Home or care? Pathways and outcomes for maltreated children in a multi-ethnic cohort
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Social Policy Social Work
Abstract
It is widely considered that outcomes for 'looked after' children (children in care) are generally poor. Research has pointed to poor education outcomes, high rates of mental health problems, disproportionate involvement in substance abuse and crime and the over-representation of care leavers among the unemployed, homeless and prison populations. However, most studies to date have found it hard to disentangle the effects of being in care from the impact of the difficult experiences (in most cases, abuse or neglect) that led to their admission. One of the reasons for this has been the difficulty of collecting data on children and their family backgrounds before they are taken into care. As a result, key questions remain unanswered. Does being in care compensate children for previous disadvantage and improve their wellbeing, from a frequently low starting point? Or does it instead compound the disadvantages they bring with them into care? In other words, do children who enter care do better or worse than children with similar backgrounds and histories who remain at home?
The aim of this study is to investigate whether outcomes for abused or neglected children who are admitted to care are better or worse than those for similar children who remain at home, supervised by social workers on a Child Protection Plan.It will be conducted in Bradford and will draw on data from two types of pre-existing dataset: (a) the Born in Bradford (BiB) Cohort Study and (b) Bradford Council's administrative databases on children known to have experienced abuse or neglect and children who are admitted to care. The BiB cohort study provides a fantastic opportunity to investigate the effects of being in care in relation to the effects of abuse, neglect and family difficulties, because it provides information on children's family circumstances before they entered care. During ante-natal appointments, it gathered information from the mothers of approximately 14,000 children born in Bradford April 2007-June 2011, at which time they gave written consent to the future linkage of this data with other data.
By linking anonymised data from these three existing datasets, the study will be able to identify all children in the BiB cohort deemed to have experienced abuse or neglect since April 2007 and, within this group (likely to be around 540 in number), to identify which of them have been taken into care. We will then follow up all abused and neglected children, who will be 2-6 years old at the time of the study, to compare the development and well-being of those placed in foster care to the progress of those who remain at home, by three means:
(a) a survey of social workers
(b) Interviews with the foster carers of the children in care and the parents of children living at home,
(c) Assessment of children's language development and early reading ability.
In these ways the study will gather information on children's general health and development, emotional, behavioural or attachment difficulties (if any), language development and early reading skills, their overall well-being and whether they have been re-abused. This will allow us to analyse the relative effects on their development and well-being of their family backgrounds, their experience of abuse and neglect and of being in care.
One of the toughest decisions that Children's Services have to make is whether to support abused and neglected children at home or take them into care. This multi-disciplinary study will be useful to policy-makers and practitioners as it will provide important new information on the circumstances in which support at home, or alternatively entry to care, can best promote the safety and development of children who have experienced abuse or neglect. It will also help to advance scientific understanding of the impact of placement in care on abused children.
The aim of this study is to investigate whether outcomes for abused or neglected children who are admitted to care are better or worse than those for similar children who remain at home, supervised by social workers on a Child Protection Plan.It will be conducted in Bradford and will draw on data from two types of pre-existing dataset: (a) the Born in Bradford (BiB) Cohort Study and (b) Bradford Council's administrative databases on children known to have experienced abuse or neglect and children who are admitted to care. The BiB cohort study provides a fantastic opportunity to investigate the effects of being in care in relation to the effects of abuse, neglect and family difficulties, because it provides information on children's family circumstances before they entered care. During ante-natal appointments, it gathered information from the mothers of approximately 14,000 children born in Bradford April 2007-June 2011, at which time they gave written consent to the future linkage of this data with other data.
By linking anonymised data from these three existing datasets, the study will be able to identify all children in the BiB cohort deemed to have experienced abuse or neglect since April 2007 and, within this group (likely to be around 540 in number), to identify which of them have been taken into care. We will then follow up all abused and neglected children, who will be 2-6 years old at the time of the study, to compare the development and well-being of those placed in foster care to the progress of those who remain at home, by three means:
(a) a survey of social workers
(b) Interviews with the foster carers of the children in care and the parents of children living at home,
(c) Assessment of children's language development and early reading ability.
In these ways the study will gather information on children's general health and development, emotional, behavioural or attachment difficulties (if any), language development and early reading skills, their overall well-being and whether they have been re-abused. This will allow us to analyse the relative effects on their development and well-being of their family backgrounds, their experience of abuse and neglect and of being in care.
One of the toughest decisions that Children's Services have to make is whether to support abused and neglected children at home or take them into care. This multi-disciplinary study will be useful to policy-makers and practitioners as it will provide important new information on the circumstances in which support at home, or alternatively entry to care, can best promote the safety and development of children who have experienced abuse or neglect. It will also help to advance scientific understanding of the impact of placement in care on abused children.
Planned Impact
This study will benefit a range of managers and professionals in the field of child protection and services for looked after children, including those working in social work services (social workers, children's guardians, independent reviewing officers and voluntary sector agencies providing services to abused and/or looked after children) as well as health, education and family justice professionals. It will also benefit national and local policy-makers responsible for child protection services and for planning for looked after children. Ultimately, and most importantly, it will benefit abused and neglected children, including those who become looked after.
Its benefits will be realised through the impact it has on local and national policy and on professional decision-making. Decisions about when it is best to support maltreated children at home and when it is better to admit them to care or accommodation are notoriously difficult to make, due to their inherent complexity and the uncertainty that inevitably characterizes them. Although such decisions will always remain a matter of professional judgment, this study will provide important new evidence to inform both national and local policy and professional judgement in individual cases. No prospective study of the kind proposed has previously been undertaken in the UK. By advancing scientific understanding of how, why and in what circumstances outcomes for maltreated children are more likely to be positive if they become looked after (or alternatively, if they remain at home), this study will help to develop the knowledge base that can be drawn on by , magistrates, managers and professionals involved in decision-making in child protection.
This knowledge will also contribute to the development of public policy on child protection, particularly in the fields of social work and health (including public health, community paediatrics and mental health).Even more importantly, the study has the potential to benefit vulnerable children, if better-informed decisions are made as a result of it. In the longer term, its findings may help to inform social work education (including continuing professional education) and help to ensure that both decision-making and support for maltreated children are more likely to enhance their well-being.
In these ways, the study will make an important contribution to increasing the effectiveness of public policy and services, particularly in the field of children's social care. It also has the potential to enhance the health, wellbeing and quality of life of maltreated children by improving the quality of professional decision-making and support.
Its benefits will be realised through the impact it has on local and national policy and on professional decision-making. Decisions about when it is best to support maltreated children at home and when it is better to admit them to care or accommodation are notoriously difficult to make, due to their inherent complexity and the uncertainty that inevitably characterizes them. Although such decisions will always remain a matter of professional judgment, this study will provide important new evidence to inform both national and local policy and professional judgement in individual cases. No prospective study of the kind proposed has previously been undertaken in the UK. By advancing scientific understanding of how, why and in what circumstances outcomes for maltreated children are more likely to be positive if they become looked after (or alternatively, if they remain at home), this study will help to develop the knowledge base that can be drawn on by , magistrates, managers and professionals involved in decision-making in child protection.
This knowledge will also contribute to the development of public policy on child protection, particularly in the fields of social work and health (including public health, community paediatrics and mental health).Even more importantly, the study has the potential to benefit vulnerable children, if better-informed decisions are made as a result of it. In the longer term, its findings may help to inform social work education (including continuing professional education) and help to ensure that both decision-making and support for maltreated children are more likely to enhance their well-being.
In these ways, the study will make an important contribution to increasing the effectiveness of public policy and services, particularly in the field of children's social care. It also has the potential to enhance the health, wellbeing and quality of life of maltreated children by improving the quality of professional decision-making and support.
Publications
Baldwin H
(2020)
Antenatal risk factors for child maltreatment: Linkage of data from a birth cohort study to child welfare records.
in Child abuse & neglect
Baldwin H
(2019)
Disentangling the effect of out-of-home care on child mental health.
in Child abuse & neglect
Biehal N
(2018)
In-home support or out of home care? Thresholds for intervention with abused and neglected children
in Children and Youth Services Review
Cusworth L
(2021)
Home or Care? A Comparison of Educational Outcomes for Maltreated Children
in The British Journal of Social Work
Fishburn S
(2017)
Mind-mindedness in parents of looked-after children.
in Developmental psychology
| Description | Outcomes for 'looked after' children (children in care) are frequently poor compared to children in the wider population. This has led to criticism that the care system is failing children. However, the majority of these children enter care due to abuse and/or neglect and there is strong evidence that these often have a negative impact on child health and development. Unlike most previous studies, this study compared children who became looked after due to maltreatment to other maltreated children who were supported at home on a Child Protection Plan for a while and never entered care. The 390 children were referred by the age of seven and followed up an average of five years later. The study provides important new evidence on outcomes for looked after children. These children were more likely to have mental health difficulties than maltreated children who had never been looked after, but the difference between the groups was very small. Other factors also played a part. The likelihood of mental health difficulties was greater where parents had a greater number of problems (such as substance misuse or mental health problems) or the child had a disability, and was lower for children whose current caregivers (parents, relatives or foster carers) showed greater warmth. On average, the children performed less well on tests of receptive vocabulary, phonics and early educational performance (Early Years Foundation and Key Stage 1 tests) than children in the wider population. However, when we compared looked after children to those who had never been looked after we found no significant differences in these respects. This suggests that their poorer speech, language development and educational performance were at least partially due to the histories of maltreatment and family difficulty they shared with maltreated children who remained at home and, as with mental health difficulties, these were unlikely to result from their placement in care. The study also makes an important contribution to recent debates about the high number of children referred to Children's Services and the rising number entering care. We found no evidence that children were placed on Child Protection Plans or taken into care unnecessarily. Nearly three-quarters had experienced multiple types of maltreatment and for over 80% this was extremely severe (as rated on a standardised measure of maltreatment severity) and often persistent. Children who became looked after were more likely to have experienced high severity abuse and/or neglect than those who remained in their families. In particular, they were more likely to experience physical abuse or severe neglect and were younger, on average, than those who never entered care. There was also little evidence of the peremptory removal of children, although this did occur in some cases where the risk of immediate harm was high. Parental difficulties contributed to decisions to take children into care, including persistent drug and alcohol misuse and mental health problems. These decisions were also influenced by parents' willingness to accept the concerns about their child and to engage in work to reduce the risk of harm. |
| Exploitation Route | Our impact strategy will ensure that the study contributes to the development of national and local child protection policy and practice. A. KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE WITH THE PARTICIPATING LOCAL AUTHORITY • We have arranged seminars with managers and staff and their partners in the other agencies to discuss study findings and explore their views on the implications for practice. • We are preparing briefings on key findings which will be posted on the local authority's intranet. B. INFORMING THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL POLICY AND PRACTICE. 1. We will send briefings to: • Policy leads on child protection and foster care at the Department for Education and Scottish Government • Policy officers at relevant national charities e.g. NSPCC (which has offered to share our findings on their website) • The Association of Directors of Children's Services • Our contacts in local authority Children's Services departments 2. Tweets will include links to these briefings. 3. We will propose the publication of articles on study findings to the relevant weekly (online) journals for social work managers and practitioners e.g.Community Care magazine. C. ACADEMIC IMPACT We are currently preparing five articles for publication in high impact academic journals and plan to disseminate our findings at three international conferences during 2017. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| Description | I have ticked yes here because, although we have no clear evidence of impact as yet, I wanted to briefly highlight the potential of some of our recent activities to have an impact on policy and practice with abused and neglected children, including those placed in care. First, we think the study has the potential to influence national policy both on the child protection system and on foster care. • I recently met with Sir Martin Narey, the senior adviser leading the government's review of policy on foster care (the 'Fostering Stocktake'), who travelled to the University of York to meet me (Nina Biehal) to discuss the implications of this study and our other current and previous research for the policy review. He later emailed that he had found this one-to-one meeting 'the most useful couple of hours I've spent on this review' so I anticipate that our discussion will have some impact on government policy, though it's still too early to tell as the findings of this policy review have not yet been published. • In addition, I have discussed our findings with the lead civil servant at the government's Department for Education who is responsible for national fostering services and with the policy lead on children's social work services. • Furthermore, I been invited to meet with representatives of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Children (APPG) who are conducting as inquiry into thresholds for care, a topic on which the study has important findings. We anticipate that our input may have an impact on this parliamentary group's group's conclusions and final report, but as they have not yet concluded their inquiry it is too early to say. We also think our findings are likely to have some impact on policy and practice at local level, given the considerable interest expressed by the senior management teams of the Children's Services departments of two local authorities who invited us to discuss the study with them. A third local authority recently invited us to present our findings on intervention with neglected children to the annual conference of its Local Safeguarding Children's Board. Participants were a multi-agency group of c200 local councillors, managers and practitioners including social workers, health professionals, school staff and the police working in the field of child protection, several of whom discussed with us the implications of our findings for the work they do. However, as this conference took place only a few days ago it is too early to know whether our input will have an impact on policy and services. Our recent presentation to a national conference for health professionals on the predictors of poor mental health for abused and neglected children who enter care compared to those supported at home sparked considerable interest. The audience included a wide range of health professionals including paediatricians, child psychiatrists and practitioners in community child health (e.g. health visitors and school nurses). Again it is too early to know whether our findings will have an impact on health services for children in care and other abused or neglected children. The findings of our study may also have an international impact as they have been presented at international conferences for social work practitioners (as well as academics and PhD students) in Spain (September 2016), the Netherlands (August 2017) and Hong Kong (September 2017) and on each occasion have sparked a lot of questions and discussion. N.B I have ticked the current year in the box below, as it is not possible to complete and leave this page without ticking a date. Update: the results of this study as currently published have been widely circulated to interested stakeholders. This means that the wider findings have been disseminated to senior civil servants, legal representatives, local authorities, social workers, and charities (eg. NSPCC). Whilst it is hard to measure direct impact we feel that we have contributed to the wider debates with academic and non-academic audiences. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Sent article (Biehal,N.,Baldwin, H., Cusworth, L., Wade, J. and Allgar, V. 'In-home support or out of home care? Thresholds for intervention with abused and neglected children.' Children and Youth Services Review 89, June 2018, pp. 263-271) and summary to editor of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Family Justice Bulletin. Item on study finding reported in MoJ bulletin. Family justice professionals across national and local government made aware of key findings (judges, lawyers, Children's Guardians, local authority legal departments, social work services). |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in clinical reviews |
| Description | Sent article (Biehal,N.,Baldwin, H., Cusworth, L., Wade, J. and Allgar, V. 'In-home support or out of home care? Thresholds for intervention with abused and neglected children.' Children and Youth Services Review 89, June 2018, pp. 263-271) to head of Research and Evaluation at the NSPCC. Item on study included in NSPCC monthly research and policy update |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in clinical reviews |
| URL | http://email.nspcc.org.uk/q/141DW9rgTlCf7eYSAEsGv/wv |
| Description | Sent article (Biehal,N.,Baldwin, H., Cusworth, L., Wade, J. and Allgar, V. 'In-home support or out of home care? Thresholds for intervention with abused and neglected children.' Children and Youth Services Review 89, June 2018, pp. 263-271) to three senior civil servants at the government department responsible for policy on maltreated children and looked after children (Department of Education). Senior civil servants responsible for briefing ministers made aware of key findings - potential for impact on national policy. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Description | Sent article to author commissioned to undertake national review of the evidence on thresholds for placement in care commissioned by the Family Rights Group. Paragraph on study findings included in the report on this review, which was published nationally and circulated to key policy-makers and professionals in national and local government and children's charities. Thomas, C. (2018) The Care Crisis Review: Factors contributing to national increases in numbers of looked after children and applications for care orders. London: Family Rights Group. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in systematic reviews |
| Description | Tweeted link to article Biehal,N.,Baldwin, H., Cusworth, L., Wade, J. and Allgar, V. 'In-home support or out of home care? Thresholds for intervention with abused and neglected children.' Children and Youth Services Review 89, June 2018, pp. 263-271 (28/06/18) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Description | sent article to relevant national local government organisations responsible for services to abused and looked after children, the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS). ADCS circulated link to article in their weekly newsletter to membersw, professionals in local government made aware of key findings |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in clinical reviews |
| Description | ESRC Impact Acceleration Account |
| Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2017 |
| End | 07/2018 |
| Description | Informal meeting with head of policy and research at NSPCC (July 2016) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Had informal meeting with head of policy and research at NSPCC who was very interested in study findings. He offered the opportunity of disseminating findings via the NSPCC's website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Presentation on the linkage of administrative, cohort and primary data in the study to expert conference on linkage and analysis of administrative data(January 2017). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to conference: 'Using population-level data to understand and improve the family justice system'. This was a knowledge exchange event held on 30th January 2017 at UCL, London. We drew on issues arising in this study to contribute to discussion on challenges of linking administrative, cohort and primary data. We anticipate that the presentation may contribute to wider debates on the uses and challenges of data linkage to investigate the nature and impact of public policy but it is too early to know whether our input has had a direct impact. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | 'Decision-making and outcomes for abused and neglected children', Masterclass, Leeds Children's Service. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sparked discussion on decision-making and service provision in child protection services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | 'Mental outcomes for maltreated children in and out of care' BASPCAN 10th International Congress, University of Warwick |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Conference presentation to a multi-disciplinary audience of academics. Provoked likely discussion approaches to evaluating outcomes for abused and neglected children in general and looked after children in particular. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | 1. 3rd September 2014 Poster presentation by Nina Biehal, Linda Cusworth and Jim Wade at EUSARF conference, Copenhagen (for professional practitioners and academics) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Raised awareness of the study among international practitioners and researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Briefing sent to participating local authority (October 2016). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sent briefing to senior staff at local authority where study took place to update them on dissemination plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | CLOSER conference, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation by Helen Baldwin: Identifying predictors of recorded child maltreatment using data from a birth cohort study. CLOSER (Cohort and Longitudinal Studies Enhancement Resources) conference: The importance of early years, childhood and adolescence: Evidence from longitudinal studies. London, British Library Conference Centre. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Discussion with the National Children's Bureau (NCB) All Party Parliamentary Group on Children (APPG) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Informal discussion with policy staff of NCB, who are facilitating an inquiry by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Children (APPG)into thresholds for care, This is a topic on which our study has important findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | EUSARF Conference (denmark) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation by Nina Biehal, Linda Cusworth and Jim Wade: Home or care? Outcomes for maltreated children in a multi-ethnic cohort EUSARF (European Scientific Association on Residential and Family Care for Children and Adolescents)/Danish National Centre for Social Research. Copenhagen, Denmark. Conference participants included a mix of professional social work managers and practitioners and international researchers. Many people who viewed the poster engaged in discussion about the study. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | European conference, on Social Work Research, Lisbon, Portugal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented paper on initial study findings to Euorpean Conference on Social Work Research (ECSWR),Catholic University of Lisbon, Lisbon. International audience consisted of practitioners and researchers. Sparked questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | ISPCAN conference, Romania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 28th September 2015 Poster presentation by Linda Cusworth: Home or care? Outcomes for maltreated children in a multi-ethnic cohort 14th ISPCAN (International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) European Regional Conference on child abuse and neglect, Bucharest, Rumania. Practitioners and other researchers engaged in discussion about the aims and initial findings of the study. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Informal meeting with government lead civil servant on foster care who attended presentation I gave on another study (July 2016). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Discussed study with lead civil servant (at Department for Education) who is responsible for national fostering services. She now wishes to be informed of study findings and will provide a link to to her relevant senior civil servants (e.g. the national policy lead on child protection). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Invited keynote presentation to practitioners and academics from China, Japan, Korea, Australia and UK (Hong Kong, September 2017). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited keynote presentation to practitioners and academics from China, Japan, Korea, Australia and UK (Hong Kong, September 2017). Discussions with senior social work practitioners and academics from China regarding study's implications for social services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited presentation (keynote address) to international audience at conference in Hong Kong |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited keynote presentation on study findings to international conference at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Many of the managers and researchers present came to talk to me afterwards about the findings and their implications for their own countries. Particpants attended from Hong Kong, mainland China, South Korea, Japan and Europe. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited presentation of research evidence to a committee of MPs and members of the House of Lords |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation on evidence from this study to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Children (APPG) inquiry into thresholds for placement in care. The APPG on children comprises MPs and members of the House of Lords. The hearing was attended by members of Presentation sparked a discussion with APPG members and representatives of relevant professional bodies (social work) who atytended the hearing. We anticipate that our findings will be included inthe published report of the inquiry. One member of the APPG (a member of the House of Lords requested a meeting with me to discuss the study further. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited presentation to policy-makers and managers in China |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited to discuss research finding from our study on the operation of child protection system in England to a symposium of managers and practitioners in welfare services from across China. The symposium was organised to support development of Chinese child protection system by sharing research on child protection in Europe and the USA. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Meeting with senior government advisor (July 2017) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Sir Martin Narey, the senior adviser leading the government's review of policy on foster care (the 'Fostering Stocktake') travelled to the University of York on July 26th 2017 to meet with the study PI (Nina Biehal) to discuss the implications of this study and our other current and previous research for the policy review. He later emailed that he had found this one-to-one meeting 'the most useful couple of hours I've spent on this review' so I anticipate that our discussion will have some impact on government policy, though it's currently too early to tell as the findings of this policy review have not yet been published, |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation at BASPCAN (British Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) conference, Birmingham ( November 2016). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to practitioner (doctors and social workers) and academics. Generated a lot of interest in the study findings and sparked discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Presentation at international conference on child abuse and neglect in the Netherlands |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to international audience at the ISPCAN (International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Negelct) European regional conference on Multidisciplinary Interagency Approaches to the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse & Neglect., The Hague, the Netherlands. Sparked interest in our methodological approach and findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation in Salford (July 2017) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on study findings to social work and health professionals. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation of findings to senior management team (Children's Services) of local authority where study took place (March 2017). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented key study findings to senior management team (Children's Services) at Bradford Metropolitan District Council, where the study took place. Discussion of the implications for the local authority's policy and practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation on professional social work practice with abused children to social workers and the national Commissioner for Children in the Netherlands (August 2017). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on professional responses to abused and neglected children delivered to to social work practitioners, the Children's Commissioner for the Netherlands and am international group of academics and PhD students at the conference The Future of Child and Family Welfare Policy: University of Groningen, The Netherlands. The presentation sparked considerable interest among social workers present, some of whom asked for further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation on study findings to professional practitioner audience |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of our evidence on professional responses to child neglect to the annual conference of Leeds Local Safeguarding Children's Board attended by social workers, teachers,and the police. Presentation sparked questions and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation to multi-agency group in Leeds (September 2017) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation on the study's findings regarding work with neglected children to Leeds Safeguarding Children's Board's annual conference. Participants were a multi-agency group of c200 local councillors, managers and practitioners including social workers, health professionals, school staff and the police working in the field of child protection. There was considerable interest in the study's findings but it is too early to know whether they will have an impact on policy and services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation to national conference for health professionals (July 2017). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation for health professionals to national conference on working with abused and neglected children. Audience include paediatricians, child psychiatrists and public health practitioners (e.g. school nurses). The presentation of our findings on the predictors of poor mental health for these children sparked considerable interest. Too early say whether this talk will have an impact on child protection services delivered by health practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation to social work practitioners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Half-day conference on the study findings to an audience of social work practitioners in the region. Presentation led to debate among participants on current professional practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Round-table discussion with Senior management team (Children's Services) at North Yorkshire County Council (February 2017) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of study findings on child neglect. This was followed by a roundtable discussion with the local authority senior management team for Children's Services at North Yorkshire County Council, to discuss the policy and practice implications arising from our findings. The senior management team suggested several new research projects they would like to collaborate with us on, whghich would help to inform their services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Seminar with health professionals and researchers at local hospital in city where study took place (April 2017) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Seminar with local public health professionals at hospital in city where study took place. Researchers on the public health cohort study to which our study was linked also attened. Discussed implication s of the study for local child protection services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Three presentations at European Scientific Association for Research on Residential and Family Care (EUSARF) XVIth International Conference (September 2016). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Three presentations on the study (by three members of the research team) at the European Scientific Association for Research on Residential and Family Care (EUSARF) XVIth International Conference: Shaping the Future, Oviedo, Spain 14-16th September, 2016. Audience consisted of practitioners and academics, several of whom discussed the study with us afterwards and expressed an interest in any outputs produced. One delegate with close links to national civil servants responsible for children's social care at national level (the Department for Education), asked permission to send the slides for our three presentations to the lead (national) civil servant responsible for looked after children. She said she felt it was important that the Department for Education should hear about study findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Workshops with team managers and social workers at the local authority where the study took place (March 2017). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Two workshops with social work team managers to discuss potential implications of study findings for local practice with abused children and their families. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |