Consortia Membership

Benefits and Services

AFA Scotland hosts 2 Consortia (in the West & North East) funded by a separate membership fee, providing a local forum for members to hear about and share latest developments in policy, legislation, practice and research.

The purpose of the consortia is to help agencies to support the staff who are directly involved in adoption and fostering work. While AFA’s national forums allow a representative from each agency (normally a manager) to participate in Scotland wide meetings, the Consortia are focused on providing advice, guidance, support and training opportunities to the much greater number of staff who are directly involved in the provision of services. Because it is a relatively specialist area of work, it is often particularly difficult for agencies to give social workers and others involved in progressing adoption and permanence plans, access to the full range of knowledge required and the opportunities to develop their skills.

Membership

Important:
Consortia Members must already be a Corporate Member before they can become a Consortia member.

Consortia Membership Entitles Agencies To Make use of

  • Quarterly meetings at which input is provided from a range of AFA Scotland staff including the Legal Consultant and Research Associate.
  • Four Skills Development Sessions per year – providing the opportunity for groups of staff from agencies to obtain specialist training in relation to the skills required for family placement work.
  • Two Pan Scotland Meetings: in response to requests from Consortia members, an opportunity for the two groups to meet. Members have particularly appreciated the chance to hear about and explore the significant differences between practice in the East and West of the country.
  • Special Interest Groups – short life groups established at Consortia meetings to look at issues causing particular interest or concern, and run by AFA Scotland.
  • Sharing of information and updates between meetings – facilitated by AFA Scotland.

Key Benefits Of Consortia Membership

  • Sharing information about the development of best practice across the country and then discussing how this can be put into practice locally.
  • A forum that gives workers and managers an opportunity for safe exploration of current issues and dilemmas (peer review).
  • Access to advice from professionals with different areas of expertise (legal/social work/research) and to a different group of staff from those who attend national forums.
  • Easy access to information about latest developments in policy, practice and legislation across Scotland and more widely in the UK.
  • Sharing and networking with colleagues from neighbouring authorities/agencies with opportunities to consider collaborative cross-agency initiatives.
  • Chance to explore issues relating to regional differences (via the Pan Scotland meetings) and to learn from the experience of workers in other parts of Scotland.
  • Opportunity to develop and enhance the direct skills involved in adoption and fostering work sessions, which staff frequently find difficult to access in any other way.
  • Opportunities to participate in Special Interest Groups established to address issues that emerge as particularly urgent or challenging.
  • Dissemination of information to group members between meetings.
  • Voice in relation to wider adoption issues and the development of policy and practice at a national level.

Consortia Fees

Please Contact us

The current fees for consortia membership is £3,250.00 + VAT.

Quotes from current consortia members on the value of Consortia

From Membership Consultation Survey - December 2016

“The opportunity to meet with other professionals involved in family placement work, to share experiences, ideas and research is very helpful. It is also useful in terms of developing the knowledge base of workers and managers new to family placement work- I found the WOSC very useful when I started as a team manager in fostering and adoption with no prior experience of working in that field.”

“I have attended one Pan Scotland meeting which was great to attend! all consortia meetings are a great opportunity to have practise discussions which the F and A sub group cannot achieve.”

“Not attended but managers do and report it is very helpful for local issues and networking.”

“I see this link as a fundamental life line for practitioners, both in sharing good practice/practice challenges. There is very little practice experience within our SMT and without the link I feel we would be quite directionless and insular. The practice wisdom and legal input offered by AFA is very valuable, as well as AFA being the vehicle to gel LA's meeting together. Each consortia needs to have enough LA representation to make the consortia worthwhile.”

AFA Scotland is registered as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) - SC046417