Maypole - there is no way that an IFA would want to run a LA fostering and adoption service, and neither would they be fit to do so. IFAs are businesses and make a great deal of money out of recruiting carers and selling them to the LA. It does mean that carers get paid more and there are services built in for the child like psychological help, education help etc. but the funds for these are charged to the LA. I don't think a lot of people realise this. Sometimes IFA foster carers don't even realise this. This of course depletes the budgets of LAs making the situation worse, and means that they lose carers to IFAs. Given that there is a national shortage of LA foster carers, then IFAs are used more and more I am given to understand.
The difference is that the LA has the statutory responsibility for placing children who are no longer able to live with their parents, in foster care or if older in residential care. Believe me NO IFA would want this statutory responsibility and get paid the same rate as social workers do! Why would they want to give up the huge profits they are making from LAs?
Botterspike glad your LA is putting on 3 training sessions. You can find a lot of books on attachment on Amazon - just type in attachment theory or attachment disorder and probably better still you can buy books on attachment for a reasonable cost on the British Agencies for Fostering & Adoption (BAAF) web site. Fostering Network may do books on the subject too. I think it would be a good idea to do some reading before the course, so that you are a step ahead.
A lot of carers for the LA I worked for used to say that they found the attachment training much more useful after having a child with these difficulties, as they could relate the child's behaviour to the theory. I think one of the main problems is that carers think that if you love a child enough, they will be all right, but as you probably know, love is not enough. You have to learn how to help the child learn to trust adults again and for many children there is a big gap between their chronological age and emotional age and this has to be recognised and the child allowed to digress at certain times.
By definition all children coming into the LA system will have an insecure attachment pattern with birth parents, as securely attached children would not need to be removed from parents, as this indicates that all their needs are being met.
Scarlet Glad you appreciated the letter, and I suppose not many people understand what is going on in the world of fostering & adoption, other than those involved, or someone like my friend working for Fostering Network. She has a wealth of experience and has been involved in fostering for 30 years. We were team managers together in a shire county LA but I retired at 60, and she is younger than me.
I think you have to keep badgering the LA about the attachment course. Could a group of you get together as this is usually better than a lone carer asking for something. You shouldn't need to ask - the LA should have this at the top of their agenda. You might be interested in reading around the subject in the meantime.