By What Works For Children's Social Care
The podcast currently has 24 episodes available.
In this podcast, Head of Practice Development, Nimal Jude, looks at our report into understanding residential care. With Eve Smyth, Quantitative Research Associate, she discusses what the findings tell us about who the children are living in these placements, as well as their journeys before and after entering the system.
She also talks to Lisa Pascoe, Deputy Director of Regulation and Social Care Policy at Ofsted, to discuss the findings further, Ofsted’s role in residential care and what our findings could mean for the sector.
Understanding residential care for children in care in England is part of a series of research we contributed to the recent Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Contributors:
Presenter: Nimal Jude, Head of Practice Development
Interview with:
Eve Smyth, Quantitative Research Associate at What Works for Children’s Social Care
Lisa Pascoe, Deputy Director, Regulation and Social Care Policy at Ofsted
Contact:
If you’d like to find out more about the latest research into children’s social care, sign up for our newsletter or have an idea for a future podcast, please get in touch:
[email protected]
www.whatworks-csc.org.uk
Twitter: @whatworksCSC
The full and summary report are available here: whatworks-csc.org.uk/research-report/understanding-residential-care-for-children-in-care-in-england/
In this episode of this series, Head of Practice Development, Nimal Jude, looks in more detail at our report into the commissioning of secure children’s home placements in England. She is joined by Eleanor Briggs, Director of Research, who helps explain the widely reported discrepancies between bed occupancies in secure children’s homes and demand, as well as the challenges faced in allocating suitable places.
Nimal also talks to Alice Roe, a lead researcher at Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NFJO) to find out what the findings from our report into secure children’s homes means for the sector, how it fits with NFJO’s own research and the next steps.
"Understanding residential care for children in care in England" is part of a series of research we contributed to the recent Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Contributors:
Presenter: Nimal Jude, Head of Practice Development at What Works for Children's Social Care
Interviews with:
Eleanor Briggs, Director of Policy at What Works for Children’s Social Care
Alice Roe, researcher at Nuffield Family Justice Observatory
Contact:
If you’d like to find out more about the latest research into children’s social care, sign up for our newsletter or have an idea for a future podcast, please get in touch:
[email protected]
www.whatworks-csc.org.uk
Twitter: @whatworksCSC
The full and summary report are available here: whatworks-csc.org.uk/research-report/commissioning-secure-childrens-home-placements-in-england/
In this episode of the podcast, Director of Practice Anna Bacchoo discusses the findings of our report into the support offered to children and their families on a Child in Need plan. Along with Director of Research, Aoife O'Higgins, they explore how the report added to the limited existing knowledge base to create a clearer picture, not only of who the children on these plans are, but how the plan is delivered and what it achieves.
"Understanding service provision for Children in Need in England" is part of a series of research we contributed to the recent Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Contributors:
Presenter: Anna Bacchoo, Director of Practice
Interview with: Aoife O'Higgins, Director of Research at What Works for Children’s Social
Contact:
If you’d like to find out more about the latest research into children’s social care, sign up for our newsletter or have an idea for a future podcast. please get in touch:
[email protected]
www.whatworks-csc.org.uk
Twitter: @whatworksCSC
The full and summary report are available here: whatworks-csc.org.uk/research-report/understanding-service-provision-for-children-in-need-in-england/
In this first episode of our new Independent Review of Children’s Social Care series, presenter Anna Bacchoo, Director of Practice, discusses our recent report into formal kinship care agreements in England. This report was part of a body of research we contributed for the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
In a conversation with Director of Research Aoife O’Higgins, they look at both kinship foster care whilst in care, and Special Guardianship Orders (SGO) granted to kin, and what our report revealed about the experiences of the children living in these arrangements.
Anna also speaks with former Policy and Practice advisor at the charity Kinship, Paul McGrath, to discuss what our findings mean to the sector and the next steps for those living in a kinship care arrangement.
Contributors:
Presenter: Anna Bacchoo
Interviews with:
Aoife O'Higgins, Director of Research at What Works for Children’s Social Care
Paul McGrath, former Policy and Practice advisor at the charity Kinship
Contact:
If you’d like to find out more about the latest research into children’s social care, sign up for our newsletter or have an idea for a future podcast., please get in touch:
[email protected]
www.whatworks-csc.org.uk
Twitter: @whatworksCSC
The full and summary report are available here: whatworks-csc.org.uk/research-report/understanding-formal-kinship-care-arrangements-in-england
In this episode we discussed our pilot evaluation of Family Valued. This study was part of the Strengthening Families Protecting Children (SFPC) programme and commissioned by the Department for Education.
SFPC aims to support local authorities to introduce one of three models of practice into their own area. These models hope to enable more children to stay in safe and stable family environments, so that fewer children need to be taken into care.
Family Valued was originally developed by Leeds City Council as part of the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme and we ran our pilot in Darlington. The initiative is a whole system approach to children’s safeguarding that involves training in Restorative Practice and establishing or expanding Family Group Conference (FGC) services in the local authority. It also entails carrying out a review of all existing local systems and then commissioning new restorative services to address any gaps in provision.
Contributors:
Presenter Nimal Jude, our Head of Practice Development, talks to the report’s research lead Hannah Collyer.
Get in touch:
If you’d like to find out more about the latest research into children’s social care, sign up for our newsletter or have an idea for a future podcast., please get in touch:
You can also read the pilot report in full here: Family Valued
In this episode we’ll be discussing the recent pilot evaluation of No Wrong Door, part of the Strengthening Families Protecting Children (SFPC) programme and commissioned by the Department for Education.
SFPC aims to support local authorities to introduce one of three models of practice into their own area. These models hope to enable more children to stay in safe and stable family environments, so that fewer children need to be taken into care.
No Wrong Door was developed by North Yorkshire County Council. The initiative takes a multidisciplinary approach, with a team from several different sectors providing support to young people in or on the edge of care, through a range of services, outreach and accommodation options. The model was originally designed to support young people aged 12 - 25.
Our pilot evaluation was of No Wrong Door in Middlesbrough, who launched their Futures for Families, to support children aged 11 - 18 using the No Wrong Door model.
Contributors:
Presenter Nimal Jude, our Head of Practice Development, talks to the report’s research lead Hannah Collyer.
Contact:
If you’d like to find out more about the latest research into children’s social care, sign up for our newsletter or have an idea for a future podcast., please get in touch:
You can also read the pilot report in full here: No Wrong Door
In this episode we discuss our pilot evaluation of Family Safeguarding, part of the Strengthening Families Protecting Children (SFPC) programme commissioned by the Department for Education.
SFPC aims to support local authorities to introduce one of three models of practice into their own area. These models hope to enable more children to stay in safe and stable family environments, so that fewer children need to be taken into care. This was the first report we published as part of SFPC in June 2021.
Family Safeguarding was launched in Cambridgeshire in February 2020 just before the COVID-19 lockdown. The initiative is a multi-disciplinary approach to safeguarding, with adult specialist practitioners in mental health, substance misuse and domestic abuse working alongside children’s social workers.
Contributors:
Presenter Nimal Jude, our Head of Practice Development, talks to the report’s research lead Hannah Collyer.
Later in the podcast Nimal catches up with Sam Howlett, Head of Family Safeguarding at Cambridgeshire County Council, to hear about her experience of being part of the Family Safeguarding pilot.
Contact:
If you’d like to find out more about the latest research into children’s social care, sign up for our newsletter or have an idea for a future podcast, please get in touch:
You can also read the pilot report in full here: Family Safeguarding
Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special.
In this edition of our podcast, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, speaks with Jenny Coles, who became the President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services in April of this year. Jenny is also the Director of Children’s Services in Hertfordshire County Council.
Jenny discusses the positive outcomes of this difficult time, such as the strengthening of local partnerships, and engaging with children, young people and families in a different way,
Jenny also goes on to discuss what she hopes to see coming out of the current government spending review, and her hope for the future of children’s services.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for upcoming topics, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]
You can also follow us on Twitter @whatworksCSC
Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode we are delighted to be joined by Rachael Pryor, Head of Service, Inclusive City and Virtual School Headteacher at Bristol City Council.
In this episode, Rachael discusses how lockdown helped herself and her team think differently about how they organise their time more effectively, in particular with children who are being educated outside of the local authority. Rachael also considers the complexities of assessing when it is right for children, families and carers to take up the opportunity to return to school.
Listen to the episode to hear more about how Rachael and the HOPE School team are working to encourage positive cultures in schools, so they are inclusive and understanding of attachment and trauma.
Follow the HOPE School on Twitter
@HOPE4CiC
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for upcoming topics, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]
You can also follow us on Twitter @whatworksCSC
Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode we are delighted to be joined by three of the senior leaders from Telford and Wrekin Council - Clive Jones, the out-going Executive Director, Children’s and Family Services; Jo Britton, who is is taking over the role and has been Director of Children’s Safeguarding and Family Support at the Council; and Heather Loveridge, Director of Education and Skills.
In this episode, Clive, Jo and Heather discuss the difficulties involved in working together when we’re physically apart, the importance of regular communication - with the community, workforce, and children and families - and bringing data about vulnerable learners together.
They also discuss how it was vital that, having assessed the needs of each family, they then discussed this with the families to ensure they were happy with the outcome and were getting the support they needed.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for upcoming topics, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]
You can also follow us on Twitter @whatworksCSC
The podcast currently has 24 episodes available.