Fostering News: Fostering Information Exchange

What is the Fostering Information Exchange?

The Fostering Information Exchange (FIE) is a group on the Local Government Association’s Knowledge Hub, which is a secure online knowledge sharing platform which enables users to create connections to peers and experts in their fields of interest, share learning, experiences and ideas.

The FIE was developed following demand from the sector for there to be a place where everyone involved or interested in foster care could share practice; explore ideas; discuss issues or new developments and access resources. Membership is particularly welcomed from foster carers, social workers, fostering service providers, researchers, training and development staff and policy makers.

FIE has been developed by a partnership involving the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, the Fostering Network, the Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers, the Who Cares? Trust and the Department for Education.

What are the benefits of FIE 

FIE provides a whole range of tools to help share knowledge and discuss matters with others.

• Discussion forums – share thoughts and good practice or ask for advice and practical solutions. Some of the areas where discussions are taking place include:
  • Assessment and approval
  • Delegated authority
  • Recruitment
  • Return home from care
  • Training and support.
• Blogs – reflect on your work and what you’ve learnt, share your opinions.
• A library – share reports, research, presentations, videos and images. For example the latest speech from the Minister, Edward Timpson is available here.
• Event promotion – find out about forthcoming events and promote your own events, training sessions and workshops.
• Connections – connect with other Knowledge Hub or FIE group members and follow their activity.
• Instant and Direct messaging – easily send messages to other registered Knowledge Hub members.
• Email notifications – set up regular e-alerts for your groups, connections, messages and individual content items of your choice.
• Social media links – link your profile to other social network accounts you might have, for example Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
• Personalised homepage – access everything via your activity streams on your homepage. It’s personalised to you depending on who you’re connected to, which groups you join and which conversations you’ve contributed to.
• A clever search function - that not only allows you to find things more easily, but also enables the information to find you, based on your profile and activity.

How to join

If you have previously registered with other LGA online services you should be able to log into Knowledge Hub with the same username and password. If not, registering for an account takes a few minutes.

1. Go to Knowledge Hub https://knowledgehub.local.gov.uk.         
2. Click register in the top of the screen.        
3. Fill in the registration details and submit.        
4. Validate your account via the link in the email you’ll be sent.        
5. Log in using your new account details.
6. Accept the terms and conditions.        
7. Go to your home page – click home at the top.        
8. Find the group here: https://knowledgehub.local.gov.uk/group/fosteringinformationexchange (click this link or copy and paste to your browser).
9. Apply to join.

Source: www.baaf.org.uk/info/Fostering-Information-Exchange