2025-03-31-accounts - Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption Scotland

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND (registered as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation)

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

SCOTTISH CHARITY NUMBER: SC046417

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

CONTENTS	Page
Charity Information	1
Report of the Board of Trustees	2 - 8
Independent Auditors’ Report	9 - 12
Statement of Financial Activities	13
(Incorporating Income and Expenditure Account)
Balance Sheet	14
Statement of Cash Flows	15
Notes to the Financial Statements	16 - 24

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

CHARITY INFORMATION

LEGAL NAME: Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption Scotland

SCOTTISH CHARITY NUMBER: SC046417

PRINCIPAL ADDRESS: Foxglove Offices GF2 14 Links Place Edinburgh EH6 7EZ

BOARD OF TRUSTEES:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

BANKERS: Bank of Scotland plc Virgin Money PO Box 1000 83 George Street BX2 1LB Edinburgh EH2 3ES Flagstone The Co-Operative Bank 1[st] Floor Clareville House Business Customer Services 26-27 Oxendon Street Skelmersdale London WN8 6NY SW1Y 4EL AUDITORS MHA 6 St Colme Street Edinburgh EH3 6AD

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

The Board of Trustees present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.

The organisation would like to convey its thanks to all of our team of professionals and to the Board of Trustees for their continued commitment to delivering the highest quality of service and to our members for their continued engagement and support for AFKA enabling us towards our vision of a future where every practitioner working with children, young people and their families is knowledgeable, skilled, confident, and empowered to support the safe, secure, and loving care to which every child has a right.

AFKAs members include all 32 Scottish Local Authorities, 5 Voluntary Adoption Agencies and 9 Independent Fostering Agencies. Associate and Independent members include legal firms involved in Adoption and Kinship Care, Medical Advisors undertaking Adult Carers Health Assessments and Independent Fostering, Adoption and Kinship Panel Chairs.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Our Aim is defined in our mission statement:

AFKA Scotland is an independent charity that promotes and facilitates evidence-informed best practice in fostering, kinship care and adoption, through advising, training, and influencing practitioners and policymakers, and supporting them to improve outcomes for children and families.

AFKA Scotland’s objectives , as defined by its SCIO constitution are:

The advancement of education - including the provision of evidence informed training and advice supporting the workforce to improve delivery of services to looked after children, young people and their families across Scotland and connected through fostering, kinship care and adoption and undertaking academic research that informs our activities and is publicly available.
The advancement of health - promoting optimal health and wellbeing outcomes for children and their families connected through fostering, kinship care and adoption by training, support and advice activities with health and other professionals which will include encouraging listening to what matters for children and their families, encouraging communicating with them to support their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and mitigating the impact of poverty on development throughout lifespan.
The promotion of equality and diversity - by valuing and respecting the diverse needs of looked after children, young people, and their families; promoting inclusiveness through advice, training, and research; in particular promoting the needs of persons with protected characteristics of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion, and belief; and promoting the recruitment and retention of foster carers, kinship carers and adopters from a diverse range of backgrounds.
The relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship, or other disadvantage - AFKA Scotland is engaged in the relief of disadvantaged and care-experienced children in need by promoting family membership with foster carers, kinship carers or adoptive families
The advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation - by promotion of the UNCRC (UN Convention on Rights of a Child) in all AFKA activities raising awareness of rights in relation to children and young people with care experience through advice, training, research, and direct services.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (continued)

Activities undertaken to achieve our objectives:

Our multi-disciplinary and highly experienced team delivers a wide range of advice, training, consultancy, workshops, and conferences to assist professionals. We also provide a range of direct services to agencies. An emphasis is placed in all AFKA Scotland’s work on the need for a multi-disciplinary approach that enables effective work across professional boundaries in order to meet the needs of children, families, and their carers.

AFKA Scotland also hosts Scotland’s Adoption Register (SAR ) and co-hosts the Kinship Care Advice Service Scotland (KCASS) . SAR is an organisation funded by Scottish Government with a remit to promote, support, and facilitate the family finding process for Scotland’s children who have been registered for permanence through adoption. The KCASS service is hosted by AFKA Scotland in collaboration with Adoption UK Scotland and provides a service to ensure that kinship carers and all those who work with them in Scotland get the best possible support. AFKA’s role is to support practitioners working in the kinship space to be knowledgeable, informed, and skilled in supporting kinship families.

We:

Promote consistently best practice in Adoption, Fostering and Kinship Care and support agencies to deliver services that enable all children in Scotland to grow up as part of a stable, loving, safe and nurturing family.

Give agencies, practitioners and individuals access to authoritative advice and support on adoption, fostering, kinship care and permanence in Scotland from a team bringing a broad range of expertise, experience, and skills.

Provide opportunities for practitioners from a range of professional disciplines to share and develop best practice through various Communities of Practice and Forums.

Offer a range of direct supports to agencies and practitioners within the social work, legal and medical professions, directly involved in adoption, fostering and kinship care. These will include, training, workshops, consultancy on complex casework and reviews, legal interpretation, and independent chairing of meetings and panels.

Provide an independent voice on matters of adoption, fostering and kinship care policy and practice.

Conduct, share and interpret research to support evidence informed best practice and working of projects which add to resources available to practitioners and carers.

Strategies for achieving aims and objectives and measuring success.

Outcomes and associated indicators are set by the charity each year. Performance data and participant evaluations are gathered in relation to all AFKA’s activities in order to evidence progress in achieving the outcomes, and this information is regularly reported to the Board and within our publicly available Annual Report.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (continued)

During 2024/25, AFKA Scotland:

Delivered a programme of open workshops reaching 140 practitioners with an additional 125 Practitioners attending training commissioned by their Agency.
Provided ‘Securing Children’s Futures’ postgraduate course affiliated with Strathclyde University, with 9 students engaged in the course.
Provided independent adoption, permanence and fostering panel chairs to 10 Local Authorities and 2 Voluntary Agencies with 150 Panels chaired reaching 1,043 children and young people, their birth parents and Foster Carers and Adopters.
Supported members with services involving provision of advice and support to 141 enquirers, regular email updates and monthly newsletters with now over 800 subscribers, legal and research briefings and a regular quarterly programme of practitioner forum meetings including social work, health, and legal reaching 357 colleagues and 104 attending our new lunch and learn micro skills sessions.
Continued, through our research team to work on delivering evidence informed outputs which are shared widely with members and academics to improve children and families’ experiences of care. These have included producing spotlight briefings on Kinship Care and Inter Country Adoption and completing two projects with Edinburgh University on the Housing Needs of Kinship Carers and Kinship Care in a digital world.
AFKA were delighted that our ‘Permanently Progressing’ Longitudinal Study with Stirling and Lancaster Universities reported on Phase 2 Middle Childhood in September 2024 and we continue to disseminate the findings of the research. We are hopeful that Phase 3 adolescence and early adulthood will be funded and commence in February 2026.
Made independent, informed contributions to national policy including the Kinship Care Collaborative, Adoption Task Force, Foster Care development and Social Work Scotland Community Placement subgroup. We also cohost the Siblings Community of Practice alongside the Promise and Scottish Government and support the newly established Birth Parents Community building on the work undertaken by a number of agencies from ‘Supporting Roots’ research.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

AFKA Scotland has been operating for 9 years and has established a reputation for providing strong support to agencies and professionals who work with children and young people. We are regarded as an informed and authoritative voice relating to services for children and families in or on the edge of care.

AFKA embraces The Promise to care experienced children, young people, and their families (arising from the Independent Care Review) and has been instrumental in supporting the workforce to be ambitious in their actions to ‘Keep the Promise’.

The skills held within the organisation and the established networks with practitioners across many different professional disciplines enables AFKA Scotland to facilitate sharing between agencies and to provide advice, guidance, and support to practitioners in Fostering, Kinship and Adoption across Scotland.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (continued)

Particular achievements in the last year include:

With support from the Promise ‘supporting the workforce’ funding we collaborated with Health, Education, and Social Work colleagues in Aberdeenshire NHS Grampian to consider what health and education practitioners need to help them better understand and support children and young people moving into forms of permanent care. We appreciated the attendance of 50 colleagues at our webinar bringing together their views and working on what priorities they would wish to take forward. The design report and outputs will shortly be launched and available.
AFKA facilitated our Annual Legal Conference in November 2024 attracting 58 local authority and private practice solicitors, advocates, and social work practitioners. This year’s Conference focused on ‘Children’s Rights, Our Responsibilities’ with leading Key Speakers in this field.
We have commenced work on 3 ‘ Good Practice in Permanence’ Guides for Scottish Government and are delighted to have the support of 22 Local Authorities, SCRA, CELCIS, Health Colleagues and Voluntary Agencies working with children, young people, birth families and Foster Carers, Kinship Carers and Adoptive Families.
In November 2024, we co-hosted Adoption Week Scotland with Adoption UK on behalf of Scottish Government. This week highlights the continued importance of Adoption as a positive permanence destination for some children whilst acknowledging the experience of people who are adopted and adoptive families and the need for lifetime support. We worked with Scottish Government and the Promise to collect the views of people in touch with adoption to inform plan 24-30 including people who have been adopted, adoptive parents and practitioners working in this field.
During March 2025 we supported Kinship Care Week in Scotland bringing together Practitioners from across Scotland to share and learn from each other on the topic of supporting permanence in Kinship Care.

Significant events

AFKA has continued to provide full core member services and our hosted services SAR and KCASS maintaining the quality of our delivery with a reduction in our research team part way through this year and an unfilled trainer/consultant post. This places pressure on our staff team to continue to deliver all of our services to our quality standards.

We have been committed to supporting The Promise to achieve change through a number of promise funded projects and our continued support for both the siblings and birth parents’ communities of practice. The Promise remains an important driver in all of our work to ensure all children and young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected so they realise their full potential.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

AFKA Scotland’s aim remains to use the limited resources available to the organisation to achieve the greatest possible impact on policy and practice affecting children and young people. AFKA Scotland’s financial viability depends on it providing a service that agencies and practitioners find valuable. The demands on public finances are challenging agencies with difficult decisions about prioritisation, meaning that AFKA Scotland will need to demonstrate that its services are relevant and provide good value for money. For the organisation’s future, developing services in line with The Promise - now the overriding policy driver for this sector - and finding ways of providing practitioners with excellent learning, practice and consultancy services are central to the continuance of our organisation. We will continue to expand our offer to newly qualified and less experienced Social Workers for their supported year and beyond.

In 2025/26 we will deliver the Good Practice in Permanence Guides with pilots in 3 Local Authority areas and dissemination of the new guides between January and March 2026. We envisage these will have a positive impact on children and families’ experiences of permanence planning and support and achieve further consistency in practice across Scotland and will be free and accessible for use by all Practitioners.

Recognising the importance for children of remaining within their own family our collaborative agreement with CoramBAAF has provided access to their Outbound Performance service from April 2025 to all AFKA members, this will aid consideration of potential Kinship Carers overseas.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption Scotland (AFKA Scotland) is registered as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). Structure and governance arrangements are set out in AFKA Scotland’s constitution. The charity was formerly known as Adoption and Fostering Scotland (AFA Scotland) but was granted permission to adopt its new name on 10 June 2022. Governance is provided by the Board of Trustees and Management by the Executive Director.

Appointment, induction, and training of trustees

New trustees are appointed by way of a resolution passed by majority vote at a Board meeting. New trustees are provided with OSCR’s Guidance and Good Practice for Charity Trustees and are required to sign a Trustee declaration. They are also provided with AFKA Scotland’s constitution. Depending on their personal and professional background, and the particular knowledge and skills they bring to the role, opportunities are available to learn more about the charity through links with staff members or other Board members.

Organisational structure and decision making

AFKA Scotland currently has a Board of seven trustees drawn from social work, business, legal health and research professions to cover the areas of expertise required to run the organisation and to reflect the views and aspirations of its key stakeholders. The Board includes members with lived experience of receiving and/or providing care. Board meetings are convened by the Chair of the Board of Trustees and attended by Board members and by AFKA Scotland’s Executive Director. In addition to the mandatory AGM, meetings are convened as required; current practice is for the Board to meet every two months to review the activities, performance and finances of the organisation and reviewing and maintaining a risk register.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT (continued)

Arrangement for setting pay and remuneration.

Pay and remuneration of all staff in the charity is set by the Board and reviewed at least annually benchmarking appropriately with similar organisations and roles.

Collaborative arrangement with CoramBAAF

AFKA Scotland is an independent charity. A collaborative arrangement is in place with CoramBAAF whereby AFKA Scotland’s members have access to CoramBAAF services in return for a percentage of the membership fees, but CoramBAAF has no role in the governance or management of the charity.

Risk Management

The Board meets regularly to discuss the key risks faced by the charity as set out in its risk register including people risks such as recruitment, retention, and support, as well as financial risks of income generation, inflationary costs pressures and reserves. Plans have been put in place to mitigate these risks to the extent possible.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Results for the year

The results of the charity in the year are set out in the Statement of Financial Activities on page 12. This shows total income in the year of £848,998 (2024: £834,945) and total expenditure in the year of £820,836 (2024: £846,656), resulting in net income of £28,162 (2024: net expenditure of £11,711). This movement in funds results in an increase in unrestricted reserves from £266,217 at 31 March 2024 to £308,881 at 31 March 2025 and a decrease in restricted funds from £31,926 at 31 March 2024 to £17,424 at 31 March 2025. Of the unrestricted reserves, £575 is held in fixed assets, which means the free reserves of the charity are £308,306 (2024: £265,738) at 31 March 2025.

Reserves policy

It is the policy of the trustees to maintain unrestricted reserves at a level equivalent to 3 months of the average expenditure required to meet the charity’s core commitments. Based on the 2024/25 figures, this is currently set at £225,418 (2024: £225,418). The level of required reserves will be reviewed annually in time for consideration at the AGM, or more frequently if exceptional circumstances warrant earlier discussion with the Board. The levels of free reserves held at the end of the accounting period was £308,306 (2024: £265,738), comfortably in excess of the required minimum. As noted under the results for the year section above, the charity’s predictable cash flow fluctuations make it necessary to hold a significantly higher level of reserves at the start of the financial year, in order to maintain the reserves, target at the lowest point of the cycle.

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADoirrioN SCOTLAND REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025 Trustees, Responsibillties Statement The trustees are responsible for preparing the Report of the Board of Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in Scotland requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to: select suitable accounting policies and then applythem consistently- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102)- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements- and prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation. The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotlandl Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotlandl Regulations 2(Y)6 {as amended) and the provisions of the chariVs constttution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. This report was approved by the trustees on 14 July 2025 and signed on its behalf by

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption Scotland (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cashflows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charity’s affairs as at 31 March 2025, and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; an
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND (continued)

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Report of the Board of Trustees, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Report of the Board of Trustees. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or
proper accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND (continued)

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with regulations made under that Act.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outline above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The specific procedures for this engagement and the extent to which these are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Enquiry of management and those charged with governance around actual and potential litigation and claims;
Enquiry of charity management and those charged with governance to identify any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations;
Performing audit work over the risk of management override of controls, including the testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of the charity’s activities and reviewing accounting estimates for bias;
Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND (continued)

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

MHA 6 St Colme Street Edinburgh EH3 6AD

14 July 2025

MHA is the trading name of MHA Audit Services LLP, a limited liability partnership in England and Wales (registered number OC455542).

MHA is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCORPORATING THE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Notes Income from: Donations and legacies 2 Charitable activities 3 Other trading activities 4 Investment income 5 Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activities 6 Total expenditure Net income/(expenditure) and net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds Funds at 1 April 2024 11 Funds at 31 March 2025 11	Unrestricted Funds £ 119,182 414,079 - 1,741 535,002 492,338 492,338 42,664 266,217 308,881	Restricted Funds £ - 313,996 - - 313,996 328,498 328,498 (14,502) 31,926 17,424	Total Funds 2025 £ 119,182 728,075 - 1,741 848,998 820,836 820,836 28,162 298,143 326,305	Total Funds 2024 £ 117,924 715,987 10 1,024
				834,945
				846,656
				846,656
				(11,711) 309,854
				298,143

All income and expenditure is derived from continuing operations.

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADoirrioN SCOTLAND BALANCE SHE as at 31 March 2025 2025 2024 Notes Fixed assets Tangible assets 575 479 Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Current asset investments- fixed term deposits 21,618 186,394 170,000 24,271 316,927 378,012 341,198 Liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year io (52,282) (43,534) Net current assets 325,730 297,664 Net assets 326,305 298,143 Funds Unrestricted funds- general Restricted funds 11,12 11,12 308,881 17,424 266,217 31,926 326,305 298,143 The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees on 14 July 2025 and were signed on their behalf by: 14

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

*Net income/(expenditure) for the year (as per the SOFA)* Adjustments for: Decrease in debtors Increase/(decrease) in creditors Depreciation Investment income *Net cash provided/(used in) by operating activities* STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS for the year ended 31 March 2025 Cash flows from operating activities: Notes Net cash provided/(used in) by operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Investment income Purchase of tangible fixed assets *Net cash flow provided by investing activities* *Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year* 13 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 13 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 13 Cash and cash equivalents comprise: Cash held at bank Fixed term deposits	2025 £ 28,162 2,653 8,748 514 (1,741) 38,336 2025 £ 38,336 1,741 (610) 1,131 39,467 316,927 356,394 186,394 170,000 356,394		2024 £ (11,711) 10,457 (2,355) 1,092 (1,024)
			(3,541)
			2024 £ (3,541)
			1,024 -
			1,024
			(2,517) 319,444
			316,927
			316,927 -
			316,927

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies

The significant accounting policies adopted in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention. The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The charity meets the definition of a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

b) Going concern

These financial statements have been prepared on the going concern basis as the trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted level of income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the charity to be able to continue as a going concern.

c) Income

Income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity has entitlement to the funds, when it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Donations, legacies and similar incoming resources such as membership subscriptions and grants for core funding are included in the period in which they are receivable, which is when the charity becomes entitled to the resource.

Income from charitable activities relates to the delivery of training, seminars and workshops to the charity’s beneficiaries and is recognised when the charity has delivered the training and is therefore entitled to the income.

Other trading income includes income from the sale of publications, which is recognised when the charity has sold the item and is therefore entitled to the income.

Other income relates to bank interest and is recognised when receivable.

d) Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

d) Expenditure (continued)

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them. Support costs are allocated between governance costs and other support costs. Governance costs comprise those costs involving the public accountability of the charity and its compliance with regulations and good practice. They therefore include the cost of audit and professional advice for trustees. Other support costs relate to the administrative costs of running the charity and are allocated to charitable activities accordingly.

e) Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets costing more than £250 are capitalised and stated at cost and depreciated over their useful economic lives as the following rates:

Computer equipment 33.33% straight line

f) Debtors

Other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due.

g) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and highly liquid short-term investments with a maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

h) Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount.

i) Financial instruments

The charity has only financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

j) Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for the specified purposes as laid down by the donor. Unrestricted funds are funds that can be used in accordance with the objectives of the charity at the discretion of the trustees.

k) Pensions

The charity contributes to employees’ individual pension plans. The amounts charged in the statement of financial activities represent the contributions to the defined contribution scheme in respect of the accounting period. A salary sacrifice scheme was introduced in July 2023 and has increased the value of pension contributions being made.

l) Operating lease commitments

Rentals paid under operating leases are charged to the statement of financial activities on a straightline basis over the period of the lease.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

m) Judgements in applying key sources of estimation uncertainty
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees have made the following judgements:

Tangible fixed assets are depreciated over a period to reflect their estimated useful lines. The applicability of the assumed lines is renewed annually considering factors such as physical condition, maintenance and obsolescence.

2. Donations

Donations
Scottish Government - core Scottish Government – Adoption Week Other grants and donations	Unrestricted £ 102,900 16,222 60 119,182	Restricted £ - - - -	2025 £ 102,900 16,222 60 119,182	2024 £ 102,900 15,000 24
				117,924

Income from donations was unrestricted in both the current and prior year.

3. Income from charitable activities

Scotland’s Adoption Register Supporting the Workforce TESSA Permanently Progressing STAR Renfrewshire Council – Birth Mothers Foundation for Families Housing Needs of Children Brothers and Sisters project Permanence Guides Enhancing Impact – Digital Work Kinship Care Advice Service Scotland Memberships Panels Seminars Specialised courses Training income Workshops Consultancy income Recovery of travel costs	Unrestricted £ - - - - - - - - - - - 82,914 184,378 70,954 11,195 30,510 8,773 13,191 7,900 4,264 414,079	Restricted £ 225,417 33,967 - 3,753 - - 10,550 - - 38,309 2,000 - - - - - - - - - 313,996	2025 £ 225,417 33,967 - 3,753 - - 10,550 - - 38,309 2,000 82,914 184,378 70,954 11,195 30,510 8,773 13,191 7,900 4,264 728,075	2024 £ 225,417 16,983 6,643 4,536 30,000 3,970 13,150 1,400 13,000 - - 80,824 177,990 60,200 10,115 41,925 12,381 14,526 1,200 1,727
				715,987

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

3. Income from charitable activities (continued)

Income from charitable activities of £728,075 (2024: £715,987) is made up of £414,079 (2024: £415,288) unrestricted income and £313,996 (2024: £300,699) restricted income.

4. Other trading activities

Other trading activities
	Unrestricted	Unrestricted
	2025	2024
	£	£
Publication sales	-	10

5. Investment income

Bank interest Expenditure on charitable activities Associate Trainer and research fees Staff costs (note 7) Direct project costs Link maker External affiliations Course fees Speakers’ fees and venue hire Events and publications Office support costs Staff travel and training Depreciation Governance costs Miscellaneous Governance costs comprise the following: - Audit fee - HR fees - Other professional fees	Unrestricted £ 41,450 337,053 9,389 - 50,045 10,272 7,344 30 21,046 5,717 514 9,419 59 492,338	Restricted £ - 206,322 6,194 93,712 29 - 1,934 4,716 11,837 1,683 - 2,071 - 328,498		Unrestricted Unrestricted 2025 £ 2024 £ 1,741 1,024 2025 2024 £ £ 41,450 43,160 543,375 532,356 15,583 49,800 93,712 93,712 50,074 47,118 10,272 21,435 9,278 4,244 4,746 4,690 32,883 29,578 7,400 7,504 514 1,092 11,490 11,937 59 30 820,836 846,656 6,150 5,805 3,246 4,805 2,094 1,327 11,490 11,937

6. Expenditure on charitable activities

Expenditure on charitable activities of £820,836 (2024: £846,656) is made up of £492,338 (2024: £541,681) unrestricted expenditure and £328,498 (2024: £304,975) restricted expenditure.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

7. Staff costs and numbers

Gross salaries Employers NIC Employers pension contributions Remuneration of key management personnel*	2025 £ 418,390 38,181 86,804 543,375 73,524	2024 £ 429,849 40,826 61,681
		532,356
		75,980

*Key management remuneration includes gross salaries, employer’s national insurance and pension contributions.

The average number of employees during the year was 11 (2024: 12).

There was 1 employee with emoluments between £60,000 - £70,000 in the year (2024: 1).

Key management personnel compromise the Board of Trustees and Executive Director.

8. Tangible fixed assets

Cost At 1 April 2024 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2025 Depreciation At 1 April 2024 Charge for the year Disposals At 31 March 2025 Net book value At 31 March 2025 At 31 March 2024	Office equipment £ 8,908 610 (1,023)
	8,495
	8,429 514 (1,023)
	7,920
	575
	479

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

9. Debtors

Trade debtors Prepayments and accrued income Other debtors 10. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Deferred income Accruals Taxation Deferred income At 1 April Released in the year Deferred in year At 31 March	2025 £ 13,628 4,115 3,875 21,618 2025 £ 2,537 2,056 16,803 30,886 52,282 654 (654) 2,056 2,056	2024 £ 16,296 4,100 3,875
		24,271
		2024 £ 701 654 16,002 26,177
		43,534
		- - 654
		654

Deferred income comprises income received in advance for workshops to take place in January 2026 and membership income for 25/26.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

11. Movement in funds

Unrestricted funds General fund Restricted funds Scotland’s Adoption Register Foundations for Families Supporting the Workforce STAR Permanently Progressing Permanence Guides Enhancing Impact – Digital Work Unrestricted funds General fund Restricted funds Scotland’s Adoption Register Supporting Birth Parents Foundations for Families Good Childhood Supporting the Workforce STAR TESSA Permanently Progressing	At 1 April 2024 £ 266,217 19,627 - 5,733 6,566 - - - 31,926 298,143 At 1 April 2023 £ 274,482 17,804 2,500 - 15,068 - - - - 35,372 309,854	Income £ 535,002 225,417 10,550 33,967 - 3,753 38,309 2,000 313,996 848,998 Income £ 534,246 225,417 3,970 13,150 - 16,983 30,000 6,643 4,536 300,699 834,945	Expenditure £ (492,338) (232,120) (10,550) (35,200) (6,566) (3,753) (38,309) (2,000) (328,498) (820,836) Expenditure £ (541,681) (223,594) (6,470) (13,150) (15,898) (11,250) (23,434) (6,643) (4,536) (304,975) (846,656)	Transfers £ - - - - - - - - Transfers £ (830) - - - 830 - - - - 830 -	At 31 March 2025 £ 308,881
					12,924 - 4,500 - - - -
					17,424
					326,305
					At 31 March 2024 £ 266,217
					19,627 - - - 5,733 6,566 - -
					31,926
					298,143

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

11. Movement in funds – fund purposes (continued)

Scotland’s Adoption Register

Funding from the Scottish Government to host Scotland’s Adoption Register and support agencies across Scotland to maximise family funding opportunities for children identified as requiring adoption.

Foundations for Families

Adoption UK are piloting a new service called Foundation for Families that aims to support kinship families in four local authorities in Scotland by providing therapeutic, education, and community services. AFKA Scotland have been commissioned to evaluate this pilot and will be working with AUK and their partners over 2023 to 2025.

Supporting the Workforce

Funding by the Corra “Supporting the Workforce” Promise Partnership workstream, and in collaboration with Health, Education and Social Work colleagues in Aberdeenshire to consider what health and education practitioners need to help them better understand and support children and young people moving into forms of permanent care.

STAR

Funding from the Promise Partnership via Corra Foundation to undertake a process evaluation of the “Siblings Together and Reunited” (STAR) project.

Permanently Progressing Phase II

Working with lead partner, Stirling University, AFKA Scotland is involved in supporting the middle childhood phase of this major longitudinal study into outcomes for children who became looked after in 2012/13.

Permanence Guides

Funding provided to develop three national good practice guides on permanence, on the topics of Contract, Supporting Birth Families, and Supporting Families in Permanence.

Enhancing Impact – Digital Work

This pilot study was a collaboration between AFKA and the University of Edinburgh exploring how the digital world impacts on Kinship Carers and the challenges they face in caring for children and young people. The aim of the study is to produce information that will help social workers and others to better support Kinship Carers. Findings will be written up in briefings for Practitioners and Kinship Carers.

Supporting Birth Parents

Funding from the Scottish Government to support the development of Best Principles for supporting birth families who have lost children to care, to undertake research with parents and to map services currently available across Scotland.

Good Childhood

Funding from the Promise Partnership to develop a ‘toolkit’ with 6 partner Local Authorities to improve children’s experiences of transition in care.

TESSA – Therapeutic, Education and Support Services in Adoption

Funding for a research project to evaluate the introduction of the TESSA service and its impact over a four-year period.

Docusign Envelope ID: 534DDEC6-0658-4CDD-A2C8-0310A6FD3B69

ASSOCIATION FOR FOSTERING, KINSHIP AND ADOPTION SCOTLAND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

12. Analysis of net assets between funds

Tangible fixed assets Net current assets Net assets at 31 March 2025 Tangible fixed assets Net current assets Net assets at 31 March 2024 13. Analysis of net funds Cash and cash equivalents Net funds	Unrestricted funds £ 575 308,306 308,881 479 265,738 266,217 At 1 April 2024 £ 316,927 316,927	Restricted funds £ - 17,424 17,424 - 31,926 31,926 Cashflows £ 39,467 39,467	Total Funds £ 575 325,730 326,305 479 297,664 298,143 At 31 March 2025 £ 356,394 356,394

14. Lease commitments

As at 31 March 2025 the charity was committed to making the following total payments in respect of non-cancellable operating leases:

	2025	2024
	Land and	Land and
	buildings	buildings
	£	£
Amounts due:
Within one year	5,975	5,975

15. Related party transactions

In common with other charitable membership bodies, trustees may purchase memberships or attend seminars and events. In the current year, Trustee Janys Scott received a free membership. During the prior year, she purchased a membership at a discounted rate. Trustees received no other remuneration, reimbursement of expenses or other benefits in the year (2024: none).