At CFAB, we offer a variety of services aimed primarily at social workers and social service professionals to aid your important child protection work. We specialise in international social work, working with professionals on the ground in over 130 countries around the world as part of the International Social Services (ISS) network. We know how ever-changing and complex international cases can be, and we – just like you – want to ensure the safety of children and their right to family life is upheld at all times. As part of that mission, our range of services are there to help you with any cross-border casework you may have.
Advice Line – Call us on 020 7735 8941
Our Advice Line is staffed by our expert inter-country caseworkers, every weekday, from 10:00 until 15:30. We are on hand to provide you with the guidance and practical support you might need for any urgent child protection queries – last year alone, we helped 179 local authorities and 2,400 children through our Advice Line.
We can offer you information on a range of issues, including child protection alerts, record checks, welfare visits, assessments, pre placement services, post placement services, social workers practising abroad, family reunification support and legal advice. Where we can’t help, we will do our best to signpost you to someone who can, through our wide network of contacts and partners who carry out similar specialised work.
Casework
As experts in international social work, CFAB carries out casework in the UK and abroad referred to us by local authorities, statutory agencies, charities and individual members of the public, as well as our partners in the International Social Service network. Our in-depth knowledge of both UK local authority procedures and international legislation provides us with the unique skills to manage cross-border cases.
Our role as the only UK partner in the ISS gives us unrivalled access to a network of over 130 countries, with on-the-ground support from experts who are best placed to determine whether a child’s return to their family in their home country is in their best interests. We can offer a range of assessments, record checks and pre and post placement support. To learn more about the types of casework we undertake, visit our webpage here.
Training
Our inter-country social work team, with experiences in a wide variety of different professional disciplines, offer specialised training for social workers, solicitors, the judiciary and other professionals working with the foreign-national children or British children with family overseas where there are safeguarding concerns. 600 people attended our training sessions between 2017-2020, and 99% of all professionals said it would have a positive impact on their work with children and families.
Our training courses include topics such as International Child Protection and Kinship Care, Child Trafficking, Best Interest Assessment for Unaccompanied Children, Protection from Faith-based Abuse and Protecting against FGM. Many of these topics were collated specifically into our International Social Work Certificate, which was devised as a virtual and flexible course for social workers to complete at their own convenience. We also have fixed date training throughout the year, such as our International Child Protection and Kinship Care training, occurring on April, July and October this year.
We also welcome requests for bespoke training to be developed for your organisation in a specific area. CFAB’s trainers will travel to you to deliver the course or deliver the course virtually. Half day and full day training sessions are available, with discounts for local authorities who are signed up to our pre-payment scheme [LINK to article]. For further information, please email info@cfab.org.uk or call 020 7735 8941.
To learn more about the services CFAB offers, take a look at our service brochure here. To access our services at a discounted-rate, which is both more cost-effective and efficient for local authorities, learn more about our pre-payment scheme here.
