Care Visions Talks

Care Visions
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Care Visions Talks Care Visions Talks is a podcast series that brings together voices from across care, education, health and community support to explore what it really means to care — and to be cared for. The series includes two strands: Care Visions Family Talk has two hosts: Dr Linda de Caestecker and Lucy Johnston. Dr Linda de Caestecker, former Director of Public Health and experienced paediatrician, leads warm, accessible conversations designed for parents, carers and families. Her episodes cover topics such as childhood trauma, fostering, resilience, separation and mental health, with expert guests offering practical guidance and compassionate insight. Lucy Johnston is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster with a long-standing commitment to social affairs, health, and children’s welfare. In her episodes, she shares powerful stories about young people in care and explores the systems that shape their lives. With a background in investigative reporting, Lucy began her career at The Big Issue before moving to The Observer and later The Sunday Express, where she is Health and Social Affairs Editor. Her work has exposed neglect in care homes, failures in mental health services, and injustices faced by vulnerable children and families. Care Visions Professional Talk is hosted by Humphrey Hawksley, award-winning author, broadcaster and former BBC foreign correspondent. These in-depth episodes are created for those working in or studying social care, health, education and related fields. Guests include thought leaders, researchers and practitioners discussing the emotional realities, challenges and evolving practices in work with children, young people and families. Whether you're a parent, a professional, or someone passionate about care and community, Care Visions Talks offers space to listen, reflect and learn.

  1. Aug 12

    Family Finding & Kinship Care: Why Relationships Matter | Kevin Campbell | Care Visions Professional Talk

    What happens when a child or young person in care is described as having “nobody”? For Kevin Campbell, that question became the starting point for research that would ultimately challenge some deeply established assumptions within child welfare. In this episode of Care Visions Professional Talk, Humphrey Hawksley speaks with Kevin Campbell of Pale Blue and Family Finding about family connection, kinship care, child development and what happens when children become separated from the relationships around which their lives have developed. Kevin explains that the origins of Family Finding go back around two decades, when he and colleagues began looking at some of the longest-waiting young people within out-of-home care systems in the United States. They wanted to test a fundamental claim: did these young people genuinely have nobody? Kevin describes research involving around 50,000 young people across the United States and British Columbia. For young people who had often been characterised as having no family available to them, the research found approximately 100–300 living adult relatives on average. From those networks, Kevin says an average of five to eight adults came forward wanting a lifelong relationship with the young person — producing a rate of 94%. That result changed the direction of his work. The conversation goes much further than the practical process of locating relatives. Humphrey asks Kevin what family connection actually means and why biological and pre-existing relationships can be so important to children. Kevin discusses emerging understanding from neuroscience, genomics and biological science and argues that the connection between a child and the people around whom they have developed cannot simply be understood as a social preference. Even where separation takes place for legitimate reasons, he argues, separation itself has consequences. Kevin reflects on his own experience as a foster parent to teenagers and how research into the outcomes of young people leaving care forced him to question some of the assumptions on which care systems had been built. The conversation also looks at the often-repeated idea that a child needs only one stable adult. Kevin agrees that the evidence supporting the importance of a consistent adult relationship is powerful, but argues that another question now needs to be considered: who is that adult? Children do not develop independently of parents, family, culture and community. Their relationships are part of the environment in which their brains, bodies and regulatory systems develop. This leads into a wider discussion about family separation. Kevin draws on the history of the Red Cross and international family tracing following war, disaster and civil unrest. He discusses the international recognition of families' right to know the fate of separated relatives and asks what lessons that history might hold for modern child welfare systems. The distinction becomes particularly important when considering children. Unlike adults, children are still developing. Kevin describes children's extraordinary ability to adapt to their environments as a human “superpower”. But those adaptations can also reflect the adversity, uncertainty and disruption they experience. The discussion examines what happens when early adversity is followed by removal from family, placement instability, changing caregivers and broken relationships. Kevin describes this as “compositional adversity”: different experiences accumulating and interacting across childhood rather than adversity being treated as a single isolated event. This has significant implications for how behaviour is understood. Instead of seeing a young person's behaviour simply as a psychiatric or psychological problem requiring treatment, Kevin argues that professionals should also consider the adaptations the young person has made in order to survive what has happened to them. If children can adapt in response to adversity, they also retain the capacity to adapt to new experiences. For Kevin, that makes the environment of relationships and support surrounding a child critically important. The conversation also considers whether systems are beginning to change. Kevin points to Los Angeles County as a major example. He describes a system that had around 60,000 children in care in the early 1990s and says that figure is now below 12,000. He explains how dedicated family-engagement workers have been introduced alongside social workers, creating additional capacity specifically to find, engage and build relationships with family and other people already connected to a child. Kevin says some Los Angeles offices now average around 80% kinship placements, including extended relatives, non-offending parents and people who already had a meaningful relationship with the child. He then discusses efforts to replicate Family Finding approaches internationally, including work in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Kevin says he has been involved in Britain for more than a decade, particularly through work in North Yorkshire and the City of York, and believes there is now a stronger national conversation around kinship than there has been previously. Danny Henderson then joins Humphrey and Kevin to explore what these arguments mean for residential and institutional care. Their discussion considers treatment programmes, behavioural interventions, trauma, adversity and whether institutions can provide the kind of relationships and environments children require. Kevin is careful to distinguish between the quality of individual organisations and the wider question of what children biologically and developmentally need. He argues that there are organisations working extremely hard to provide the best care possible within residential settings, while also questioning whether institutional structures themselves can fully replicate the relationships required for healthy development. This leads Kevin to suggest that child welfare should increasingly be viewed through a health lens as well as a child-protection lens. If stable human relationships are fundamental to long-term health and development, then the consequences of disrupting those relationships extend far beyond the immediate question of where a child lives. Despite the challenging subject matter, Kevin ends on an optimistic note. He argues that there has never been a more hopeful time to improve these systems because our understanding of human development, relationships, health and adversity is greater than it has ever been. The problem, he suggests, is no longer simply a lack of knowledge. The challenge is closing the gap between what we know and what we do. Featuring Kevin Campbell with Humphrey Hawksley and Danny Henderson on Care Visions Professional Talk. You can download:  A Practice Brief For Child Welfare And Children’s Mental Health Practitioners. 'The Reform You Have Been Waiting Your Whole Career for Isn’t Coming. Ten Concepts from Science to Reform Your Practice Instead'. https://carevisions.uksouth01.umbraco.io/media/gpwlb523/the-reform-isnt-coming_pale-blue-working-paper_final-version-for-publication.pdf Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    Family Finding & Kinship Care: Why Relationships Matter | Kevin Campbell | Care Visions Professional Talk

  2. Jul 29

    Are We Medicalising Childhood? | Dave Clements on Special Educational Needs | Care Visions Family Talk

    Why are so many children struggling? One in five children is now identified as having a special educational need — a significant increase over the past decade. Are children who were previously overlooked finally being recognised, or are ordinary childhood difficulties increasingly being understood as medical conditions? In this episode of Care Visions Family Talk, Lucy speaks with Dave Clements, author of The Crisis in the Classroom, a former school governor and the father of a son diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Dave argues that several different issues have become entangled within the special educational needs system. Some children have profound and complex needs but remain stuck on waiting lists, without an appropriate school place or without the specialist support they require. At the same time, he believes other behavioural, educational, social and cultural difficulties may be too quickly understood through diagnostic labels. The conversation explores whether diagnoses have become a way for parents and schools to unlock scarce resources, and whether that has contributed to an overwhelmed and increasingly unaffordable system. Lucy and Dave discuss: • Why more children are struggling with behaviour, anxiety, attendance and learning • Whether children’s needs have increased or childhood is being described differently • The difference between identifying a difficulty and understanding its cause • ADHD, autism and the subjectivity involved in some diagnoses • Why both underdiagnosis and inappropriate labelling may exist at the same time • Education, Health and Care Plans and the competition for limited resources • Whether a rights-based system has created unintended incentives • Children with profound needs who are still being left without proper provision • Whether diagnoses have become the currency through which support is accessed • How labels can affect children’s identity, confidence and sense of agency • The development and institutionalisation of the neurodiversity movement • Whether mainstream inclusion always gives children the education they need • Why specialist provision may still be necessary for some children • Whether support should be determined by diagnosis or by a child’s ability to function • The loss of childhood freedom, independence and manageable risk • Smartphones and social media as a cause of difficulty or a symptom of wider change • Why adults and parents may feel less confident exercising authority • The growing reliance on experts, assessments and professional intervention • How schools, parents and communities could take a more active role • Why parents need to trust their own understanding of their children Dave’s central argument is that children themselves have not fundamentally changed, but the world around them has. He believes reduced independence, weaker communities, uncertainty among adults, pressure on schools and an increasing reliance on labels have all shaped the difficulties children now face. The conversation also recognises that some children genuinely require specialist assessment, provision and external support. Dave argues that the challenge is distinguishing those needs more clearly, while helping parents, teachers and communities address other difficulties without automatically handing responsibility to a diagnosis or an expert. The Crisis in the Classroom by Dave Clements is available now. Subscribe to Care Visions Family Talk for honest conversations about parenting, childhood, education, mental health and the challenges facing families today. Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    Are We Medicalising Childhood? | Dave Clements on Special Educational Needs | Care Visions Family Talk

  3. Jul 15

    Family Finding and the Power of Connection | Elizabeth Wendel | Care Visions Professional Talk

    What happens when a child is moved away from danger but, in the process, also loses the network of relationships connecting them to their family, community, history and identity? In this episode of Professional Talk, Humphrey Hawksley speaks with Elizabeth Wendel, President and Co-founder of Pale Blue and an internationally recognised expert in Family Finding™ and Family Seeing™. Elizabeth explains the principle at the heart of Family Finding: everybody has somebody, and they can be found if we are willing to try. She challenges professionals to think beyond placement and physical safety alone, asking what may also be lost when children are separated from their original relationships. Removal may sometimes be necessary, but Elizabeth argues that foster care, adoption and residential care should not automatically require the disappearance of a young person’s family, community or “original soil”. The conversation explores how relationships help regulate the body’s response to stress. Elizabeth describes this process as buffering: the experience of having a stable person who can say, “I know this is difficult, but I am not going anywhere. We can manage it together.” She also explains the difference between Family Finding and Family Seeing. Finding involves identifying and reconnecting people within a young person’s network. Seeing begins once those people have been found: bringing complex family networks together, acknowledging generations of separation and pain, and helping families rediscover their own knowledge and capacity. Elizabeth shares the deeply personal story of Marella, a young woman she first met at 16 following two disrupted adoptions. Marella had become, in Elizabeth’s words, “lethally lonely” and had built an understanding of her life around the belief that nobody wanted her. Through Family Finding, Elizabeth and her colleagues located Marella’s mother, father and ten siblings across Romania. The process could not remove everything Marella had experienced, but it allowed her to learn her real history rather than continuing to fill the unanswered spaces herself. Their relationship later developed into what Elizabeth describes as a moral adoption, when Marella asked Elizabeth to become her mother. The discussion also considers truth-telling within child welfare. Elizabeth speaks candidly about the harm that professionals and systems can cause, even when they are acting with good intentions, and why acknowledging that harm is essential to improving practice. Danny Henderson of Care Visions joins the conversation to reflect on safeguarding, bureaucracy, moral injury and the danger of reducing complex human relationships to administrative processes. Together, they consider how professionals can protect children while still making space for family, identity, contradiction and belonging. Elizabeth Wendel, MSW, LSW, is President and Co-founder of Pale Blue. She has helped reconnect more than 10,000 young people with over 26,000 family and supportive relationships, influencing child-welfare practice internationally. She also advises governments and major healthcare organisations and writes on trauma-informed practice, organisational culture, economic justice and lifelong family connections. This is the first of two Professional Talk conversations exploring Family Finding and Family Seeing. The second features Pale Blue co-founder and Family Finding author Kevin Campbell. Content note: This episode includes discussion of disrupted adoption, family separation and suicidal distress. Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    Family Finding and the Power of Connection | Elizabeth Wendel | Care Visions Professional Talk

  4. Jul 1

    Behaviour Is Communication | Sarah Naish on Therapeutic Parenting | Care Visions Family Talk

    What is a child really trying to say through difficult behaviour? In this episode of Family Talk, Lucy Johnston speaks with Sarah Naish about therapeutic parenting, childhood trauma, boundaries, emotional regulation and why behaviour is often a sign of an unmet need. Sarah explains why standard parenting approaches do not always work for children who have experienced trauma, and why children may struggle to link cause and effect when they are living in survival mode. She also explores the difference between gentle parenting and therapeutic parenting, the importance of firm but fair boundaries, and why carers need to understand the child behind the behaviour. The conversation also covers screens, smartphones, social media, misdiagnosis, ADHD, autism, attachment, compassion fatigue and why Sarah prefers the phrase “essential maintenance” instead of self-care. A practical and honest conversation for parents, foster carers, adoptive parents, kinship carers, teachers, social workers and anyone supporting children with complex needs. Family Talk is part of Care Visions Talks, exploring the challenges of raising children in today’s world. Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    Behaviour Is Communication | Sarah Naish on Therapeutic Parenting | Care Visions Family Talk

  5. Jun 17

    What Happens If Children Stop Believing They Belong? | Steve Chalke | Care Visions Professional Talk

    For more than four decades, Steve Chalke has been working to improve the lives of vulnerable children, young people and families across the UK. As founder of Oasis, Steve has helped establish schools, housing projects, youth services and community initiatives in some of Britain's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. His work has consistently focused on one central belief: people flourish when they belong. In this episode of Care Visions Professional Talk, Humphrey Hawksley sits down with Steve to explore why so many children continue to fall through the cracks despite significant investment in services, programmes and interventions. Steve argues that while funding is important, meaningful change happens when local communities are empowered, trusted and supported to create solutions themselves. He discusses the growing challenges facing children today, including poverty, school exclusion, criminal exploitation, gang involvement and social isolation. A central part of the discussion is the story of "Billy", a young person whose experience of loss, loneliness and grooming illustrates how vulnerable children can become trapped in cycles of exploitation and offending. Steve explains why many young people involved in crime are not simply offenders, but children who have never experienced the safety, belonging and support they need. The conversation also explores: • Why child poverty and inequality continue to grow in the UK • The role of community in preventing exploitation and youth violence • How organised crime targets vulnerable young people • Why belonging is a protective factor for children • The limitations of traditional funding and intervention models • Supporting grassroots organisations and community-led change • Therapeutic approaches to youth justice and rehabilitation • Why young people often need a first chance rather than a second chance • The importance of trust, relationships and long-term support • New approaches to children's homes, supported housing and education • How hope can become practical action rather than empty optimism Later in the episode, Danny Henderson from Care Visions joins the discussion to reflect on therapeutic care, residential childcare and how trusting relationships help young people recover from adversity. This conversation offers valuable insights for social workers, residential childcare practitioners, foster carers, teachers, youth workers, policy makers and anyone interested in creating better outcomes for children and young people. As Steve says, there is no "A-Team" coming to solve these challenges for us. Change happens when communities, organisations and individuals work together to create places where children can belong, feel safe and build hope for the future. Guest: Steve Chalke Host: Humphrey Hawksley Featuring: Danny Henderson To learn more about Steve Chalke and Oasis, visit: Oasis UK Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    What Happens If Children Stop Believing They Belong? | Steve Chalke | Care Visions Professional Talk

  6. Jun 3

    How Love Literally Shapes a Child's Brain | Dr Anna Machin | Family Talk

    How love literally shapes a child's brain. What if the most powerful influence on a child's future isn't education, money, technology or even genetics, but the quality of the relationships they experience? In this episode of Care Visions Family Talk, host Lucy Johnston is joined by evolutionary anthropologist, author and relationship expert Dr Anna Machin to explore the science of love, attachment and human connection. Drawing on decades of research into relationships, attachment theory, neuroscience and human behaviour, Dr Machin explains why love is far more than an emotion. It is a biological need that plays a vital role in shaping brain development, emotional wellbeing, resilience, physical health and even longevity. Together, Lucy and Anna explore how early relationships influence the developing brain, why secure attachment matters so much, and how loving, consistent care can help children recover from adversity and trauma. The conversation is particularly relevant for foster carers, adoptive parents, kinship carers, residential childcare practitioners, teachers, social workers and anyone supporting children and young people who may have experienced disrupted attachments or early life challenges. Topics covered include: • What happens inside the brain when we form attachments • The role of oxytocin, dopamine and other bonding chemicals • Why relationships are linked to better physical and mental health • How secure attachment develops in childhood • The impact of neglect, trauma and disrupted early relationships • Whether children can recover from difficult starts in life • How foster carers can build strong and lasting bonds with children • Why biology is not the determining factor in attachment • The importance of consistency, presence and emotional availability • How children's brains remain adaptable and capable of change • Why some children reject care or push adults away • Understanding attachment styles and relationship patterns • The role of fathers and father figures in child development • The science behind resilience and emotional security • How technology and social media may be affecting human connection • Why one caring adult can make a life-changing difference Throughout the discussion, Dr Machin challenges many common assumptions about parenting, attachment and relationships. She explains that children are biologically designed to form attachments with caring adults and that meaningful, secure relationships can develop regardless of biological connection. For foster carers and adoptive parents, this offers an important and hopeful message. The science suggests that loving, consistent, emotionally attuned relationships can help reshape a child's experience of the world and support healthy brain development, even after significant adversity. The episode also explores how attachment is built through everyday interactions. Not through grand gestures, but through presence, responsiveness, empathy, shared experiences and emotional availability. Dr Machin explains how seemingly small moments of connection can have profound effects on a child's developing brain and long-term wellbeing. Lucy and Anna also discuss the growing challenges facing children and families today, including social media, digital technology and increasing concerns around loneliness and disconnection. They examine what children truly need in order to thrive and why human relationships remain one of the most powerful protective factors in a child's life. Whether you're a parent navigating the challenges of family life, a foster carer supporting a child who has experienced trauma, a professional working with children and families, or simply someone interested in the science of human connection, this episode offers fascinating insights and practical reassurance. At its heart, this conversation is about hope. It is a reminder that relationships matter, that connection changes lives, and that the simple act of consistently showing up for a child can have a lasting impact on their future. About Dr Anna Machin Dr Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist, author and broadcaster whose research focuses on human relationships, attachment, love and fatherhood. Her work combines neuroscience, psychology, anthropology and evolutionary biology to better understand how relationships shape our lives. She is the author of several books, including Why We Love and The Life of Dad, and is widely recognised as one of the UK's leading experts on human bonding and attachment. Keywords: attachment theory, child development, foster care, fostering, foster carers, parenting, relationships, love, attachment, childhood trauma, brain development, neuroscience, adoptive parenting, kinship care, therapeutic parenting, resilience, emotional wellbeing, child psychology, fatherhood, family relationships, secure attachment, trauma-informed care, social work, children's mental health, Care Visions Family Talk. Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    How Love Literally Shapes a Child's Brain | Dr Anna Machin | Family Talk

  7. May 20

    Family Courts, Domestic Abuse & Protecting Children | Julia Margo

    What happens when a parent trying to protect their children enters a family court system that doesn’t always recognise abuse? In this episode of Care Visions Professional Talk, Humphrey Hawksley speaks with Julia Margo, co-founder of Fair Hearing, about domestic abuse, coercive control, safeguarding and the realities of navigating the family justice system. Julia shares her personal experience of discovering her former partner was a convicted child sex offender and the eight-year legal battle that followed while trying to protect her children. The conversation explores: domestic abuse and coercive controlchild protection and safeguardingparental alienation allegationstrauma-informed justicefamily court reformresilience and recoverysupporting victims through legal systemsJulia now works with survivors and legal professionals through Fair Hearing, helping improve understanding of victim experiences within the judiciary and wider justice system. Hosted by Humphrey Hawksley for Care Visions Professional Talk. Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    Family Courts, Domestic Abuse & Protecting Children | Julia Margo

  8. May 6

    Scottish Education, Schools Today & Standards | Keir Bloomer | Family Talk

    Are standards in Scottish education falling — and what’s really behind it? In this episode of Family Talk, Lucy Johnston speaks with Keir Bloomer, former Director of Education and one of the architects of Curriculum for Excellence. Drawing on decades of experience, Dr. Bloomer argues that standards in Scotland have declined, pointing to international data, curriculum design, and a shift away from knowledge-based learning. They discuss: Whether standards are truly falling What went wrong with Curriculum for Excellence The impact of school absence and lockdowns Behaviour challenges in schools The rise in additional support needs The role of parents, schools and government Whether education is keeping pace with AI A clear and thought-provoking conversation for parents, carers and professionals supporting young people. Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families. Explore all episodes and resources: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/care-visions-talks/id1819875561 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cG6jiszfjSBvyLsFjfpre YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CareVisionsTalks Follow on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/carevisionstalks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareVisionsTalks Join our mailing list for new episodes, events and updates: https://carevisionsfostering.co.uk/care-visions-family-talk Subscribe to stay connected with Care Visions Talks.

    Scottish Education, Schools Today & Standards | Keir Bloomer | Family Talk
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About

Care Visions Talks Care Visions Talks is a podcast series that brings together voices from across care, education, health and community support to explore what it really means to care — and to be cared for. The series includes two strands: Care Visions Family Talk has two hosts: Dr Linda de Caestecker and Lucy Johnston. Dr Linda de Caestecker, former Director of Public Health and experienced paediatrician, leads warm, accessible conversations designed for parents, carers and families. Her episodes cover topics such as childhood trauma, fostering, resilience, separation and mental health, with expert guests offering practical guidance and compassionate insight. Lucy Johnston is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster with a long-standing commitment to social affairs, health, and children’s welfare. In her episodes, she shares powerful stories about young people in care and explores the systems that shape their lives. With a background in investigative reporting, Lucy began her career at The Big Issue before moving to The Observer and later The Sunday Express, where she is Health and Social Affairs Editor. Her work has exposed neglect in care homes, failures in mental health services, and injustices faced by vulnerable children and families. Care Visions Professional Talk is hosted by Humphrey Hawksley, award-winning author, broadcaster and former BBC foreign correspondent. These in-depth episodes are created for those working in or studying social care, health, education and related fields. Guests include thought leaders, researchers and practitioners discussing the emotional realities, challenges and evolving practices in work with children, young people and families. Whether you're a parent, a professional, or someone passionate about care and community, Care Visions Talks offers space to listen, reflect and learn.

Information

  • Creator
    Care Visions
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Care Visions Talks
  • Show Website
    Care Visions Talks

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