Episode 18 part two | ‘Adoption by foster carers’ - interview with author Elaine Dibben

Discover firsthand insights on adoption by foster carers in our exclusive podcast interviews featuring Isla, a foster carer turned adopter, and author Elaine Dibben. Joined by Jo Francis, CoramBAAF’s Publication Manager, they delve into both the personal and practical aspects of this journey. Elaine Dibben started her social work career in residential social work and qualified in 1988. She has over 30 years’ experience of working in adoption and fostering in local authority and voluntary adoption agency settings and is a strong advocate for the importance of securing permanence in family settings for children who cannot return to their parents’ care. She joined BAAF (now CoramBAAF) in 2004 to become manager of the Independent Review Mechanism, which she set up and ran until 2009, when she moved to take on a wider role in BAAF as a trainer/consultant, most recently as the Adoption Development Consultant for CoramBAAF until March 2021. Since April 2021, she has been working as an independent social work consultant, including chairing an RAA adoption panel and fostering panels. She is the author or co-author of a number of popular Good Practice Guides for CoramBAAF, including Adoption by Foster Carers, Fostering for Adoption and Undertaking an Adoption Assessment.