Building better social care in Wales
Presenters: Andrea Meek and Dr. Elisa Vigna, National Centre for Mental Health at Cardiff University and Gerraint Jones-Griffiths, Learning Disability Wales/ Honorary Associate at Cardiff University. Abstract This presentation will explore the importance of partnership working in Supported Employment, based on Engage to Change, a 7-year national project supporting young people aged 16-25 with a… Read More
Find out more about our upcoming events and webinars, and how you can sign up, on this page. For a list of past events, visit our archive.
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Unpaid carers sustain the social fabric of Wales, yet remain invisible within systems designed for their support. Despite over a decade of implementation through the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, the recent 2026 Senedd report, Unpaid Carers: At Breaking Point, reports carers begging and fighting for help, with only 1.5% receiving formal support plans. Drawing from qualitative data funded by Health and Care Research Wales, this paper argues the current support model is structurally unable to address this crisis. While policy aims to support a life alongside caring, measurement focuses on individualised well-being rather than structural contribution. This creates a paradox: the Welsh Fair Work mandate protects the paid workforce, yet the system relies on an unpaid workforce excluded from these protections. This raises a critical question: what would social care look like if the value of unpaid care as Civic Value were measured as rigorously as economic savings? The paper introduces a Democratic Framework as a diagnostic tool. This framework positions carers as civic experts whose knowledge should shape governing policies rather than problems to be managed. By identifying where current metrics erase social value, it provides a pathway toward the genuine recognition of care as a civic contribution.
Online, Teams
12:00
- 16/06/2026
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Young carers are children and young people who have caring responsibilities for familiy members. Previously considered as a small group with substantial roles who access specialist young carer projects, prevalence estimates of 17% in Wales (School Health Research Network, 2023) suggest they should be investigated as a larger but more diverse population in terms of their caring responsibilities and impacts. This webinar will include a summary of the results of a mixed methods study of the wider young carer population. Ed will then present a model of the young carer spectrum that includes the impacts of substantial caring responsibilities but also more manageable roles and particularly problematic caring situations. The model also incorporates the tiering of support needs that better reflects the diversity of the group. The webinar will finish with consideration of key questions including if it is possible to support the whole young carer population; the differing role of specialist projects, mainstream services and informal support within families; and the ongoing challenge of doing so when a population is marginalised and reluctant to engage with services.
Online, Teams
12:00
- 22/06/2026
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In England, there are an estimated 120,000 children living in kinship arrangements, only a minority of which are in formal, legally secure arrangements. Evidence shows that children from minority ethnic groups, and Black children in particular, are underrepresented among children living in these formal kinship arrangements. Kinship carers from Black and Asian communities participated in interviews and standardised assessments exploring their experiences. Whilst there were similarities in the experiences of carers from this sample to previous (predominantly White) research, the impact of ethnicity cannot be overstated. Black and Asian kinship carers in this study were more likely to live in larger households, in housing that lacked enough space, in single-carer families, had lower incomes and additional caring responsibilities. Some carers highlighted experiences of racism and a lack of cultural competence, alongside harmful assumptions about the support networks of Black and Asian kinship carers. Despite the challenges, kinship carers reported that the children had a positive impact on their lives. Recommendations highlight the initial and ongoing support that kinship carers need to continue caring for their children.
Online, Teams
13:00
- 24/06/2026
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We are delighted to launch our Annual Adoption Lecture 2026. Our guest speaker will be Sarah Johal, MBE - National Adoption Strategic Lead, Adoption England. Sarah will be presenting on a new national model of adoption support in England, offering transferable insights for practitioners and policy makers in Wales seeking to strengthen adoption services through evidence-informed, relationship-based approaches within their own legislative and practice context.
Online, Teams
14:00
- 13/07/2026
ExChange Wales brings leading researchers together with practitioners and service users to share expertise, research evidence and care experiences.
Through our conferences, workshops, lectures and seminars, ExChange provides free, high-quality training to support the ongoing development of social care professionals across Wales. Attracting leading national speakers, together we learn and advise on research, impacting both policy and practice. Our events and resources enrich skills while foregrounding the lived experience of care-experienced people.
We have a range of ways that you can work with ExChange. If you wish to host an ExChange workshop, webinar, podcast or blog, simply contact us.
Our first Webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health Abstract In this presentation, offered as a basis for discussion, Peter, drawing on his own and other people’s lived experience, aims to help us rethink both understandings of mental wellbeing and distress and helpful ways of addressing the difficulties we may… Read More
Our second webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health “Webinar: What works to improve the mental health of care-experienced children and young people: Systematic review evidence” Abstract The mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people remains a major concern. To date, it has not been clear which… Read More
Our fourth webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health Abstract The ability to form strong relationships is viewed as central to mental health recovery. Few studies have explored the experiences of people with mental health problems in forming or maintaining romantic relationships. This study addressed this gap through conducting focus… Read More
Last year, a group of hosts in and around Cardiff, some from CASCADE, worked together to provide Christmas dinner and a celebration for care-experienced people. The team were filled with nerves ahead of the big day, with referrals still coming in up to the week before Christmas. A chef volunteered three days of their time… Read More
** WALES ONLY** Parent Advocacy Online Workshop (Wales) We are inviting social work practitioners and managers, parental advocates, parents, advocacy managers, family support workers and academics in Wales to participate in an online workshop on parental advocacy and its effectiveness in supporting parents whose children are open to social care. The event is part of… Read More
There was significant evidence early in the COVID-19 pandemic that racial bias, inequities, and disparities resulted in Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities being disproportionately impacted. Using a qualitative approach, the Children, Young People and Families study explored the influential factors that impacted the well-being and resilience of Black and Asian youth aged 12-19. Findings… Read More
Understanding care pathways and placement stability for infants in Wales with Dr Laura Cowley from Population Data Science, Swansea University on 4 October 12:30-14:00. This presentation provides new empirical evidence about entry routes to care, pathways through care, and placement outcomes for the very youngest children in the care system in Wales. By addressing questions about… Read More
Presented by: Abyd Quinn-Aziz, Melissa Mendez and Sophie Hallett, Cardiff University. This session is aimed at practitioners, professionals and carers, and promotes resources that have been developed to support anti-racist-practice in children’s social care. In the webinar we explain the thinking behind the resources and how you can engage with these as an individual and… Read More
