Date: 1 – 4 November 2017

Place: Valetta, Malta

International Foster Care Organisation 2017 World Conference, held in partnership with Eurochild, will take place in Malta from 1 to 4 November 2017.

This year’s theme of the conference “Setting Sail from a Safe Port: Giving our children confidence to move forward with safe and permanent relationships” is underpinned by a holistic understanding that every person has a role in protecting children and promoting their well-being. Discussion topics will include:

• Child protection systems and deinstitutionalisation reforms: overall care system reform and DI and family-based care in different regions across the world;
• Meeting the needs of children due to migration;
• Formal and informal educational outcomes for children during care and for careleavers;
• Foster carers and social workers: education, training, assessment, approval, supervision and retention;
• Understanding trauma and its effect;
• Prevention, intervention, early childhood and permanency;
• Partnership, engagement and children & youth participation;
• Measuring success: preventative services, suitable placements, successful transitions and aftercare and the impact and measurement of careleavers successes and attainments.

The Opening Doors for Europe’s Children Campaign will open Day 2 of the Conference leading the plenary session “Strengthening Families. Ending Institutional Care.” and following up with two workshops: “Opening Doors for Europe’s Children: Practices from the ground” and “What’s get measured, gets done, valued, improved…”

For full conference programme see https://2017conference.ifco.info/en/program-schedule