRC Article 30.
• Building Unconditional Self-Worth: Shift from generic praise to descriptive, strengths-based affirmation that counters the stigma of being "in care" and addresses Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
• Social Perceptions & Marginalised Identities: Navigate complex themes of BAME experiences, anti-racist practice, intersectionality (Crenshaw), LGBTQ+ affirmation, and the social model of neurodiversity and disability.
• Evidence-Based Guidance Frameworks: Apply Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model, Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, and the Secure Base Model to day-to-day caregiving and Looked After Child (LAC) reviews.
• Practical Practice Toolkit: Master practical tools including Identity-Building Conversations, the Identity Wheel exercise, and developing a structured Cultural Curriculum for placements.

Why Choose This Course?

Identity is not an optional extra it is a fundamental human right. Featuring insights directly from care-experienced young people, this course moves beyond surface-level awareness, empowering practitioners with cultural humility, practical tools, and advocacy skills to ensure every child feels rooted, valued, and understood.

Who Should Attend: Foster Carers, Prospective Adopters, Supervising Social Workers, Residential Child Care Practitioners, Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs), and Education/Health Professionals supporting looked-after children.