Call for Submissions is now open!

Submissions are welcome for consideration for the International Foster Care Organisation (IFCO) Conference 2025, which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, 5-8 June 2025

Submit Submission Here

Important Dates:

9th December 2024: Call for Submissions Opens

12th February 2025 11:59pm UK time : Submission Deadline

10th March 2025: Notification of Review Outcome

24th March 2025: Deadline for accepted authors to register to confirm attendance

April 2025: Programme Available Online

What are we looking for?

The “Brave Hearts in Care: Building Trust, Confidence, and Connections” conference aims to enhance the outcomes for children and young people in foster care by focusing on the critical importance of relationships. By fostering trust and confidence among all stakeholders—including children and young people; care-experienced adults; biological/birth families; foster and kinship carers, case workers/social workers throughcare and aftercare workers, residential care workers; managers, leaders in the sector and policymakers —the conference seeks to:

  • Celebrate, empower and retain carers and the workforce that support them;
  • Share experiences and best practice through a combination of academic research and practice-based learning;
  • Promote family based care as the best alternative for children in out of home care to thrive;  
  • Demonstrate the value of relationship-based practice in supporting children and young people to flourish throughout their young lives and into early adulthood;
  • Recognise the role of statutory and voluntary organisations and the value of multi-agency and multi-disciplinary partnership working.

Through collaborative discussions, innovative practices, and shared experiences, we strive to strengthen the entire care system, ensuring a supportive and nurturing environment for every child.

Themes

Submissions are welcome in any one of the following categories:

Building Trust and Confidence:

  • Strategies for fostering trust between children and caregivers.
  • Building confidence in children and young people in care.
  • Trust-building practices for case workers and managers.

Strengthening Connections:

  • Enhancing connections between children and their biological/birth families.
  • The role of carers in maintaining family ties.
  • Creating supportive networks for carers and the workforce
  • Maintaining sibling relationships

Collaborative Care:

  • Effective collaboration between workers, carers, and families.
  • Multi-disciplinary approaches to care.
  • The importance of teamwork in achieving positive outcomes.

Cultural Sensitivity and Inclusion:

  • Addressing the needs of children from diverse cultural backgrounds.
  • Inclusive practices in foster, kinship and residential care.
  • Promoting cultural competence among caregivers and the workforce.

Emotional and Psychological Support:

  • Providing emotional support to children and young people in care.
  • Mental health resources for caregivers and the workforce.
  • Trauma-informed care practices.

Innovative Practices in Foster Care:

  • New models and approaches in foster, kinship and residential care.
  • Technology and its role in supporting caring relationships.
  • Case studies of successful foster and kinship care programs.

Policy, Advocacy and Engagement

  • The role of legislation in protecting the rights of children in care.
  • Engaging with policymakers to improve care systems.
  • Building a community of care around children and young people.
  • Amplifying the voice of care-experienced people and the workforce to achieve transformational change.

Resilience and Well-being:

  • Building resilience in children and young people in care.
  • Supporting the well-being of caregivers.
  • Strategies for supporting resilience and wellbeing in the workforce.

Relational approaches to Transitions

  • Supporting children into and out of alternative family-based care.
  • Case studies of support to fostering families.
  • Maintaining relationships into adulthood and Leaving Care.

Maintaining relationships into adulthood and Leaving Care.

  • Celebrating Diversity
  • Supporting children and young people, carers and the workforce with disabilities.
  • Tools and resources for carers and the workforce.
  • Inclusive practices in foster, kinship and residential care.

Presentation Type

A submission can be submitted for presentation at the Conference as one of the following categories:

  • Oral Presentation
  • Poster Presentation
  • Workshop

At the review stage, the Programme Committee may change the presentation type submitted by the author to ensure the continuity of the conference programme i.e. oral presentation may be changed to poster presentation OR poster presentation to oral presentation. The presenting Author will be informed of any change to their submitted presentation type at the acceptance notification stage. The decision of the programme committee is final.

Oral Format:

Oral presentations will be determined by the programme committee and authors will be notified of their presentation time.

Poster Format:

Accepted posters will be asked to produce a poster for display at the conference. Presenters are asked to take note of the following guidelines when producing their poster:

  • Maximum poster size is A0 (0.84 x 1.19m) (portrait orientation)
  • Keep text to a minimum
  • Ensure any text is in large font
  • Use graphs, charts, and/or tables
  • Ensure contents have a logical flow
  • Make it colourful
  • Removal and collection of posters at the end of the display period remains the responsibility of the presenter. Posters not removed by the indicated take down time will be removed and disposed of.

Workshop Format:

A workshop should be focused on delegate interaction with a clear outcome. A workshop should be more interactive in nature and not dependent on panel discussions or presentations.

Submission Publishing

Accepted submissions may be published digitally on the conference website.

Previously Presented or Submitted Submissions

Submissions that have been previously published or presented at a National/International Conference will not be considered for presentation and authors will be asked to give consent that the submission has not previously been published or presented when submitting the submission.

Submission Process:

The submission process for IFCO 2025 will be through an online submission portal: https://confpartners.eventsair.com/international-foster-care-organisation-ifco/submissions

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON THE SUBMISSION PROCESS

  1. The Presenting Author must submit and is required to be the corresponding author for that submission.
  2. You do not need to register and pay for the conference in order to submit.
  3. All submissions must be received by the submission deadline to be included in the review.
  4. Accepted submission presenters must register by 24 March 2025.
  5. Submissions must be in English.

Submission Guidelines:

It is ESSENTIAL that you read the guidelines below before you submit. Submissions which do not adhere to the guidelines will not be reviewed.

Who submits?
The Presenting Author must submit and will act as the main point of contact for the submission with organisers.

Once you enter the online submission portal, start by creating an account. Please keep a record of the account details you use to set up the account as you will require them to log into both the IFCO 2025 submission portal and Conference registration portal. Upon successful submission of the submission a confirmation email will be sent to the Presenting Author.

If you have not received a confirmation email, please check that your submission is not left in draft and is fully submitted by logging back into the portal and checking on the View/Edit Submissions page.

How to edit a submitted submission?

You can save your submission as a draft and return to edit the submission at a later point. It is important to note that once it has been submitted the submission cannot be edited after the submission deadline. Ensure that your submission is not left in draft as it will not be reviewed.

Submission Details Required

The online submission is a simple step-by-step process and will ask you to input the following details:

  • Submission title – Word limit is 15
  • Presentation type – Oral, Poster, Workshop
  • Theme – Chosen from the theme list above
  • Presenting Author – Name, affiliation, and job title of presenting author (this person must be listed as the first author)
  • Co-Authors – Name, affiliation, and job title of co-author(s)
  • Submission text – Submission word limit is 400, use submission structure listed below (word limit includes: headings/references; excludes: title, authors and affiliations)
    • Description of concept/idea
  • Additional information
    • Data Consent Agreement
    • Publication Agreement
    • Alternative Contact for Submission
    • Professional Status

Review and Notification of Acceptance

All submissions will go through a blind peer-review carried out by reviewers selected by the IFCO 2025 Programme Committee.

Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent to the submitter by the 10th  March 2025.

Registration of the Submission Presenter

When notified of acceptance, the Presenting Author is required to accept the offer by registering for the conference and paying in full by 24th March 2025. You will be provided with a link to register at this rate in your acceptance email.

If a presenter fails to register by 24th March their submission will be removed from the programme.

Withdrawal Conditions & Change of Presenter

If you need to withdraw the submission or change the presenting author contact IFCO2025@conferencepartners.com by 24th March 2025.

Terms and Conditions:

  • The submission adheres to the submission guidelines outlined on the Conference Website.
  • The submission is in English.
  • This submission has only been submitted once for IFCO 2025. 
  • It is the responsibility of the presenting author to submit. They are the main contact whose responsibility it is to communicate with other co-authors.
  • The presenting author is available to present at the conference between 5-8th June 2025.    
  • The presenting author must register and pay in full by the deadline indicated in the submission review outcome email. If they do not register and pay in full, the submission will be removed from the programme and any associated publications.
  • The text of the submission, along with the names and affiliations, poster and/or additional documents as requested, may be published on the conference website, in the submission document and on the conference app, and this will not raise any copyright issues.
  • A submission as a particular presentation type or theme may be changed to a different type following review in order to be accepted and included in the programme.
  • Presenters may be recorded for live streaming. A recording of the presentation and a copy of the slides may be published online after the conference.

If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact the IFCO 2025 Programme Team at IFCO2025@conferencepartners.com

Submit Submission Here