Establishing outcomes of care proceedings for children before and after care proceedings reform
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Law
Abstract
The study will identify outcomes for children of care proceedings by linking administrative data on children's services with data collected in a study of these proceedings. Linking research data about their court cases with administrative records about children's subsequent care can provide an account of outcomes for children, which will assist professionals working in the family justice system to make better decisions about children in these proceedings. Supplemented with information drawn from children's local authority social work files and interviews with professionals responsible for services, the study will demonstrate the power and limitations of administrative data in understanding outcomes of care proceedings. This innovative use of administrative data will be useful to academics and non academics, developing knowledge of the effects of contemporary policy and practice in child protection, and enabling a systemic and interactive approach to understanding care proceedings.
The DfE and Cafcass are project partners supporting research access to the administrative datasets.
In England and Wales, local authorities bring care proceedings in the family court to secure the protection of children where suitable arrangements cannot be made with parental agreement. The court's role is to make decisions and orders in the child's best interests, to secure justice for parents and children, and to hold the local authority to account. To achieve this it scrutinises the local authority's care plan and considers other proposals for the child's care from parents/ relatives and the child's representative (cafcass guardian). Decisions in these cases are necessarily based on a prognosis about the child's future care but courts obtain no information about what happens to children subsequently. This is true for most of those working in the family justice system (judges, lawyers, children's guardians, expert witnesses and social workers.
Following these proceedings, local authorities have the responsibility for implementing the care plan/order by looking after children subject to care orders, finding families for those subject to adoption plans and supervising or supporting supporting those cared for in their families. Administrative records are kept on each child in the care system or supported by the local authority, and these provide accounts of social care performance by local authority and over time. This study will use these data to provide an account of the care/service histories for a sample of approximately 290 children subject to care proceedings in 2009-11, collected in an earlier ESRC study of practice in 6 local authorities. Data from these proceedings provides a rich account of children's pre-care lives and the court process through which plans were scrutinised and orders made. Linking these datasets will provide a nuanced account of the impact on children's lives of the legal and social work process that are applied to them.
In 2013, a new process for care proceedings (now PLO 2014) was introduced to secure case completion in 26 weeks, approximately half the time taken previously. Court powers to order assessments were controlled, making courts more reliant on information from the local authority. The study will draw a new sample of care proceedings brought by the same 6 local authorities in 2014 to compare processes, decision-making and outcomes for children after 1 year with those in the earlier data. This will establish the extent to which shorter proceedings are resulting in more timely decisions for children, different plans and orders in proceedings, and different outcomes for children one year after the final court order.
Outputs will include a report, summaries for family justice professionals, articles in academic law, social work and research methods journals, and for practitioners. There will be impacts on practice in child care and protection in the family court and local authorities.
The DfE and Cafcass are project partners supporting research access to the administrative datasets.
In England and Wales, local authorities bring care proceedings in the family court to secure the protection of children where suitable arrangements cannot be made with parental agreement. The court's role is to make decisions and orders in the child's best interests, to secure justice for parents and children, and to hold the local authority to account. To achieve this it scrutinises the local authority's care plan and considers other proposals for the child's care from parents/ relatives and the child's representative (cafcass guardian). Decisions in these cases are necessarily based on a prognosis about the child's future care but courts obtain no information about what happens to children subsequently. This is true for most of those working in the family justice system (judges, lawyers, children's guardians, expert witnesses and social workers.
Following these proceedings, local authorities have the responsibility for implementing the care plan/order by looking after children subject to care orders, finding families for those subject to adoption plans and supervising or supporting supporting those cared for in their families. Administrative records are kept on each child in the care system or supported by the local authority, and these provide accounts of social care performance by local authority and over time. This study will use these data to provide an account of the care/service histories for a sample of approximately 290 children subject to care proceedings in 2009-11, collected in an earlier ESRC study of practice in 6 local authorities. Data from these proceedings provides a rich account of children's pre-care lives and the court process through which plans were scrutinised and orders made. Linking these datasets will provide a nuanced account of the impact on children's lives of the legal and social work process that are applied to them.
In 2013, a new process for care proceedings (now PLO 2014) was introduced to secure case completion in 26 weeks, approximately half the time taken previously. Court powers to order assessments were controlled, making courts more reliant on information from the local authority. The study will draw a new sample of care proceedings brought by the same 6 local authorities in 2014 to compare processes, decision-making and outcomes for children after 1 year with those in the earlier data. This will establish the extent to which shorter proceedings are resulting in more timely decisions for children, different plans and orders in proceedings, and different outcomes for children one year after the final court order.
Outputs will include a report, summaries for family justice professionals, articles in academic law, social work and research methods journals, and for practitioners. There will be impacts on practice in child care and protection in the family court and local authorities.
Planned Impact
The research will benefit those responsible for, or working in, the family justice system, and the children and families who are subject to the system's processes. This includes:
1)The Family Justice Board, which has set improving outcomes for children as one of its strategic priorities for the family justice system but has no system in place to establish or measure these - the only information it has relates to court outputs and the timeliness of decisions. The new PLO with quicker proceedings and reduced resources for expert assessments and legal representation raises (currently unanswerable) questions about the impact on outcomes for children. By linking data, the project will show what can be learned about outcomes for children subject to the family justice system from existing administrative data, the limitations of that data, how data linkage can be achieved and what differences the new PLO is making.
2) Local family justice boards, which are responsible for the effective operation of the family justice system in their area, and include representatives from local services (local authorities, cafcass, HMCTS etc). Understanding the impact on children of process is central to their work. The PI and CoI are members of their local boards, and have experience of delivering training to lfjbs elsewhere. The findings in terms of outcomes and process will be relevant generally; there will be specific lessons in the study areas.
3) Judges, who currently have no feedback about their decision-making other than its timeliness and (rare) decisions on appeals. Data linkage will enable judges to obtain systematic data on outcomes for children and local authority performance, which takes account of the characteristics and histories of the children. Such information will provide a firmer basis from which to understand the way children's needs are met and for performing the judicial functions of scrutinising care plans and making orders.
4) The Judicial College, which is responsible for judicial training will benefit by being able to draw on new bodies of knowledge on care proceedings process under the new PLO and on outcomes for children, to inform judges and support them in developing their capacity to case manage and make decisions in these proceedings.
5) LA social work policy makers, managers and practitioners already have access to analyses of this administrative data, so they can compare their authority's performance with others. However, these generally do not distinguish between children subject to orders and those looked after by agreement, take account of the role of the court in care planning or allow comparisons between outcomes for children in the same family, or placed with/without their siblings etc. Data linkage will enable the study LAs to have a significantly better understanding of the contribution of the court process to care planning, and of the outcomes for children of using legal process.This will provide the basis for their own assessments of the use of care proceedings (which vary substantially between authorities) and for developing local policy and practice. Elsewhere, the study will add to knowledge of the use of administrative data, its interpretation and limitations, and support practice learning about proceedings under the PLO and their impact on outcomes for children.
6) Lawyers, who act in care proceedings will obtain an account of practice under the new PLO to support case preparation, presentation and decision-making, and for staff development.
7) Cafcass officers, who advise the court about children's welfare will have access to information about outcomes of care proceedings for children to inform their practice.
8) Children and families, who are subject to care proceedings will gain from improved decision-making by family justice professionals who are informed about the outcomes for children of care proceedings.
Overall, the research provides the basis for improved decision-making.
1)The Family Justice Board, which has set improving outcomes for children as one of its strategic priorities for the family justice system but has no system in place to establish or measure these - the only information it has relates to court outputs and the timeliness of decisions. The new PLO with quicker proceedings and reduced resources for expert assessments and legal representation raises (currently unanswerable) questions about the impact on outcomes for children. By linking data, the project will show what can be learned about outcomes for children subject to the family justice system from existing administrative data, the limitations of that data, how data linkage can be achieved and what differences the new PLO is making.
2) Local family justice boards, which are responsible for the effective operation of the family justice system in their area, and include representatives from local services (local authorities, cafcass, HMCTS etc). Understanding the impact on children of process is central to their work. The PI and CoI are members of their local boards, and have experience of delivering training to lfjbs elsewhere. The findings in terms of outcomes and process will be relevant generally; there will be specific lessons in the study areas.
3) Judges, who currently have no feedback about their decision-making other than its timeliness and (rare) decisions on appeals. Data linkage will enable judges to obtain systematic data on outcomes for children and local authority performance, which takes account of the characteristics and histories of the children. Such information will provide a firmer basis from which to understand the way children's needs are met and for performing the judicial functions of scrutinising care plans and making orders.
4) The Judicial College, which is responsible for judicial training will benefit by being able to draw on new bodies of knowledge on care proceedings process under the new PLO and on outcomes for children, to inform judges and support them in developing their capacity to case manage and make decisions in these proceedings.
5) LA social work policy makers, managers and practitioners already have access to analyses of this administrative data, so they can compare their authority's performance with others. However, these generally do not distinguish between children subject to orders and those looked after by agreement, take account of the role of the court in care planning or allow comparisons between outcomes for children in the same family, or placed with/without their siblings etc. Data linkage will enable the study LAs to have a significantly better understanding of the contribution of the court process to care planning, and of the outcomes for children of using legal process.This will provide the basis for their own assessments of the use of care proceedings (which vary substantially between authorities) and for developing local policy and practice. Elsewhere, the study will add to knowledge of the use of administrative data, its interpretation and limitations, and support practice learning about proceedings under the PLO and their impact on outcomes for children.
6) Lawyers, who act in care proceedings will obtain an account of practice under the new PLO to support case preparation, presentation and decision-making, and for staff development.
7) Cafcass officers, who advise the court about children's welfare will have access to information about outcomes of care proceedings for children to inform their practice.
8) Children and families, who are subject to care proceedings will gain from improved decision-making by family justice professionals who are informed about the outcomes for children of care proceedings.
Overall, the research provides the basis for improved decision-making.
Publications
Dickens J
(2019)
Courts, care proceedings and outcomes uncertainty: The challenges of achieving and assessing "good outcomes" for children after child protection proceedings
in Child & Family Social Work
Judith Masson
(2020)
Reforming care proceedings findings and prospects
in Family Law
Masson J
(2017)
Achieving positive change for children? Reducing the length of child protection proceedings: lessons from England and Wales
in Adoption & Fostering
Masson J
(2019)
Data Visualisation in Children's Social Care
Masson J
(2018)
Reforming care proceedings 2 Children's Outcomes
Masson J
(2018)
Reforming care proceedings 3: Insights form data linkage
Masson J
(2018)
Understanding the current use of s.20
in Family Law
Masson J
(2020)
Linking children's social care data to information about their care proceedings to understand the use of care proceedings and their effects on parents, children and local authorities.
in Child & Family Social Work
Masson J
(2019)
Outcomes of care proceedings for children
in Family Law
Masson J
(2019)
The PLO Reforms and Outcomes for Children
in Seen and Heard
| Description | • Court process and timely decisions for children. The reduction in the length of care proceedings to a maximum of 26 weeks was being achieved for most cases, but many of those decided at a final hearing, rather than earlier (at the IRH) take longer than 26 weeks. There are wide variations between areas in early case completion reflecting stronger or weaker focus on settlement by the court. Courts were less reliant on appointing experts to conduct assessment during proceedings; experts were appointed in a small majority of cases overall but again there were variations between courts in the volume of requests from lawyers for parents or children and some inconsistency in approach by the judiciary. Shorter proceedings resulted in children obtaining permanent placements more quickly and at a younger age, and local authorities looking after children for fewer days during proceedings. • Court outcomes: There were substantial differences in the orders made after the reforms with a large reduction in Placement Orders (approval of adoption plans) and increases in children remaining with parents under Supervision Orders or being placed with relatives under Special Guardianship Orders with Supervision Orders. Whilst the changes in duration and orders have been experienced at the same time, local authority interviewees and the judiciary noted their very different origins - shorter duration:from the Children and Families Act 2014 and different orders following decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. • Care: The study has identified previously unrecognised patterns in the use of care in relation to care proceedings. In this sample: 1) Approximately 1/6th of children were not looked after by the local authority. They stayed at home (or with relatives) during proceedings and remained at home or moved to relatives acting as Special Guardians at the end of proceedings. For a minority of these children the local authority plan to remove them had been blocked by the court's refusal to grant an Interim Care Order with removal early in the proceedings. Children also remained at home because local authorities withdrew applications for ICO in the face of opposition from parents and sometimes also the children's guardian. 2) During proceedings, a substantial percentage of children are looked after under voluntary agreements (s.20) rather than court orders. This percentage was almost twice as large for cases after the reforms (18.9% vs 10.5%). This is important given the controversies surrounding the use of voluntary agreements. 3) Where children were not in care during care proceedings they were likely to be made subject to a supervision order, which together with the findings on failure of supervision orders to effect change raises questions about the use of care proceedings in these cases. 4) Children subject to proceedings in the Study Areas left care as in one of 3 main ways: i) at or around the final hearing, returning to a parent or moving to a relative with an SGO; ii) subsequently, when they are adopted; iii) they aged out of care at age 18 years. Re-unification occurred swiftly, at the end of proceedings; most children who remained in care after proceedings without an adoption plan could be expected to spend their remaining childhood in the care system. • Diversion and repeat care proceedings: Longer term follow up of children diverted from court through the pre-proceedings process found approximately a quarter of their families were subject to care proceedings over the following five years. Further care proceedings were also brought to protect a quarter of children made subject to Supervision Orders. On this basis it is not clear that use of supervision orders is more successful in improving parenting that simple diversion from court through the pre-proceedings process. • The implementation of care plans: Local authorities were largely successful in implementing care plans approved by the court. Most children in the 2009-10 sample achieved a stable placement which endured. There was no evidence that local authorities ignored care plans they presented to court but, for sample 1 children, they did not always succeed in achieving an adoption placement.The qualitative analysis indicated the considerable needs of most of the children, and the substantial efforts by local authorities to implement care plans, and secure therapy and support for children in care or with relatives. • Children's needs and court orders: children made subject to the different orders in the court 'menu' had similar needs, relating to the abuse and neglect they had experiences, including in the womb. The different orders are granted because of their age (placement orders generally only for infants and pre-school children) and the availability or not of parents or family members considered able, and willing to provide care. In these circumstances it is unfortunate (to say the least) that the regimes for supporting parents and carers vary so widely depending on whether the child has been in the care system and the order granted. Relative carers who have care of a child, who has never been in care are the most disadvantaged in their access to services. This would matter less if there were adequate universal services available, particularly for children with mental health needs. • Data linkage: Deterministic data linkage is a valuable but complex and time-consuming method for obtaining longitudinal findings on outcomes from care proceedings. Without qualitative data from children's social care files it provides only limited outcomes measures but reveals important interactions between courts and care services. • Simply linking the start and end dates of care proceedings with the social care data routinely collected and analysed by local authorities makes it possible to see the relationship between children's social care services (including care) and the use of care proceedings and also to track cohorts of children subject to care proceedings (see Tools, above left tab) for a more detailed explanation of the method. |
| Exploitation Route | These findings are contributing to better understanding of the use of court resources; judicial training and children's services department policy and planning in relation to the use of supervision orders; the assessment of kin carers during care proceedings; and in social work education. They will assist researchers working with two key administrative data sets relating to children's social care (CiN and CLA) and using deterministic methods to link these data sets to external sources of data relating to children. The tool described above (Methods and tools, above left tab) can be used by local authorities to analyse their data to see their patterns of use of care proceedings, and use of services in connection with care proceedings. Also as a basis for providing feedback to the courts and other family justice professionals about outcomes for cohorts of children subject to care proceedings. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://www.uea.ac.uk/crcf/social-work-practice/making-decisions-about-children/establishing-outcomes-of-care-proceedings-for-children-before-and-after-care-proceedings-reform |
| Description | Care proceedings:Findings from the study have contributed to understanding the multiple and intersecting reasons for the increase in care proceedings, outlined in the 'Care Crisis Review' (2018) and in connection with the current Treasury Review of care proceedings. Judicial training: Findings relating to court process and outcomes are being used in judicial training in England and Wales. The findings provide the first holistic picture for the judiciary about the longer term outcomes of court orders made in care proceedings, dispelling some of the myths judges had about what happens to children after care proceedings. Variability of Family Court decision-making: the findings are adding to understanding about the variability of practice in the Family Court, the impact of this on the use of court and local authority resources and on the children who are the subject of proceedings and their families. These findings have been used to by local family justice boards and Designated Family Judges to review the reasons for cases taking longer or requiring additional court resources. This should contribute to more effective judicial case management. Despite the impact of Covid, there is continued recognition of the importance to children of completing care proceedings swiftly. Similarly, the evidence provided by the study is increasing the focus on support for kin carers and the limitations of Supervision Orders in securing children's wellbeing unless there is strong engagement between families and children's services (and vice versa). Special Guardianship: emerging findings were used by the Department for Education in its review of special guardianship in 2015, which resulted in strengthened guidance to local authorities and new duties on the courts in the Children and Social Work Act 2017. They are also contributing to the development of guidance to be issued by the President of the Family Division in 2019 on timetabling care proceedings to ensure sufficient time is allowed for the assessment and preparation of possible special guardians who are not the child's current carers. Adoption: Findings are adding to understandings about the changes to adoption practice and the impact of the court decisions in Re B and Re B-S (which coincided with the introduction of the PLO), particularly in relation to the ages of children for whom an adoption plan is approved by the court and the timeliness of adoption. Findings on the impact of care proceedings on the use of care, the impact of care on orders in care proceedings and how to analyse local authority data with care proceedings data are being used by local authorities to improve understanding of practice, specifically to make decisions whether to bring care proceedings; the importance of preparation to secure an Interim Care Order to the final outcome of proceedings; and to monitor how and when court practice changes. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Consultant to Nuffield Foundation Funded Project Scoping a Family Justice Observatory |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| URL | http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/towards-family-justice-observatory |
| Description | Consultation and evidence to care crisis review about the use of care proceedings, and changes in that use based on data from the study and earlier research) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.frg.org.uk/involving-families/reforming-law-and-practice/care-crisis-review |
| Description | Contribution to review and policy development on use of care proceedings by Derbyshire County Council |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Description | Membership of Family Justice Council Committee examining mediation in child care practice |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Participation in Family Justice Council Working Group on Special Guardianship |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Impact | Working to improve decision making in courts and children's services in decision-making about placement of children with friends and family and the making of Special Guardianship Orders |
| URL | https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/PLWG-SGO-Final-Report-1.pdf |
| Description | Discharge of Care Orders - a National Study |
| Amount | £276,141 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | JUS/43814 |
| Organisation | Nuffield Foundation |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Description | Miegunyah Fellowship |
| Amount | $15,000 (AUD) |
| Organisation | University of Melbourne |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Australia |
| Start | 03/2016 |
| End | 04/2016 |
| Description | Visualising Data in Care Proceedings |
| Amount | £79,700 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Nuffield Foundation |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 12/2018 |
| Title | Linking social care and care proceedings data to identify how proceedings are being used and track outcomes of care proceedings for distinct cohorts of children |
| Description | By inking children's social care data, which local authorities collect for their CiN and LAC returns to the Department of Education (or in Wales, the Welsh Government) with 3 data items (variables) held by the local authority's legal department for each child subject to care proceedings a) the date of the child's care proceedings application (C100A); b) the date of final order and c) the type of order granted, local authorities can identify specific information in their social care data which would otherwise not be apparent including: 1) the length of time the child was looked after (LAC) before proceedings; 2) whether a child was LAC during or after the proceedings; 3) the length and periods of service provision before / after proceedings for children who were not LAC. They can also identify cohorts of children subject to proceedings in any set period and track the care / service journeys of those children after the end of proceedings. This analysis provides the basis for monitoring changes in policy or practice in local authorities in relation to the use of care proceedings or the orders granted, and thus providing feedback to local authority managers and practitioners, cafcass practitioners and the courts. The Family Justice Review recommended that the judiciary should receive feedback on the decisions they make in care proceedings. This analytical method provides a relatively simple way for local authorities to analyse their use of care proceedings alongside other social care interventions/ services, using only the 3 variables listed above to the data they are already required to collect. The only difficulties likely to be experience relate to the incompatibility of social care and legal data systems (which may necessitate manual entry of the 3 variables taken from legal department records); and ensuring a completely accurate match and incomplete records. Matching can be achieved using dob and / or names (noting that both a prone to minor errors). Sankey graphs are a useful way of visualising care journeys. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This method has been tested with one large local authority who are planning to make use of it. Work is underway to disseminate it more widely. |
| URL | https://bit.ly/2GsFJ39 |
| Title | Outcomes of care proceedings for children |
| Description | Child level database containing 616 records of children subject to care proceedings in 6 local authorities. 290 relate to children who were subject to an application under Children Act 1989, s.31 proceedings 2009-10 and 326 relate to children with applications 2014-15. These data were linked to children's social care records, and records of further family proceedings held in the Cafcass databases. The database contains derived variables using these sources |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Identification of the different care trajectories of children subject to proceedings and those becoming looked after but not subject to proceedings Identification of different outcomes for children in the 2009-10 cohort and those in the later cohort North Yorkshire County Council has applied the same approach for analysing internal data A Coram project, Intelligent Data in Risk and Family Justice, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, had disseminated the original analysis and the North Yorkshire CC application of it as examples of a what can be achieved through data visualisation. |
| URL | http://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/853328/ |
| Description | Data visualisation in children's social care |
| Organisation | Coram |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Providing examples of novel analysis of children's social care data as an example of how local authorities can examine service use and predict demand |
| Collaborator Contribution | Worked directly with local authorities to identify how best to assist them to develop data use through analysis and visualisation to understand service needs and demands. Held seminar to present findings to local authorities, government departments and other stakeholders |
| Impact | Workshop on data visualisation for decision-making in children's social care. An interdisciplinary event with social work policy makers and practitioners, researchers from data science, epidemiology and socio-legal studies. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | 1st 5 Nations symposium on children's services for the courts (Belfast) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Founding conference to establish an agenda for co-operation and problem solving between the social work services for the courts in the 4 nations of the UK and Eire. Purpose of my presentation was to show what can be learned through research and raise the profile of children's outcomes in discussions of service delivery |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | ADCS Understanding the relationships between care and care proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at the Joint care and family committees of the Association of Directors of Children's Services demonstrating how local authorities can combine LAC and CiN data with data on care proceedings, held by their legal departments to examine more closely the outcomes they achieve in care proceedings, and to tack children so that they can provide feedback on outcome patters to their managers and staff, Cafcass practitioners and local judiciary |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Achieving positive change for children- reducing the length of care proceedings lessons form England and Wales (Dublin) |
| 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 | Presentation at International conference on Children's rights and Family Law to an interdisciplinary audience of judges, lawyers, social workers, third sector workers and policy makers resulted in further invitations to speak, including to train judges, and the publication of the paper in Adoption and Fostering |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://wcflcr2017.com/ |
| Description | Adoption and Fostering Alliance Scotland Legal Conference (Dundee) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Annual conference of lawyers and social workers specializing in adoption in Scotland. Presentation focused on the impact of reforms in England on adoption practice, particularly how adoption had been achieved more speedily and for younger children |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Association of Lawyers for Children Annual Conference 2018 - After carre proceedings outcomes for children and young people |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Keynote lecture to specialist practitioners representing children in care proceedings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | BASPCAN (Warwick) Presentation Outcomes of Care proceedings |
| 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 key findings relating to the impact of care proceedings reform on care proceedings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.baspcan.org.uk/congress-2018/ |
| Description | BASPCAN Symposium on Outcomes for children |
| 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 | Symposium involving presentations from 3 members of the research team and two other researchers working in the area of Outcomes for children following children's services involvement (child protection or child care) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.baspcan.org.uk/congress-2018/ |
| Description | Cafcass webinar: Patterns of practice in care proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Webinar for Cafcass Family Court Advisers, managers and legal advisers focusing on the impact of the time limit in care proceedings on the care proceedings process and decisions made for children. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Cardiff University Adoption Research Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of findings from the project and discussion of new developments and new findings in adoption research research and practice from other projects amongst a mixed audience of practitioners ,researchers and post graduate students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Child and Family Research Conference : Outcomes of care proceedings research findings and messages for practice |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Event to disseminate key findings of the research to social workers, children's guardians and local authority managers, to discuss the implications for practice and launch the 3 research briefs. The event consisted of a series of presentations, Q and A and discussion between and with participating practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Children's Social Care Data User Group Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Seminar for researchers who use children's social care data to exchange experience is using and analyzing data, and discussion with policy makers and analysts who work with these data in central and local givernment |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Contemporary law and policy for child welfare: the PLO and outcomes of care proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Post Qualifying Social Work Students attended two workshops on care proceedings under the PLO, based on the findings from the Research Project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Coram 2 Data visualisation for children's social care - the benefits of linking social care data to care proceedings data |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A mixed audience from government departments and regulators, local authority social work and data managers and third sector organisations attended an 1 day event demonstrating how better use of data, and data visualisation, could support the improvement of decision-making and service delivery in children's social care, |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://coram-i.org.uk/data-visualisation-in-social-care/ |
| Description | Data visualisation for decision-making in childrens social care |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event was part of a programme of work where I am collaborating with Coram and other researchers on a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation to explore how local authorities can make better use of their data for decision-making in children's social care. It demonstrated tol local authorities how they could examine the data they hold to understand service needs and demands |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://coram-i.org.uk/data-visualisation-in-social-care/ |
| Description | Disrupting the Care Cases Crisis Seminar Nuffield |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The seminar was intended to explore empirical research findings to identify the reasons for the continuing rise in the number of care proceedings cases. The Outcomes of care proceedings for children study provides the most detailed data on how care proceedings changed between 2009-10 and 2014-15, and also on the use of court resources. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | ECSWR (Leuven) Conference Presentation Data linkage and cohort analysis to understand the impact of policy change on children's care journeys |
| 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 | Resulted in discussion of the importance of understanding existing data and developing ways of examining outcomes |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://kuleuvencongres.be/ecswr2019 |
| Description | EUSARF (Porto) Presentation More adoptions more quickly?The impact of recent changes in law and policy in England and Wales |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Practitioners and researchers at panel on legal proceedings and children's social care discussed the impact of law reform on children's social care. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.eusarf2018porto.com/ |
| Description | Establishing outcomes for children before and after care proceedings reform - Findings seminar London (Euston) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Seminar organised to discuss the findings with policy makers and senior practitioners. The participants gave feedback on the findings and what they saw to be their implications. This resulted in further development of the researchers' understanding of their findings and further invitations to present. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | European Social Work Research Conference, Leuven, April 2019: Assessing outcomes for children who have been subject to child protection court proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The talk provoked debate and reflection about the purposes and effectiveness of care proceedings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://kuleuvencongres.be/ecswr2019 |
| Description | Health & Social Care Workforce Research Unit webinar: Researching the outcomes of care proceedings for children, and learning from them |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Webinar in a series for academics (in social work, social policy and law) and practitioners examining contemporary issues in children's social care. Added to the knowledge base of participants, particularly through interdisciplinary engagement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/researching-the-outcomes |
| Description | How is the PLO working? LFJC Bristol |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The introduction of the 26 week timetable for care proceedings has halved their average length but what else has changed? Researchers at the University of Bristol have carried out the first detailed analysis of the impact of the 2014 PLO reforms on the decisions made by the courts. These decisions have major impacts for children, for local authorities who work with their families and for all professionals who act in care proceedings. The research findings will be presented for discussion and reflection in this seminar, which is open to all professionals working in family justice - social workers, social work managers, local authority lawyers, lawyers in private practice, cafcass workers, expert witnesses and members of the judiciary. The subject of the seminar is the first part of a study Establishing outcomes of care proceedings for children before and after care proceedings reform, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, which provides findings about other key aspects of the PLO including use of experts, judicial continuity and orders made. The study involved a detailed examination of the cases of over 300 children filed in 2014-2015 in England and Wales. This interdisciplinary seminar will discuss the main findings and their implications for policy and practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/fssl/events/2016/how-is-the-plo-working.html |
| Description | How is the PLO working? the impact of the care proceedings reforms and the implications for practice ( Swindon/Wilts LFJC) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at Annual conference of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Family Justice Council to an audience of judiciary, lawyers and social work professionals to update them on practice in other parts of England and the implications of these.The judiciary were particularly interested to identify areas where they could work to improve practice, particularly timeliness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
| Description | Judicial College, England: Outcomes of care proceedings for children |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation as part of a two day further training course on public child law proceedings, run by the Judicial College, for Family Court Judges. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Judicial Training Midland Designated Family Judges Midland Circuit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Discussed findings of research, focusing on judicial case management and reducing the duration of care proceedings in the context of the President of the Family Division's Cpvid recovery programme, which aims to reduce the duration of care proceedings from almost 40 weeks to the statutory limit of 26 weeks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Kent Impact of the PLO and Outcomes of care proceedings for children |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to mixed audience of children's social care practitioners and managers from Kent and other LAs from South and South East of England with discussion of the implications of findings for practice in Kent, the largest children's social care authority in England and Wales. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Law Society Child Care Subcommittee Meeting (February 2020) |
| 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 | Presented findings primarily on Special Guardianship as a basis for the Committee developing practice guidance on this issue and advice to its members |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Measuring the impact of law reform (ISFL Amsterdam) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at International Society of Family Law Conference provided opportunities to discuss research and findings with academics and judiciary |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Miegunyah Lecture University of Melbourne -Understanding children's outcomes: the role of big data |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Practice in education and social care is beginning to refocus from examining inputs to outcomes. This presentation explored understandings of measurable outcomes for children's social care, ie what can and should be measured to establish whether children are making progress or achieving well when in state care, the availability and development of data sources for this, and the analytical approaches, which are being used to do this. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://provost.unimelb.edu.au/committees/miegunyah |
| Description | Nigala seminar on care proceedings and children's outcomes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Provided a positive example to practitioners in Northern Ireland of the effects of reforming (and shortening) care proceedings in England and the benefits to children of so doing |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Northern Ireland EITP Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event was intended to inform about and celebrate transformative changes of practice in children's social care in Northern Ireland, including in relation to providion of social work services to the courts. My contribution was to present findings about the transformation oc care proceedings and children's outcomes through shortening the duration of care proceedings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Outcomes of care proceedings with a focus on adoption for the Judicial Institute, Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation in a day long training course for Scottish Sheriffs highlighting how reform in England had contributed to more speedy court decisions for children who had been abused and neglected |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation at Essex CYP Extended Managers' Meeting Feb 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Learning event with senior social work managers and team leaders, and local authority lawyers to discuss the use of care proceedings in the light of evidence on long-term outcomes of cases diverted from proceedings, cases with proceedings where children are not in care and the high rate of repeat care proceedings gor children made subject to supervision orders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation at European Scientific Association on Residential and Family care for children and adolescents (EUSARF) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of findings about the impact of law reform on social work decision-making in cases of compulsory care. The key thing for this audience was that the findings were based on study of real cases, rather than vignette research which is more common internationally in this field. The issue of lengthy decision-making in child protection matters is of international interest, because of the negative impact it has on children's well-beig |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://programme.exordo.com/eusarf2016/ |
| Description | Presentation for Suffolk and Norfolk Social Work Teaching Partnershiip, on implications of recent changes to care proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was an event for social workers from Suffolk and Norfolk, there were a number of presentations about research being undertaken at UEA, I gave one on the care outcomes study. The whole event was extremely successful for promoting research, engaging local practitioners, strengthening links with practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to Avon Family Justice Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Alerted interdisciplinary group of practitioners, including judiciary to key findings from research and summary publications |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation to BASPCAN conference on understanding outcomes of care proceedings, part of seminar on the topic |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | BASPCAN is the premier professional association for child protection in the UK. The paper was primarily to a mixed academic and professional audience. It generated a useful cross-discipline discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to EUSARF conference in Porto, on understanding outcomes of care proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | EUSARF is the premier social work research conference on children in care. The paper was primarily to an academic audience, although some practitioners were present. It generated a useful cross-national discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to Law Society Children sub-committee on project findings |
| 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 | Law Society Children Committee meets 4 times a year to discuss issues of policy and practice for child care lawyers. Presenting to this influential group provided a platform for dissemination of findings within the legal community, and served to dispel some myths about the outcomes of care proceedings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to NAGALRO annual conference, Oct 2020. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | NAGALRO is a professional association for children's guardians in the family courts. The theme of the conference was to address the 'toxic trio' of drug misuse, domestic violence and mental ill-health. It is a controversial concept. The presentation was entitled 'Care proceedings, the toxic trio and the challenges of seeing into the future', linking the findings from our study about the longer term outcomes for the children, with the key challenges for decision-making in the courts. There was a panel discussion between the presenters. The event was very well reviewed by the attendees - the CEO of Cafcass commented 'Very well done - best debate for a long time that I have heard!' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation to Norfolk FJB training event, on implications of recent changes to care proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A talk about the consequences of the recent changes to care proceedings, generated a lively debate with lawyers about the implications for their work in care cases. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to Suffolk Children's Services and related agencies, Oct 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a CPD research dissemination event by researchers from the UEA Centre for Research on Children and Families, for Suffolk County Council Children's Services Dept and other local child welfare agencies (eg Cafcass local office). The presentation was entitled 'Assessing and planning for children involved in care proceedings: the importance of realism and hope', linking the study findings about longer-term outcomes for children with the decision-making tasks in the family court. There was a panel discussion and Q&A at the end. It was a lively discussion and the event was well reviewed by the attendees. From the evaluation forms, 94% of delegates said that the conference would have an impact on their work. Comments included "thought provoking" "very well presented" "very useful information". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation to regional IROs group, on implications of recent changes to care proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sixty IROs from across the east of England attended a regional training day, the presentation generated good discussion on the day and feedback was that it was relevant and helpful. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentations for each of the 6 participating LA to present findings and discuss thier implications |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In each of the 6 participating local authorities an event was organised to feedback study findings, particularly those relating to the specific local authority.Briefly these consisted of providing key findings of the study generally and discussing the implications for practice with the different audiences of local authority lawyers, social workers, social work managers and cafcass managers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentations to Cafcass training days, on implications of recent changes to care proceedings - two events |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | These were presentations at training events organised by the regional Cafcass officer, attended by Cafcass practitioners. They generated useful debate about the implications for theior work esp their 'challenges' to local authority plans for the children. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | President's Conference: How is the PLO working? |
| 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 | Presentation to judicial leaders from across England and Wales to present research findings and discuss what these indicate for future judicial decision making in care proceedings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Seminar on findings for Department for Education, Ministry of Justice and Cafcass. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Seminar to present findings, particularly in relation to the utility of social care data, the benefits of data linkage and novel findings from the research, particularly concerning the use of care proceedings for children who never enter the care system |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Social Work Managers seminar Essex |
| 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 key findings and discussion of implications for practice. Discussion identified areas for practice / management change to produce more effective use of care proceedings and better outcomes for children |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | South Wales Local Family Justice Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Increased knowledge and awareness of impact of care proceedings on children |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Sussex Local Family Justice Board Training Day |
| 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 | Conference included presentations on a range of current issues in Family Justice - focus of this presentation was the key findings on children's well-being after care proceedings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | The links between care proceedings and care: Webinar for Rees Centre and Bonavero Institute Oxford University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of findings on the use of care before, during and after children are subject to care proceedings, the data gaps in National Data on care and care proceedings, and consequences for children. Aim was to share knowledge gained about the relationship between care and care proceedings and the absence of recognition of these links in national datasets. This alerted researchers who use children's social care data and identified lawyers and legal academics to common misconceptions about the use of care and care proceedings and the consequences in terms of duties to support some children after care proceedings. Presentation sparked questions and discussion amongst and between researchers and practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNd4HoO0WJY&list=PLwj4-Geqxth_ww5LTXKFgsc0Vj0VK-CeK&index=1 |
| Description | Understanding care proceedings How is the PLO working? (Exeter) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A lecture (primarily for undergraduates) and a seminar for post graduate students examining how law reform had impacted on practice and how socio-legal research could be used to demonstrate this. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Using socio-legal research: How is the PLO working? (Leiden) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to demonstrate capacities of socio-legal research to shed light on legal practice and law reform; exploration of the contribution of different research methods |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Webinar for Cafcass 2 Children's Outcomes after care Proceedings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings on children's outcomes to Cafcass Officers, who advise the court on children's welfare. Supported the development of a less negative view of local authority care for children subject to care proceedings, and the importance of kin carers being able to support children's recovery and manage family contact. Managers indicated they would disseminate the research messages to staff more widely. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Webinar for Research in Practice 1 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Part of a Research In Practice Programme aimed at local authority social workers and managers to keep them abreast of research and practice developments. The webinar was also recorded and made available to those who could not attend. The presentation resulted in a lively online Q & A session |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Webinar for Research in Practice 2 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The second webinar focused on promoting good outcomes for children in care/ subject to care proceedings, particularly the importance of providing support to carers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Wiltshire Local Family Justice Board Conference After care proceedings - how do children fare? |
| 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 | Annual event primarily for lawyers and Cafcass officers on current issues in Family Justice. The presentation examined outcomes of care proceedings and improving children's well-being |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |