Webinar: The experiences and outcomes of autistic children in foster and kinship care in Wales

Abstract

This webinar will present the findings from a three year project exploring the needs and outcomes of autistic children in care in Wales. This study was undertaken in three parts, involving a variety of methods.

Part one involved analysis of linked data using the SAIL Databank to understand more about the numbers of care experienced children receiving a diagnosis of autism, the age of diagnosis and their educational outcomes and mental health diagnoses into adulthood.

Part two consisted of a survey distributed to foster and kinship carers in Wales, to gather information on the diagnoses of children in care, as well as levels of autistic traits, attachment disorder traits and other strengths and difficulties.

The final part involved research interviews with social work professional’s and foster and kinship carers in three local authorities in Wales, to understand more about what is working well and current challenges, specifically around the diagnosis and support needs of autistic children.

Findings from each section will be presented, alongside information about the next steps and future work to be undertaken.

Speaker

Dr Sarah Thompson is a research associate in CASCADE, Cardiff University. Her research interests focus around the topic of neurodivergence and children’s social care. Sarah has a background in both psychology and children’s social care research and recently completed a Health and Research Wales funded fellowship focussing on autistic children in foster and kinship care. She has now achieved funding to further advance this important research topic and is developing research priorities with input from the community to apply for further funding to understand more about neurodivergence in children’s social care.